MOST POTENT FACTOR OF AGE

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 189, 9 May 1934, Page 8

MOST POTENT FACTOR OF AGE

Spirit of Nationalism TREND OF THOUGHT IN EUROPE Students in British universities take a much greater interest in politics than those in New Zealand, according to Mr. E. Hurley, who addressed the Overseas League of Wellington last evening. “The reason,” he said, “is probably because we here are out of the stream of thought that is constantly moving in the centre of things.” He bad been to the English-Speaking Union in London, and found the topic to be “Restlessness." Europe was teeming with students’ conferences, the great subjects being the relation of the individual to the State, and the conflict of his religion with his duty to the State.

“Nationalism is probably the most potent factor of the age,” Mr. Hurley said. “The development of modern nationalism harks back to the nineteenth century, and the position of overseas traders with the Mother Country, which made it necessary for political colonisation to follow in the footsteps of economic colonisation. The chief characteristics of nation States during the nineteenth century was their political and commercial expansion.”

The Great- War, Mr. Hurley said, had brought a change of emphasis in the direction of self-determination, and the interruption of industry led to planned economic self-sufficiency. It was Important for ourselves that we in New Zealand should develop a greater sense of community, a new outlook ; that we should use internationalism as a cement to weld together the interests of the whole world, as we used patriotism within the Empire. We must cultivate a higher and a broader ideal.