Foreign Affairs in "The Round Table"

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 105, 6 May 1939, Page 14 (Supplement)

Foreign Affairs in "The Round Table"

AS the March number of "The Round Table," the review of international and imperial affairs, went to press, four months had passed since the Munich agreement. "In that time," writes the author of its first article, "appeasement has not drawn nearer, nor has there been any recognition either in Central Europe or in the Mediterranean, whether in domestic or in foreign policy, of the obligations tliat devolve upon those who claim to be the heirs of ancient civilisations." At su h a moment, we must nr-1: ourselves not only how a war might arise in Europe in which Great Britain would be involved, but also how that war should be won. The article goes on to plead for the principle of universal compulsory service, as being urgently required for the defence of freedom in the western world. The next article is a study of the relations between the different nations of th« British Commonwealth during the September crisis and afterwards. It urges that the Dominions, if they do not wish to become mere client States, should "take up more zealouslv their responsibilities in foreign policy." Their present backwardness in responsibility is ascribed to the sense of national safety which the British Navy previously afforded them but which is no longer to be depended on. The "Round Table" proposes that an Imperial Conference be held. A long article on Palestine provides a full and constructive survey of this tangled problem. Another, picturesquely entitled. Oust Bowls of the Empire," describes the causes and the terrible effects of soil erosion, which has become a major problem both in the Dominions and in India and the dependent colonies. There are the usual accounts of current affairs in Great Britain. Ireland. Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. ♦ ♦ + ♦

«D • V) becoming

TT is a volume of a little over a hundred pages. "Becoming" (Allen and Unwin) consists of observations, more or less unconnected, on the universe and life. The opening chapter begins with remarks on what the author, Frank Townshpjid, refers to an the cliangp of power into matter, but what the power was. or how the change was effected, or what matter is. he makes no attempt to elucidate. He does not even pause to wonder at the magic of power changing into matter. The book (■loses, in t lie same matter-of-fact, assertive, and nebulous way, with the prophecy of a coming ape that will be cha ract prised l>v the e mergence of a new type of beiii;* who will have 'attained to a conscious unity with the universe." What lie means by this unity is not made clear. Mr. Town-.-hend seems to be an old-fashioned materialist. with something of the mystic in him. His book is lacking in argument and sustained thought, and shows no sen&e of astonishment regarding the universe or life.