NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21806, 22 May 1934, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

FIT TO BE FREE "The cause of freedom is now by no means prosperous in tho world," said the Dean of Wells, the Very Rev. JR. H. Maiden, at Wellington School commemoration service. "There appears to be absolutely none in Russia, Italy or Germany, and not very much in Spain. Certainly its future is by no means, too secure in England. Laws can never bo enforced except in very few instances. People who do what is by no means unfashionable now—namely, take the law into their own hands by breaking or evading any law they happen to find inconvenient—aro the worst enemies •of freedom. Such people aro not fit for freedom. One very plain lesson of history, especially of Europe, in recent years, is that you cannot keep more freedom than you are really fit for, morally and intellectually. I believe that the end of education is the capacity for liberty—to make men and women fit to be free. It is a historical fact that freedom and the Christian religion havo always gone hand in hand, and I am quit© sure that neither will ever bo really healthy or flourishing without the other." DEMOCRACY'S ONLY WAY

" Our citizenship has been largely moulded by experience in how to express and make real the will of the people. Wo can sum it up by saying that wo havo developed the system of representative government and the particular form which is know as responsible Parliamentary government," said Professor W. 6. S. Adams, warden of All Souls, Oxford. " We as a people in our citizenship have been taught great lessons in representative government, lessons which are bound to be appreciated more and more as powers become decentralised. There are other ways and other means oi* government. Criticism has been eloquent upon our system of Parliamentary government. But I believe our system has such flexibility and has such foundations based on the ideal of real citizenship that it is not something which is going to be thrown away. Hero is a matter upon which we havo to be prepared to meet challenge, and on which we' have to think creatively, how we can adjust it to meet the complex demands of modern life. There is no other way for democracy but along the lines of representative government; there is no other way for freedom than on those lines which we have built up and given to other peoples, and which, I believe, will again spread and move widely. In spite of all the criticisms made and the sneers levelled at representative government, this country has given to the world something of priceless value in its system of representative government and of local government which is still developed. But there is something more —tho ideal of the good community." GOOD OF THE COMMUNITY

" The sovereignty of Parliament suggests the power of the State, and the State is the great architect," continued Professor Adams.- " But we are working out a ; type of society in which all sorts of voluntary bodies are working in conjunction with the State. "We see more and more the working out of the two things in harmony; the State making it more and more possible for the voluntary organisation to have a place in the community. I know of no country in the world where there is so much going on to-day of building /up Constructively the idea of the community. The idea of the good community is based on the idea of toleration. You cannot have a one-party system in a free community. You must have that right of free expression, that right of private enterprise subject to the will of the community. That conception of the good community, the life of all these different groups, is an idea which is distinctive in British citizenship. The good community is one which makes it possible for all to have the good life. It has got to make real the right to work. It is not enough to give security, it is not enough to give bread. It has got to give that satisfaction in the exercise of one's powers. With that there is coming another problem, that of the right to use one's leisure, but to use it for,the good of the community. Life is not to be explained by material satisfaction or achievement; it is calling out in tne individual the appreciation of , the spiritual side of things, which can only be done on some system such as ours. It is because our society is based on these things that our British society has had the influence which it has had, and because of these it will continue to do so." TARIFFS OR QUOTAS Viscount Astor, in a letter to the Morning Post, says:—May I say how much I agree with your leader that "if the State interferes in agriculture the interference had better be confined to such broad and simple policies as a protective customs tariff." When Government plunges into a complicated industry like agriculture, as is being done with certain extreme' marketing schemes, "unexpected reactions are inevitable." Under normal conditions a tariff coupled with Imperial preference gives protection to the home producer, and as regards imports an advantage to the Dominions over foreign producers. With a tariff our Treasury receives revenue on imports, while with quotas any increase in the prico of imports goes to shippers or foreign producers to the loss of our revenue. Import quotas were not recommended and adopted on merit, but through political expediency. Socialists have tried for years to persuade us that competition was bad and that it is wrong to reward initiative. Why should we now scrap all our economic principles and adopt their theories by dictating to each farmer what he' is to bo allowed to produce. Why prevent men -making the best use of their land? Yet that is the increasing tendency. There are only two alternatives: (a) The capitalist system and (b) State control. If we kill (a) by making it inefficient and costly then we must face up to the fact that (b) must follow inevitably. A hybrid scheme like the hops amending, scheme, now awaiting the decision of Parliament, would stop all competition and initiative. This scheme would guarantee security and quotas to bad as well as to good hop growers and prevent" newcomers into the industry. This sort of scheme must destroy efficiency. It could not last long and must lead up to complete State control.