ROTARY CLUB

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 202, 27 July 1926, Page 10

ROTARY CLUB

Professor Ranston, M.A., Doctor of Literature, of Auckland, spoke at tiro Rotary Club yesterday on the present moral stato of tlie world and the conditions of this and other ages. Rotarian H. E. Pacey introduced the professor, referring to his great scholarly abilities and to his authorship of classical works that are widely read. i Dr Ranston stated that thero were people wlro, from the year 1914, had j been saying that the world was getting! worse. But though he did not really boliovo that the world was getting worse yet it seemed, to him that we * should make a greater differentiation j between right and wrong. And we| should keep in mind that moral his-j torv was not a very straight process ;| rat’ller it took a zig-zag course. Since j 1914, the speaker believed, we had) been living in a period of slump. But I on tlie whole we were making progress.) There was a great amount of love, ■ generosity and unselfishness in the) world, and tho existence of Rotary; clubs was an indication of the growing; feeling of servico before self. We \ shoukf not take up the moral standard j of another age from tho writings of j its people, but should ask ourselves; what that age tolerated, what that age | allowed. . i

Just on two thousand years ago, in* Egypt, girls when born were done j away witlr. But would we stand that; sort of thing to-day? In ono period ofl history there wero 23S offences for which men and women could bo executed. People tell us the world is get-1 ting worse, but they do not know their I history,” stated Dr Ranston. “Vo j would” not stand such a thing now —ouri moral feelings would bo violated. Less* than 100 years ago a waggon load of) littlo children left a London work-j house to work from daylight to dawn, j Less than 100 years ago all tho coal was brought to the surface by women stripped to tho waist. I think these things should bo kept in mind when wo compare present-day conditions.” Dr Ranston went on to refer to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; how, in 1821, when the bill relative to the Society was introduced in tlie British House of Commons, it was treated with ridicule; and then its ultimate adoption and the changed conditions with regard to animals that had been brought about.

“I hope that if you people are optimists you will be optimists in fact,” concluded Dr Ranston. “Nobody can say that the world is getting worse. Thero are things to-day that would repel our moral feelings, but yet, a few years ago, would have been treated as ordinary events. I want people to think that tho golden age is not of tho past, that it is yet to come.” A hearty voto of thanks was tendered to Dr Ranston for his interesting remarks.

ADDRESS BY DR. RANSTON