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Press, Volume LX, Issue 18015, 6 March 1924, Page 10

An interesting feature of the year*3 University honours is the prominence of history and economics. Of the 71 new Masters of Arts, 31 took tTTe degree in history, 16 in economics, 12 in languages, five in philosophy, two in education, two in botany, two in geology, and one in mathematics; or, to pul it another way. 43 per cent, gainetl honours in history and '22 per cent, in economics, while all other subjects taken together accounted for oniy 3i> per cent. Jt is very striking also m our own College that while three students gained lirst-eiass honours in Tiistory, there was oniy one first in each of th« subjects philosophy, geology, botany, anti economics, and that v.-nile seven gained a. second in history and four a second in economics, the oniy ut her seconds were one in philosophy and one in mathematics. And r-juuiot ftei that the fact is

as comforting as it is interesting. While it is an excellent sign that history is at last getting the attention it deserves, and a good sign also that so many of the rulers of to-morrow are studying economics, it is disquieting that this seems to involve trie neglect of languages and literature, of philosophy and pure science. It must be remembered, too, that under the modern '''repeat" rules these results indicate an even greater degree of specialisation, and consequently a smaller amount of general culture, than they would Have done a few vears ago.

A cynic might also tell the six dozen men and women just referred to that they have been "spending their labour for that which profiteth not." While a Master of Arts is a ver\ unlucky man it he is not earning enough to live on, the average earning power of the scholar in any country is far below that of the men who have gone straight to business. It was found recently, for example, that the average income of a hundred of America's Phi Beta Kappa, men who had graduated tea years before was a little ifss than £6OO, while those who had just been "good mixers" at their college, who had taken a prominent part iu social acti\ ities, and oil the campus and in the clubs were men who "had a way' with them, averaged after ten years about £2OOO. But if a man graduates primarily to fill his pocket he deserves to fail of his goal. Earning capacity, though no one of sense despises it, has the same relation to happiness as oil has to a wheel. The man who is earning six hundred pounds by the labour he loves is a far greater "success" than the man who contrives somehow to earn twelve hundred, while wondering all the lime when the "demnition grind" will cease.

There has been a good deal of discussion in Britain during tho last two or three years on the need of a comprehensive and unified scheme of power development. Instead of two or three or half-a-dozen trunk schemes, linked loosely to one another, there are six hundred electrical undertakings competing with one another without lowering the price of current. Next summer, however, there will be a World Conference in London to discuss powor development in all its aspects, and as all the leading nations will be represented, while some of the most eminent engineers alive will read papers, the confusion that now exists in Britain should yield soon to wiser direction. And if that happens, tho credit will belong to the British manufacturer, a gentleman whom it is fashionable to deride for lack of initiative, but who is solely responsible for the coming Conference. In America plans are already well-ad-vanced for the creation of a "superpower system," which it is hoped will lead to' the unified exploitation of all the power resources of the North American Continent, and it is a hopeful sign that Britain's manufacturers see the necessity of striking the same pace.