NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14929, 29 February 1912, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THB-FEDERATION OF THE WOULD. An important move has just been nudein tie sphere of private internationp.l action by an agreement between the Carnegie- Foundation and the Union of International Associations,, -which has its headquarters in Brussels. The Carnegie Foundation has pledged itself to give financial support' to this union and its efforts to concentrate nearly every form of human endeavour in the direction of scientific and social progress. The importance of this > step may be judged by the results already secured by this recently-instituted union and those it proposes to attain. For j instance, it has gathered together no fewer than 351 railway companies, all working henceforth towards the unification, of their gauges and general organisation, so that goods and passenger traffic may be simplified and accelerated by uniformity throughout the world. It has furthered the creation of an International Library, ■organised in Brussels, and already disposing of 75,000 volumes, all bearing on the development of international connections and also a wonderful reference office (Bibliographical Institute), with a system of classification which will enable any student to find oat at a glance every one of the existing sources of enlightenment on any given subject. It has founded an International Museum, displaying, by documents, catalogues, and photographs every mode of international progress realised or actually proceeding in the way of sanitary organisation, industrial, scientific, or charitable co-operation. It contemplates the world-wide unification of technical language, so that the spread of new know.ledge and inventions may no longer be barred by linguistic ignorance; also to tabulate all the reasonable ideals sought after by international congresses and promote their realisation by concerted international action. And although it does not intend labouring for universal peace by rhetorical propaganda, it means to do so, in fact, lay creating between Governments and peoples such strong links of mutual acquaintance, sympathy, and interests as will in time defy any attempt at disturbance.

"THE BOY SCOUTS' movement. Apropos of the granting of' a Royal Charter of Incorporation to the boy scouts, a London paper remarks that it was the great scoutmaster, to whom all other scouts look up with infinite respect and veneration, who realised the possibilities of the idea and gathered the first troop of lads about him only so short a time ago as 1908. He it was who invented the uniform, picturesque without ostentation, now so familiar to everyone, and wrote out that delightful code of rules, a classic in iteelf, which to-day enjoys a place of honour in tens of thousands of school desks and lockers. 'We are glad to think that at a critical juncture in its affairs the Daily Telegraph was able to provide the movement with the necessary resources by an appeal to the public, which resulted in the subscription of £10,000, and placed the organisation on an efficient basis. It -was not /to teach the boys militarism that the chief scout drew them together with the magic attraction of his project. They will be taught patriotism, he declared, when the movement was beginning to take form and shape. "They will be taught that a citizen must be prepared to take his share among his fellows in the' defence of the homeland against aggression, in return for the safety and freedom enjoyed by him as an inhabitant." Patriotism, he pointed out, means love of our country, and no boy could learn a finer first lesson than this. And behind it others were to follow : obedience to lawful command, fidelity to comrades, courtesy to the weak, ready and ungrudging aid "to those who needed it, self-respect, gentle speech, goodhumour, and patience. All these were fine things to and they are all cardinal points of the scouts' creed. Joined to them, and only second in importance in the scheme, came at least a rudimentary knowledge of many of those arte and crafts which no ordinary schoolmaster teaches, but which, even to-day, are invaluable to a nation such as ours, thousands of whose eons penetrate the outermost wildernesses of the world and carry their lives in their hands and extend the frontiers of order and civilised government into the wildest regions. "Scouting is really the work of Colonial frontiersmen, coupled in our case with a good deal of knight-errantry," wrote Sir It. BadenPowell on another occasion " that is to say, the boys lean? backwoodsmanship. and have, as part of their duty, to do a good turn to a fellow-creature every day. It is a method of developing among bovs the manliness and character which are so much needed among our future citizens. It consists, briefly, in giving them scout-mg-craft in place of loafing or rowdiness now so prevalent. To drive out a bad habit it is necessary to inculcate a substitute, and scout-craft is the substitute we j suggest, an education* in character outside i the school walls, as distinct from their j book-learning learnt within the school."

THE GERMAN REICHSTAG.

Germany, it must always be remembered, is not a completely unified and homogeneous State, but a confederation of four kingdoms, six Grand Duchies, five Ducliies, seven Principalities, three Hepublican cities (Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck) and a couple, of annexed provinces of nondescript status. Each of these has its own Government, most of them their own Parliament known as Diet*, and they legislate and administer for themselves on such matters as police, education, rail and water ways, which have- mainly local importance. Some even have a separate army administration in time of peace, and Bavaria has her own postal service and stamps bearing the effigy of her Prince Regent. The Sovereign or Governments of these States appoint representatives to the Bundesrat or Federal Council over which th* Emperor as King of Prussia presides in the person of his chief Minister, who is at the same time Imperial Chancellor. This body is the depositary of the greatest measure of political power in Germany. It is endowed with farreaching administrative and interpretative prerogatives, and from it emanate all the legislative measures that have any chance of becoming (law. It is true that the Reichstag, which is elected by universal suffrage of male citizens above the age of 25, also possesses the right of initiating legislation, but in practice it seldom attempts to make use of it, and when it does so it is usually promptly eat on by the Bundesrat. The general work of the Reichstag consists in approving, amend, ing, or rejecting bills submitted to it by the Federal Council. If the alterations it makes in them do not please the Bundesrat, the measures are, as a rule, simply withdrawn, and there is an end of them. If a project is of a vital character or appears to the Bundesrat a suitable pretext for an appeal to the country, the Reiclistag is dissolved, and a new one elected. The impotence of the* Reichstag is the result of its party structure in an even larger measure than of the limitations imposed upon, it by the Constitution. True,, it hw~&a eaj; in. the appointment

and dismissal of Ministers, •which pertain solely to the Emperor, but if it snowed itself firmly and persistently decided on. a J particular point, and had the country steadily behind it, there can bo no doubt ■whatever that it would gets its way in the long run. It is, however, divided into four mutually hostile groups—Conservatives (mostly Protestant), Centre (entirely Catholic), and Liberals and Socialists— who have always been much more concerned to abuse one another than to enhance their common dignity and power as representatives of the people. The Conservatives are, of course, opposed to any change, because, whatever it may be, it is certain to weaken their position, and for tactical reasons the Centre backs them I up, and has in the past enabled them to j maintain their predominance.