NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21717, 5 February 1934, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

UNIVERSITY "QUOTAS" There is so much overcrowding and unemployment among doctors, schoolmasters, chemists, engineers and other professional classes in Germany that the Government have decided drastically to restrict the number of students annually accepted by Universities and technical schools. In 1934 only 15,000 of the thousands of boys duo to leave school will be allowed to continue their education at a university. No precise "quota" has been laid down for girls but the number may not exceed 10 per cent of the total number of boys accepted during the year. The lucky students will be the best of those who matriculate from each school. In accordance with Nazi idqals, undergraduates will be selected for their physical as well as their mental attributes. Good character and "national dependability" will bo further qualifications. The Minister for the Interior admits that the new restrictions will cause disappointment to hundreds of scholars and parents whoso dream of a university education will not be realised. They are advised to familiarise themselves with the idea that a non-academic vocation is no less worthy than an academic career. Local appointments boards are to be. constituted to help children leaving school to find work in business, industry, agriculture and skilled trades.

I CHURCH AND PEACE > _ ' j- "There is no immediate danger of an international conflagration, and to let anxiety develop into fright or panic would bo inexcusable," says the Archbishop of York in the Diocesan Leaflet, "but the dangers before the world are very obvious. It is universally recognised that unless the nations can learn to live together as members of a family | they must be in constant peril of war, and we all know that a future war will 1 bo vastly more destructive even than the last. Yet at every point, so soon as the 1 nations have agreed that common action ' should be taken, they all fall back upon a purely self-centred outlook in dis- ' cussing what that action is to be. Consequently nothing is done except that disappointment and irritation are increased. What is quite certain is that if Europe drifts into another war it will thoroughly deserve the destruction in which it will be involved. It seems to me that our own Church, as a living society is not yet in earnest in its ser- ' vice of jieace. The official utterances are sound, of course, but by themselves they are impotent. The Church, in its impact on the world, is the average : congregation. No doubt we all want , peace. But do we 'know the things that 1 belong unto peace' ? Are we praying and expecting that our fellowship in Christ • with men of other nations may be found strong enough to unite us with them in resistance to any selfish policy ! on the part of our respective countries ? Are we praying—with desire and confidence—for the elimination of ill-will? These are among the tasks of the body of Christ in the world to-day. We are not neglecting them, but neither are we dedicating ourselves to theitl." IRISH OF THE EMPIRE ; In a letter to the Manchester Guar--1 dian, Mr. John F. Williams says:—ln ' the discussion of the relations of Ireland, or the greater part of it, to i Great Britain and the British Commonwealth, let us not lose sight of ono fact of cardinal significance. As things are, all Irishmen, North and South, are fellow-citizens with ourselves, not strangers or aliens, when they land in England. Some Irishmen seem to envisage this relationship as a common subjection. I would rather call it a common fellowship. And its abolition needs something more than action in Ireland. No legislation enacted by an Irish Parliament and no act done by an Irish authority can destroy in our law the common nationality of our Irish fellow-citizens unless and until the Government of Great Britain accepts or recognises the destruction. And we might well pause before impoverishing our national heritage by exclusion from our nationality of a stock which has produced some of the most distinguished names in the common history of these islands. We should be bidden to agree that tho countrymen of Burke, of Goldsmith, of Bishop Berkeley, of John Nicholson, of Lord Russell of Killowen, not to speak of Lord Wellesley and his greater brother, would bo foreigners in our law and subject as such to the regime of the Aliens Act. If it be objected that only a minority of Irishmen to-day value their common citizenship (and the truth of the objection remains to be proved), we may remind ourselves that in this age rights of minorities have obtained special international recognition. Wo cannot well claim to protect minorities in Eastern Europe if we destroy their rights in the case of Ireland. THE CONSTITUTION In an address on "Constitutional Dangers," Lord Buckmaster said the one thing essential to life and growth was change, and he thought it would be a good thing if, on the mantelpiece of every Parliament, and even every local authority, there was placed a row of fossils of extinct forms of life, underneath which was written •in bold letters: "We perished because we could not change." Commenting upon the House of Commons, Lord Buckiaaster averred that the procedure and rules were quite out of date. Unless the House could act more swiftly there was a danger of people getting dissatisfied and trying to adopt some other means. Regarding the House of Lords, they must make up their minds whether they meant to have a second Chamber or not, but he said confidently that a second Chamber was an essential safeguard to a successful Parliament. He believed that its help had been of immeasurable service to the legislation of the country, and he knew of no measure of social reform that had been before tho House of Lords during tho last 19 years that had been defeated or obstructed in its passage. There were other dangers to the Constitution. Certain newspapers, he declared, had deliberately excluded from their columns the discussion of public affairs. There never was a time when it was more vital that every man and woman in the country should be kept abreast of public matters. Further, if they wanted to strengthen the Constitution they had to do more than they had done to help the women. Men and women should stand side by side independently. Woman should have her own life and purpose, and do her own work, and hold her own in the battle of the world, and not look to man for her protection.