NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14688, 24 May 1911, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE PASSING OF RURAL ENGLAND. The breaking up of large estates in England, which has now commenced, and is likely to go on, will, the London Times thinks, profoundly alter the life of rural England. The mobility of capital in trade means, as a rule, greater economic efficiency. It means generally that capital goes where it is most needed. That is not the whole, or even the chief, result of mobility of property in .land. With, it, human ties and precious traditions are linked; upon it rest the foundations of men's lives; the enduring connection of families with certain spots gives continuity to the race; and the rapidity and frequency of transfer of land are the solvents of invisible social assets perhaps not much less valuable than some more obvious elements of wealth. Conceive a rural England broken up into small properties. We all known the benefits claimed, some of them very justly, for such a system, and the virtues which it fosters. There might be greater frugality, sometimes verging on avarice. There would be at work " the magic of property." But no intelligent advocate of such a system would deny that there is another side to it. The present social hierarchy, which is based on the existing land system, with its large and small properties, gives a variety of interests and ensures forms of co-operation unknown where there is a dead level of small estates. The resistless charm which rural England has for the stranger is made up in the main of its variety, its mixture of the old and the new, the marks of an unbroken continuty and the graces which time and peace have scattered with generous hand. That landscape is typical of the society of rural England— made up of many elements, yet a unity which if broken may be replaced by some thing much less attractive.

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. "Germany and its head, the Emperor, have again shown the world their gratitude for the achievements of science," says Nature. "Not content with endowing the universities and technical high schools from the Exchequer with what appear to us datively enormous sums, a society has fctea founded, under the ' pro-

toction' of the Emperor, for the. advance- I ment of science. "It is instructive to note the difference between their method and ours. Both countries possess what is called ' technical education'; but while wo have founded schools in considerable number, destined to capture the workmen (who seldom attend) and the prospective foremen, they have aimed at the education of the manufacturers and the works managers. Instead of numerous institutions giving elementary science instruction, they have a few imparting the most advanced. Instead of a system of small scholarships, intended to bribe the clever children of the lower middle class, they leave it to the parents to find, out that their children, suitably trained, are equipped for their lifework, and will, if they arc diligent, be ! certain of reasonable incomes and respectable positions. It is wonderful how deeply the spirit of trust in science has penetrated the whole German nation. When Prof. Ostwald, many years ago, appealed to the Saxon Government for money to build his physico-chemical laboratory, the Socialists in the Saxon Parliament voted for the grant to a man, believing that greater expenditure on pure science would contribute to greater industrial opportunities. This spirit, which permeates the German people, from the Emperor on his throne to the representatives of the peasants, causes admiration; would that it .could inspire imitation!"