The Rhodes Ideal.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19666, 9 July 1929, Page 10

The Rhodes Ideal.

In this morning's cable news there is an account of a banquet held to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Rhodes Foundation. The gathering was held in Rhodes House, Oxford, which was built last year by the Rhodes Trust as a meeting place for present and past Rhodes scholars, and also to house books and documents relating to colonial history. When it was opened by Sir James Barrie last year particular emphasis was laid on the need for such a library in England in view of the number of colonial students who undertake historical research there, and although rumours have reached New Zealand that Rhodes House, as a building, is rather a disappointment, this is a case where the idea is bigger than the building and will last longer. A really useful collection of books and documents on colonial history will not, of course, be made in a feAv months, but it is to be hoped that the Trust will not spare expense in this direction and there is not much reason to fear that it will. This .year's anniversary gathering will, however, be memorable mainly because of Mr Baldwin's announcement that Rhodes scholarships will again be available for German students. The termination of the German scholarships during the war and for some years after the peace was inevitable, but their resumption is one

-way of showing that we have forgotten those aspects of the struggle that it is no longer profitable to remember. It is also an acknowledgment of t'*e fact that although Rhodes was a great Imperialist he was also something more —not, indeed, what is now vaguely called an " internationalist," but something more practical without being less broadminded. He had a deep admiration for certain traits in the German character, and cherished a hope that Germany and England might work together for the good of civilisation. His work to that end has now begun again.