CURRENT LITERATURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16621, 18 August 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

CURRENT LITERATURE.

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS'. By CEIXIO. So much has been spoken and written during the last decade concerning the superior educational methods of our enemies the Germans, that it is with some satisfaction that many observers are asking whether the<b was anything in the carefully-fostered half-truth. Most of uu have cause to believe that their organisation, of which we prated so much, was not so great a thing or desirably carried out as we thought. And it 13 refreshing to read careful and sapient criticism of their systems of schooling from men whom, even Britons will acknowledge as competent to deliver judgment on the matter.

HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE WAS. John Burnet, the well-known St. Andrews professor, may bo safely accepted' to give a cautious and exceedingly careful summary of arguments as education. His present book, " Higher Education and the War" (Macmillan, London), should be I read by all who have, without sufficient! I knowledge, vaunted the excellencies o£ German education, and by that large section of British who feel that there are so many shortcomings in our own system and who would like some guide whereby to rectify our defects. Most of hia " criticisms on the German educational; system were," he tells us, " published in! an address to the Secondary Education Congress on May 17, 1913. They axe not, therefore, unduly influenced by thei present war." Treating broadly of his conclusions, they are that the Germans keep their boys too long at school on too few subjects, so that they are men by the time the compulsory number of years is served, and their; general knowledge is poor. Further, that to secure the social advantages which are impossible without the passing of tha authorised State examinations, the German parent subjects himself and his son to over-anxiety and to a snobbish concept tion of the value of these examinations-! It is these, quite inadequate for what wet know as true education, that are responsible for the number of youth suicides-, The long years of "student" system, during which beer-drinking and duelling; take such prominence, may have been influential, Burnet suggests, in the atrocities ordered or permitted by German officers during the present war. Science in Germany.

Most illuminating is the professors contention that the Germans are not ahead in science. But " the German manufacturer or industrial leader knows tha value of the expert, and is prepared to pay him well and give him a free hand. The very same thing might be done in! this country if there was the slightest desire to do it. There is already far mora trained scientific ability in our universities than anyone will make use of, and it} could be increased if necessary, but it ia not the business of the universities to relieve those who control our industries o2 the. trouble and expense of employing scilsi* experts of their own. The war haly-shoT. &. what our laboratories ara | capcHlo - w?\en they are called upon, there are some who are simple enough; tQ, believe they -wilt N go on at the samei high pressure m "dmejof peace in the interests of . ill usi ial production. They forget" 9 that./* *at ".as befc."v_done for them! foj tlia last ;«.r, > years w«' i done for the nation. ana -fiat Jit;- would another, thinrfs4<^ > them at thei3if : pcsiJ of individual' ...lanufacturTs or limit'id companies. Th.a men wuo have •worked roi hard during'Hho war ' *re : not going to, make a present'their discoveries to ; the! v directors of industrial concerns." : Scientific discoveries, again, are mot the( work of modern Germans, There * are na' great discoverers in this diisscuaxi among the Germans. The " great invseiitorß who'J have transformed modern life, Who bars revolutionised our view of the worlds I?; almost always been Frenchmen, ItaHaai.-< " or Englishmen. What is true, is that! Germans have 'organised' scientific work! I in a wonderful way. They have surveyed the whole field, with the result that tha scientific workers of other nations, wheni they wish to know the actual state of any] problem in which they are interested, have recourse to German publications foB their information. In this way the Ger» » mans have done? a most useful and meritorious work, and the strange thing ia only that their vaunted 'method' has led! them to so few discoveries of the first importance." Burnet's book iB an exceedingly valuable! contribution to the subject tinder discussion. He goes dispassionately into the) 1 details of the German school and collegiate systems, analyses them thoroughly, compares them with British. American and French systems, and stores for the thinking man and woman a concise and easily-read _ digest of -collected! matter. His conclusions are rational andf balanced, since his evidence is so weighty 4 and he deserves a very wide public,, REMINISCENCES OF AN INDIAN SOLDIER.

Though less well known to the world than his brother of Thibet fame, MajorGeneral Sir George Yotmghusband is at proved soldier to those who have followed! Indian! frontier history, and the publication of his reminiscences under the title " A Soldier's Memories"—(Jenkins, Loudon—besides being of considerable interest to his contemporary soldier friends, will also afford much pleasure to general readers. Scattered among his pages ara anecdotes of many important people. Lord Roberts, Sir William Robertson,, King Edward VTL, Kitchener, DorrienSmith are amongst those figuring therein, and bright chatty memories surround them. By determinedly breaking through the red tape that surrounded the Indian military appointment, General Younghusband managed to find a place in the South African campaign, and so add to his experiences of war and of men. He instances Kitchener's excellent memory for men and their achieve* inents, small as well as great. King George, as Prince of Wales, showed that he " possesses the great gift of kings, the faculty of remembering faces." During his Indian tour, General Younghus* band being in no conspicuous position, the Prince and Princess " commenced! going round the circle, shaking hands with the various officials. Then I saw the Prince of Wales glance across to the other wing, and as his eye ran along it I heard him say : , "'There is Younghusband over there." 5 For one catches one's own name very easilv. , "The Princess said, 'Where? "'Third from the end,' replied H.R.H. And when they came round to me they were most kind. Inquired after my wound ; remarked exactly where and how it had been received, and, in fact know more about me than probably half the officials on the platform. "That was really a very marked triumph for even a Royal memory, for neither their Royal Highnesses nor anyone in the Royal train could possibly have known that I would be on the Peshawar platform. Nor am I seven feet* high nor seven feet round the waist." BLIND SOLDIERS' FUND BOOK. " Good Reasons lor Belie! and " Letters from Private Henare Tikitanu," botbj by the Rev. J- C. Fussell, vicar of Waiuku, are in pamphlet form, all profits being given to the Blind Soldiers' Fund. The Mayor of Auckland has agreed to receive and forward the fund. The purpose alone would ensure to these publications the cordial welcome they are receiving, but the matter is itself excellent value- In the " Letters" we have a very humorous account of the experiences and impressions of a typical Maori soldier on the long journey from New Zealand to France. In the *' Reasons "■ there is offered convincing evidence why . " no account of German criticism or Eng- r lish agnosticism has ever been' able toj:.> or destroy the*. argument) 'ifiS Christianity.," ' vk *" ? ' •" \ » -1