NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21505, 31 May 1933, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

SCIENCE AND RELIGION "It is the avowed aim of science to set forth an objective view of the universe, of culture, and of life" generally: and nothing short of a grave injury to civilisation itself is likely to put back the clock," writes the Rev. Pereival Gough, in the Contemporary Review. "We had better bo quite honest about this. As the ordinary man understands religion, with its doctrines, its sacred books, its worship, and its discipline, there is no more in science today than there was 50 years ago to give him a, firmer basis for his faith. For those whose faith rested upon such knowledge, there is considerably less. This does not mean that there will bo a revival of the so-called conflict between religion and science: it means, or at least it ought to moan, that there will bo a mutual recognition of the value of both in their own provinces. It means, too, that religion must seek to reinforce faith and aim at. extending her influence over men's lives out of her own resources, and not seek for confirmation from a level of knowledge whose aims are different."

BEAUTY IN WORSHIP "Of all the changes brought about in English religion during the last century, that which most strikes the eye has to do with the care, equipment and use of our parish churches," writes Dr. E. G. Selwyn, Dean of Winchester, in the Quarterly Review. "We may regret many of the architectural or artistic fashions which left their mark on church restorations in the last century; we may wonder whether the surpliced choir has been universally a boon to church music; and it may fairly be urged that ornament has often been overdone and sometimes borne a foreign rather than an English stamp. But few would deny that the principle underlying the change is true, namely, that beauty has a place in the worship of God. The principle was not novel: it was already implied in the glorious heritage of cathedrals, and parish churches which, to this country above any other, were the legacy of the Middle Ages. Yet, as a principle, it had been forgotten; and it coidd only be recovered when its true rationale in the spirit and meaning of worship was recovered. Of all the fruits of the Oxford movement this was the most popular, appealing as it did to large numbers of people who were unaware, or only half aware, of the reason for it. But we shall fail to understand the change, unless we realise that the chief credit belongs to those who did know the for it, and were not afraid to publish it abroad. . . COLONIAL BUDGETS The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Malcolm Mac Donald, in reply to aVjuestion, stated in the House of Commons:—"The following colonies aro not able at the present time to balance their Budgets out of current revenue:—Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States, Ceylon, British Guiana, British Honduras, St. Lucia, Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat, the Virgin Islands, Kenya, Tanganyika Territory, Northern Rhodesia, Somaliland, St. Helena, British Solomon Islands Protectorate, New Hebrides Condominium. Of these colonies, Somaliland, St. Helena and the West Indian colonies, except the Virgin Islands, are receiving grants or loans from His Majesty's Government to meet their do-, ficits. Joint assistance is also being provided by the United Kingdom and French Governments to meet the deficit of the New Hebrides Condominium Government. In the case of Kenya, the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States, steps are being taken to deal with the situation by means of economies and/or increased taxation. Although the preparation of tke Budget of Ceylon is a matter for the Board of Ministers, the Secretary of State has called attention to the probable necessity of imposing additional taxation or of effecting suitable and adequate economies. In Tanganyika Territory the deficit is being met from the proceeds of a loan to repay the cost of works constructed out of revenue, and in Northern Rhodesia the steps to be taken are under discussion with the Governor. The Virgin Islands and the British Solomon Islands Protectorate Governments are meeting their deficits from surplus funds."

EDUCATIONAL IDEALS Speaking at the Oxford conference on "New Ideals in Education," Sir Michael Sadler said:—The subject of the conference was the philosophic challenge. "What are we aiming at in out modern education?" The conference had taken a lino out of Robert Bridges' "Testament of Beauty"—"Grace and ease alike of beauty and of mind" —and that was the kind of ideal now aimed at in our schools. If the members tried to put shortly the philosophic basis of their view it would bo to say that every human being was developed in and through society, but that human society owed its development and sustentation to the individuality and cooperation of its individual members. Those were the two inseparable sides of the truth, and they must be reflected in all stages of the training of human beings, from their very first days into manhood and beyond. The enormous social changes which had come over the Western world, and which had affected the outlook and temper of all in every kind of calling, made it an urgent and indispensable social task to ensure to every boy and girl in the whole community tho opportunity of getting the essentials of a liberal education. Wo thought of a liberal education no longer as the appanage of a privileged class or as a specific preparation for a small number of professions, but as something which was the substratum of the now human life in which every one could share and in which the community should enable every one to share. That involved the giving of education from the very beginning of infant life in healthy surroundings, and it meant really tackling on a large, bold, determined scale the whole problem of slum dwellings. It meant viewing tho nursery school, the infant school, and the whole prism of education as one essential national task which had the ver,y strongest claim upon thought and effort and support.