NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21962, 20 November 1934, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

LAW AND HISTORY Addressing the Scottish Law Agents' Societv on "Law and History, Lord Macmillan said that of all her institutions, there was none which had been more closely associated with the history of Scotland than her system of law. The more spectacular features of a country's history were to be found in great events and heroic figures —and Scotland had certainly not lacked either—but it was becoming increasingly realised that history was not really so much influenced by dramatic incidents and striking personalities as by the social and economic forces which less obtrusively moulded and shaped the destiny of a nation. It was in this sphere that the law of Scotland had meant so much and stood for so much in history. The Scotsman had always had a natural turn for the law —he had almost said a delight in it! "If we have been accused of litigiosity and disputatiousricss," ho said, "it is only because we naturally exhibit the defects of our qualities, and those qualities are a strong find vigorous sense of principle and an intolerance of injustice." CHURCH AND STATE "It would be a sad day if the Church of England were to sacrifice its splendid privilege of service by withdrawing itself into itself and by winning a greater precision of self-government at the cost of weakening its national position and its unique calling to make Christians of all the people and, so far as lay in its power, to see that 'this is a Christian land,' " said Dr. Pollock, Bishop of Norwich. '"Let us hope that the Commission of the Church Assembly, which is now examining the relating of the Church to the State, will recommend no step which could impair, for one side or the other, the historic efficiency of their present connection. If the Church of England became a special select little body, if its ministers were bound to a fixed type and pattern, we should all be the poorer for this even level of service and outlook." There were, he knew, persons who wished to discard or discredit all individual responsibility and freedom, to be the slaves of a system looking neither to the right nor left. But. that was not the way of the Church of England, which promoted and praised spontaneity and disciplined diversity. He was aware that this ordered liberty of the Church of England was attacked and invaded on many sides, but in the name of life and reality she was ready to take the risks. HIGH-FLYING INSECTS Special research work is being carried out at Hull University College with the object of protecting agriculture against the ravages of dangerous insects. The Colorado beetle, the great potato pest, is spreading northwards in France, and in a few years will possibly reach the Channel coast. Fears are entertained that it is only a matter of time before it will be blown into England. Professor Hardy, explaining his scheme, states that trap nets are being flown at various heights, and the movements of insects collected in them are being studied, particularly those which are a menace to agriculture. "We are sending nets into the air by means of kites, and when the right height is reached the net flies open." After remaining open for an hour or two the net closes again through the working of an ingenious device made by Mr. P. S. Milne, which Professor Hardy states is operated by chemical fuses. Experiments have been carried out on the cliff-top between Dover and Folkestone, as well as on the Yorkshire coast, and later on it is hoped to have special recording apparatus attached to long-distance air liners. By the use of nine nets working simultaneously at intervals of half a mile a study has been made of insect pests at low altitudes. Millions of insects are carried by the wind. The grain aphis has been detected in altitudes up to 630 feet, the frit fly, which attacks oats, at 600 feet, the rose aphis at 500 feet, and the currant aphis up to 630 feet. DICTATORSHIP Sir Herbert Samuel, speaking at Darwen Rotary Club, said that to adopt a policy such as that suggested by the British Union of Fascists through the mouth of Sir Oswald Mosley would be to adopt a policy of childish nonsense. Some peole had been so deeply moved by the coming of dictatorships in various parts of the world that they had formed a general impression that selfgovernment had been overthrown almost everywhere. But that was not so. Liberty was still maintained in Great Britain, in all the British Dominions, in the United States, France, in all the progressive countries of North-western Europe, in Switzerland, Czecho-Slova-kia, and many of the Balkan countries, and these countries constituted by far the greater part of the civilised world. In those countries where democracy had been overthrown it had not been long established. There was Russia, for example, which could not be regarded as a typically democratic country; Poland, Persia, Turkey, all on the same footing, and when the matter was envisaged with an impartial eye and as a. whole, it was seen that the new feature was really limited to the cases of Italy and Germany. It was obvious enough that the main causes for the constitutional upheaval in these and some other countries had been the war, the moral and economic upheaval of the war. The mind of men in all countries was profoundly disturbed. Old-established ideas were shaken, and people generally were open to receive all kinds of new impressions. The belligerents spent £26,000,000,000 in the war,, and that could not happen without tremendous economic disturbances. Communistic movements became 'rife in many countries and made a considerable impression on people in dire circumstances. Parliaments on the Continent were not able to mc>et the situation. Liberty .was always subject to this great ,handicap. Those who believed in liberty allowed latitude of expression to those who believed in force, while those who believed in force immediately on getting power denied that latitude of expression to those who believed in liberty. For the world, one of the most serious manifestations of dictatorship was the spirit of militarism. Democracies, in the long run, stood for peace, but dictatorships always have been in history militaristic and always, as to-day, inclined to war.