NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21133, 16 March 1932, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE COSMIC PROCESS. "My own belief," said Dean Ingo in a lecture in which he discussed tho relation botweon modern scientific theories on tho evolution of the universe and the Christian tradition of creation, "is that if tho cosmic process, as wo partly know it, is doomed to pass out of existence, there will be, and perhaps aro already, other world orders of which wo know nothing. . . . Some opponents of Christianity absurdly maintain that the substance of the Christian religion has been destroyed by new discoveries. My contention is that Christianity stands or falls, not with any theories about the past and future of our planet and its inhabitants, but with tho great tradition, tho foundations of which were laid by the Greeks, and which has been developed by a long lino of Christian thinkers. This tradition is now assailed by what looks like a coalition. Its leaders have studied tho new science and wish to be scientific. But my contention is that their position gives them no advantage over the adherents of the old tradition in dealing with tho grave problems which physics, astronomy and biology present." WORLD MOVING BACKWARD. "1 am forced to acknowledge that for some reason or other, owing to something upon which it is difficult to put one's finger, in these last two years the world ha 3 been moving backward," said Sir Austin Chamberlain at the Primrose League dinner. "Instead of approaching nearer one to another, instead of increasing the measure of goodwill, instead of progressing to a stable peace, it has fallen back into an attitude of suspicion, of fear, of danger, which imperils the peace of tho world. No doubt many causes have combined to produce this result. For many of those causes Britain is not responsible, but 1 am assured of this, that these difficult problems are not capable of solution, these strained relations are not capable of relaxation, unless our country, and the British Empire, can speak with full weight and act with its proper influence. Therefore, even if the domestic difficulties and the conditions on which Governments remain united were greater than 1 think them to be, I would still say 1 am glad that a of union lias been found in order that this country may speak to the world with a united voice, even if on a question of domestic policy we allow a liberty to some members of the Cabinet which has not been allowed for a hundred years or more."

FOREIGN BUTTER IN THE NORTH. "If Lancashire and the North continue to give preference to foreign butter when the Empire is producing on a scale never before experienced in history the result is bound to be utterly disastrous to Empire trade and Britain's economic revival," said Sir John Haslain, M.P., in a speech at Bolton. The occasion was a lecture to members of the Junior Imperial Leaguo on the food value of New Zealand butter as distinct from foreign butter. Already, said Sir John there was a disparity of over threepence a pound between the wholesale prices of Danish and New Zealand butter. That was duo to the geographical delimitations of tlio homo butter market, which caused the supply to remain static over a largo area in the North and Midlands, while the South reaped the benefit of increased Empire production. If ihe demand for Empire butter were spread evenly over tlie whole country the disparity in prices would soon disappear and the purchasing power of our Dominions would be greatly increased. The present preference of the North for foreign butter was a most regrettable thing. Unless Northern consumers resolved to give up the foreigner and buy Empire it would be utterly impossible for New Zealand and other other Dominions to- maintain their purchases of British goods. ''lf Lancashire continues to freeze out Empire butter she will inevitably destroy the valuablo markot she now enjoys for cotton goods in the Empire dairying countries," added Sir John.

INTERNATIONAL GOLD STANDARD "Wo are asking too much of tho gold standard when we expect it to do more than guarantee a stable rate of exchange in tho case of normal commercial relations and a normal regulation of tho currency," writes Professor Gustav Cassel, the well-known economist. "By expecting too much of the gold standard, public. attention has been diverted from the glaring economic blunders that have been committed. Additional obstacles have been placed in the way of international commerce, economically indefensible demands for transfers of capital have been pressed beyond all reason, and even in those countries which havo been most abundantly supplied with gold, tho level of prices has been forcibly lowered, instead of being allowed to rise. Tho pressure to which the international gold standard system has been subjected by these preposterous demands has resulted in its final collapse. And yet, people expect that the gold standard will revive of itself But this is a delusion. An international gold standard system is, under present conditions, impossible. The mere fact that in some countries the demands for gold reserves have been screwed up to a standard for which the gold supplies of the world are quite inadequate, while the policy of holding reserves of foreign exchange in lieu of reserves of gold has been utterly discredited, debars other countries from reverting to a gold standard. To provide a basis for a general return to a gold standard, tho lamentable conditions under which the world commerce is now being carried on must bo changed so radically that, even in the most favourable circumstances, this will require years of the most strenuous efforts."