NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18495, 4 September 1923, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

FAIE, OF 'THE ; WESTERN ; EMPIRE.

Professor Bury is no believer in. the inevitable : (says the Tunes Literary Supplement). In a brief butt pregnant passage in his history of the late Roman Empire he rejects all general explanations of: the fall t of« the Western Empire, beginning with.; Gibbon's "principle v of : decay" (which, ttsoli needs explanation),» and affirms that ; the collapse of \ the Roman power in the West and the success of the barbarians in penetrating and founding States in thi provinces were " the consequence of a series of contingent events," i.e., the irruption rof the ; Buns, the disaster of Adrianoplej the mismanagement of Theodosins, and, the inheritance of the Empire By the feeble-minded Honorius. But he admits that these events by themselves need not have led to disaster but for the "singular misfortune" that in Stilicho a German was called upon to defend the Empire ! against Germans , without and within the Empire, and that this led to dissatisfaction among the Romans of the West and civil war. This "singular misfortune," however, sprang from what Profescor Bury rightly calls " a point of weakness in the "Imperial system, the practice of elevating Germans to the highest posts of command": and when we come to the strength and weakness of systems, we are 6urely removed from the sphere of the contingent? in the sense attached to that word by Professor Bury. We find it hard Co believe that the search for general causes in human affairs is as fruitless as wo are asked to believe. However, Professor Bury does not go so far as Seeck, who wrote with regard to .the death of Attila that "an untimely fit of nose-bleeding diverted the destinies of countless peoples into fresh courses!"

DARWIN AND WALLACE. A portrait of that famous scientist, Alfred Russel Wallace, painted by J. W. Beaumont, has been hung in the Natural History Museum, Kensington. A medallion of Wallace was unveiled in Westminster Abbey in 1914. Sir James Marchant, in presenting the portrait to the authorities said, when the medallion was being erected in the Abbey it was suggested by the committee to the Dean that it was an opportune occasion to * regroup the various medallions of Sir George Stokes, Sir Joseph Hooker, Lord Lister, Dr. Adams, and Sir William Ramsay, and to bring together Darwin and Wallace in the centre. There to-duy, in that sacred spot, which might now well be called the. Scientific Corner of the Abbey, and in the centre of that illustrious group and contiguous to Herschci and Darwin, Newton and Lyell, and the memorial window to Lord Kelvin, are the medallions of Wallace and Darwin. Might it not be safely prophesied that, of all the names on the starry scroll of' national fame, that of Charles Darwin would, .surely, remain unquestioned ? And entwined with his enduring memory, by right of worth and work, and with Darwin's full approval, our successors would discover the name of Alfred Russel Wallace. Darwin and Wallace were pre-eminent sons of light. Amone the great men of the Victorian age Wallace occupied a unique position He was the co-discoverer of the illuminating theory of Natural Selection; he watched its struggle for recognition against prejudice, ignorance, ridicule and misrepresentation its gradual adoption by its traditional enemies and its final supremacy. " ~-■..'. PROHIBITION IN MANITOBA. By an overwhelming majority the people of Manitoba have rejected prohibition after a seven-years' trial and voted to adopt in a■' slightly modified form the Quebec system of : Government Bale. As the Canadian papers point out, this "does not mean a return to the despised open bar." The plan provides for "the sale of liquors to the holders of permits and specifies that it be delivered to the homes of the purchasers," while " beer is' to bo' handled in much the same manner." Districts which "do not desire , the establishment of Government, liquor-stores are free to bar them." Commenting on tho result of the polls, tho Manitoba Free Press says: —"After ample discussion and a vote which indicated that practically every elector concerned himself to reach a decision, a verdict has been rendered. _■ A decisive majority has been registered in support of the plan .for Government control of liquor, which has been formulated by the Moderation League. The significance of this verdict ought not to be misunderstood. For convenience sake the public has insisted upon using the terms 'wet' and 'dry,' ' but the question before ' the people was not a definite issue between liquor and temperance. On any such clear-cut issue there would bo no question, we think, as to what the decision would be. Those who favour the abolition of restrictions on drinking no doubt voted affirmatively; but the votes which gave the Moderation League proposal its majority were cast by men and women who would resent the suggestion that they are friendly to liquor and willing to encourage its use. Many of them are electors who voted the other way in previous referendums. They came by personal experience or by observation or as the result of arguments, presented to them, to regard the existing law as having failed to bring about the promised reforms and to believe that Government sale of liquor, under the provisions of the Moderation League's measure, offered better guarantees for the control of drinking, and better prospects for furthering sobriety among the people." The new system is to be tried for three years. '• .;. . ~,..,.

GERMANY IN RUSSIA. The commercial relations between Germany and Russia have been surveyod in an article in La Revue Contemporaine by M. L, Leontine, who states that Germany is the only country whose trade with Russia has reached" pre-war proportions. The economic invasion of Russia, we.are told is a plank in the , platform of numerous organisations, among which the " Russo-Gennan Union for the Development of Commercial Relations "is conspicuous. "The point of departure in Russo-GermajT relations was the signing of a commercial treaty two years ago," says M. Leontine. " During the first year 24 per cent, of Russia's importations came from Germany. Meanwhile, despite the efforts of the Russian commercial mission, only 5 per cent, of Germany's importations came from Russia. The Germans frankly' admit the difficulties of trading regularly with Russia, but they were the first to profit by Russia's new economic policy, and among the concessions acquired by Germans is that of 25,000 desiatines in the region of Rostoff on the Don, the concessionaires being the Krupp Company. The Otto Wolf concern undertook the reconstruction of the Kieff aqueduct and electrical works; a group of German capitalists took over the Treougolnite rubber factory, . the largest enterprise in Petrograd, with 9200 operatives; the Petrograd and Tiver arsenals are under Krupp control; and a group of | German manufacturers runs a majority of ! the Ukraine suggar-mills. .' . . To get | control of that immense reservoir of men 1 and raw materials we call Russia is Germany's dream. Twice—first I when the Red army marched, upon Warsaw, and again when we ' occupied the Rtihr— turned the heads of sane men. : The idea of a new \' Drang nach Osten ' has its partisans at opposite political •'■ extremes. On the one hand we have Captain Erhard, Admiral Hintzo, and Ambassador Ranzau; on the other we. have certain Social- ■ ists and the entire; Communist party. The Russo-Gennan rapprochement, says Muller, the Socialist arid former Minister of Foreign Affairs, 'will result in restoration of that balance of; power which France has, destroyed.*": _