A CRITICAL TIME

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 18, 22 January 1937, Page 9

A CRITICAL TIME

UPHOLDING IDEALS FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY THE CLARION CALL (By Telegraph.)(Special to the "Eveninfl Post.") AUCKLAND, This Day. "In what is now a critical and disturbing stage in world affairs, we cannot place too much emphasis on the Biblical counsel 'Hold fast that which is good,' and as-a corollary, on 'Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,'" said the Chancellor, the Hon. J. A. Hanan, M.L.C., during the course of his presidential address to the Senate today.

"In the opinion of competent observers," he went on to say, "there is in times like the present no certainty that the peace of the world will continue fof any definite period. It may not be an exaggerated comparison to liken the quiet of Europe and of parts of Asia to the quiet of gunpowder upon which a spark may alight at any time. Whatever may be the outcome of such a possibility, the plain fact is that we with all other parts of the Empire stand together, or 'we fall together.' "They are no doubt right who declare that if the British group of nations— the chief mainstay of democracy—fails to .hold together, if the group should become estranged and divided, it seems only a matter of time before each of the parts in turn will become engulfed in a rising tide of warfare. If they should drift apart, what happened to Abyssinia may happen to them.

"It is right also to observe that such considerations should impel all of us to realise the greatness of our heritage, and manifest a firm determination to awaken any apathy or dormant sense in the community to its attendant commanding responsibilities, in order that this generation may not only continue to enjoy that heritage, but' may ensure that those who follow us will receive it unimpaired—if not enhanced. Nor must another question be ignored, that is to say the grave problem of 'the decline of the white population,' the outlook of which seems gloomy; but this topic is beside the purpose of this address.

"The abnormal conditions created by the World War, which left the most tremendous aftermath known in history, have threatened to bring down the fabric of civilisation; and no intelligent , person, who has noted the trend and significance of events, can fail to see that a great disturbing movement of unrest, discontent, and change is passing over the world, and affecting every country. The whole 'world is 'in the throes of a travail,' struggling to emerge from the uncertainty, disturbance, confusion, and chaos that beset it. Inferences from the panorama of changes—evolutionary and revolutionary—which are visible in different countries, make it clearly manifest that this age of ours is certainly a question and a testing time of social beliefs , of institutions, and of economic systems.

"As a result, few institutions, systems, services, forms of policies of government have been able to escape the crucible of criticism. This may be ascribed to the idea that they were behind the times in thought and form, ornot suited to deal adequately with the comple?: problems presented for solution. In their quest for stability and in the hope that they will travel on the upward path of national reconstruction and advance on sound lines, some countries have been making drastic changes or. radical adjustments in their political, economic, and social structures; as exemplified by the establishment of modern dictatorships (Nazi, Germany) (Fascist, Italy), and a Communistic Government in Russia. Each of these may be regarded as an alternative to democracy, which is declared to be fighting a rearguard action because of its imperfections; while each of these experiments (Fascism and Communism) it is said, are on the advance. This advance is mainly attributed by its supporters to obedience to strict discipline and duty, a widespread and a self-sacrificing enthusiasm, and the desire to serve the community. UNIVERSITIES' RESPONSIBILITIES. "This brings me to discuss a highly important subject that is exercising the minds of leading educationists and other • keen observers of the signs of the times. I refer to the heavy responsibilities of the university in relation to the problem of the stability of democracy and to the pfoblems of modern life and work. "A belief in the principles of British democracy, the sovereign power of the people, the freedom of the individual, and government by popular representation, gives to all of us a steadfast attachment to our democracy. At the same time, all of its enlightened supporters are not unmindful that freedom has its weakness as well as its strength—weakness in human nature which does call for outward restraints by law and conventions. The anxious concern evinced by thoughtful and loyal supporters for the future of democracy may be ascribed to the realisation that a democracy is not selfperpetuating, and to a conviction that its stability and permanence are not assured unless its defects are corrected or improved by constitutional methods to meet changing circumstances.

"It will be as well, therefore, to consider what are regarded as some of the degenerating tendencies or influences in the character of a democracy, tor these must be vigilantly watched and fearlessly guarded against as endangering the maintenance and solid advancement of democracy.

"Now it is not an over-statement to aver that to the unthinking and irresponsible individuals, the freedom, rights, and privileges of British citizenship, which have been won with difficulty by the struggled of others, are apt to appear to them as matters of fact as assured as the air they breathe or the sun they see. Having a stronger sense of their rights than their duties, they consequently, in their fancied security, do not realise that it is even possible that degenerating or disrupt* ing forces within the gates may strip them of their rights, or that they may be taken away compulsorily from them by a foreign Power. Lacking a farsighted self-interest to retain their freedom and rights, they fail to see in their fatuous blindness in insisting on or clamouring for rights, that such rights enjoin and imply, of necessity, corresponding duties, involving the courageous enforcement of principles of discipline and duty. Where you have these weak foundations in the structure of democracy, that democracy must in course of time decline and fall.

"Then again, you have other dangers to the maintenance of stable democracy, as is seen in the growing tendency of indifference for the rights of others, a want of self-reliance and self-discipline. Among other conditions that have been suggested as conducive to the imperfect working of democracy and threatening its ultimate downfall, is the absence of wide individual independent thinking, with the consequent development of machine-made minds, leading to mass emotional thinking. With such machine minds or mechanised thinking becoming widespread. and superseding independent fetraight, clear, critical thinking and

impartial judgment, there is a danger arising which may end in the erroneous belief that society is not an organism sentient and growing to meet the needs of adjustments to changing conditions; but a 'machine' and man a piece of mechanism." LESSONS FROM HISTORY. After pointing ,out the dangers of mechanised thought, the Chancellor called attention to other dangers confronting democracy and the lessons to be learnt fron} history. "A danger to be avoided," lie said, "is found in an opinion given by Hie late Lord Morley, who declared that democracy would come to grief if acting in a narrow selfish spivit, pursuing merely material welfare and its own class interests. To avoid this, it must be imbued with a high ideal, one which combines improved material conditions with intellectual culture, the growth of enlightened and human sentiments, and high moral purpose. The wisdom and enlightened morality of this warning is incontestible. "Where you have clear thinking, open minded people with enlightened judgment, they will strive for that ideal, and in doing so will be able to distinguish between sedatives, or panaceas, with the false hopes they raise of assured cure, and those tonics or unpleasant treatments that are absolutely essential for the cure of deepseated economic or social diseases.

"In history 'we have a voice for ever sounding across the centuries, the laws of right and wrong'. Now, if we do not know the past, we cannot understand the present. Therefore in the midst of all the uncertainties, grave concern, changes, and discussions of this remarkable period of transition, the question may be asked: What does history disclose, when the searchlight is turned on to its periods? We see then alternative periods of stability and instability with even the rise and fall of Empires. Their people paid the penalty for ignoring definite warnings. and declined to take unpleasant medicines or disciplinary treatment for their political, economic and social ills and so perished by their own hands.

"Rome, for instance, provides a dreadful but useful lesson to all of the present age and posterity. With all the civilisation of the Romans, they were nothing more than the exponents of democratic licentiousness and oligarchical tyranny. Their prosperity became great and they had laid themselves out to enjoy it. Such conditions gave rise to demoralising tendencies which spelt decline and fall from the giddy altitude of prosperity to which they had raised themselves. The circumstances of our present-day life may dispose of such gloomy forebodings, but the Roman lesson should not go entirely unheeded, even now, in democratic countries where there appears to be evidence of increasing prosperity. "The important point to be noted is that prosperity in a democracy is gravely enervated if not effaced by self indulgence, 'living in easy street,' refusals to perform irksome tasks, acts of self-denial or self-sacrifice. All these conditions breed a relaxation of independent personal effort and a gradual decay of enterprise, thrift, and initiative; a lowering of the higher impulses of life, leading to the inevitable degeneracy and decadence of race." It was the function of a university not only to purvey or supply knowledge, but to provoke thought—to put students in a position in which they will cultivate and make use of their own thoughts, added the Chancellor, who said that he was not unmindful of the part played by other educational establishments and by the home. "The clarion call to our homes, our colleges and schools, and all our educational institutions is: supply the education and power essential to develop strength of character and to produce men and women whose virtues and aspirations will inspire us with the ideals of a cultured and enlightened democracy," said the Chancellor.