NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22865, 21 October 1937, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS

ENGLISH NATIONAL THEATRE What we plead for is a theatre which can afford to give its support to modern work, to the revival of past work, not necessarily classical, to the presentation of foreign masterpieces, and, on the stage-craft side, to experiment in production and scenery—or absence of scenery, says Miss Edith Lyttelton, writing in the Times on tho aims of the National Theatre to be established in London. There is another point. Beside the plays, often of great beauty and distinction, which by their very nature do not appeal to large sections of the theatregoing public, and so are not commercial propositions, there are quantities of plays which drop undeservedly into oblivion after their long runs are over. Many such could be added to tho repertory of a National Theatre, and be presented from time to time, to the great advantage of both stage and audience. In fact, every Mattering description of the Old Vic is an argument in favour of an endowed National Theatre. JAPAN'S RISE TO POWER • 111 these last weeks Japan is climbing the last steps of the ladder which leads to world power, writes Mr. Gregory Bienstock in discussing the future of Japan. Eighty years ago Japan appeared a defenceless object of European and American colonisation; to-day she claims to be among the first to decide the future course of world history. The further developmcjit of her policy can take different paths. As at the beginning of this century, the problem of her relations with Russia must first be solved; War or Alliance? Thirty-five years ago Marshal Yamagata, against the will of that other great statesman, Marquis Ito Hirobumi, the friend of Russia, brought into being tho alliance with Britain against the fsarist Empire. What will be her decision to-day!" Equally, if not more, important is the problem ol Japan's relations with the two AngloSaxon sea Powers. If the passivity of London and Washington continues, Japan will soon force her will upon them. SCOPE OF MIGRATION The policy of promoting merely Empire migration gives rise to many doubts, says the Spectator. So far as the immigrants are to come from the British Isles, they will be precisely of the type of the young skilled worker, of which there is a lack rather than a surplus at the present time; while population statictics show conclusively that over the next 100 years Great Britain will be in no sense over-popu-lated, with a surplus of young men and women to spare for the Dominions or colonies. It is not Great Britain which suffers from the pressure of overpopulation; 011 the other hand, there are countries in which it is so severe, for various reasons, that it is one of the most effective causes of war. There arc also countries, like Germany, from which men and women are being driven out who would make the best possible kind of immigrants into the Dominions. So far as ire encourage a rigidly exclusive policy of Empire migration we shall be only provoking the dangers we wish to avoid.

THE MODERNIST'S PLEA Modernists affirmed that Christianity was not a static body of dogma, but a religion which grew in richness and value as new knowledge entered into and modified the Christian tradition, said the Bishop of Birmingham, Dr. Barnes, in addressing the Modern Churchmen's Conference at Cambridge. Whenever new knowledge conflicted with old beliefs they turned to the independent experts and accepted their conclusions. The fight between the good and evil in the human heart, between good men and bad men, would not end in any measurable time. But the stronger Christianity was because of its freedom from doubtful accretions the better would it be able to guide the feet of humanity into the way of peace. By accepting the new knowledge won by experts they did their best to prevent the divergence between Christian tradition and educated opinion which at the present time was growing, and was thereby bringing the Christian faith into increasing discredit.

MAN A SOCIAL ANIMAL Discussing the rival claims of the Individual and the Community, in his new book, "The Beloved Community," Canon Roger Lloyd says:—Put in an absurdly brief form, the argument ran as follows: It started front the axiom of Plato's "The individual is immortal and the State is not." Therefore the individual is the senior member of the partnership. He needs the State, and the State needs him; but he is an immortal soul, whereas the State is a temporal arrangement. Hence the State exists for his convenience, and he does not exist for the State's convenience. On this theme 1 have preached scm-es of sermons, and I have urged it again and again in articles and speeches. But I no longer believe it to be true, not, at any rate, in the form in which I have so often stated it. It now seems to me that a Christianity which takes account of all the facts must refuse to come down on either side of this fence, must decline to be communal at the expense of the individual, or individualistic at the expense of the community. To snv, 'The man is immortal, but the State perishes,' looks obvious enough on the face of it. We cannot seriously suppose that in the next world we shall still be Englishmen, Frenchmen or Germans. But to say, 'The man is immortal, but the community perishes' is to bo pulled up at once by interior doubts. Does the idea and the achievement of fellowship perish? Xot if it is true to say that what happens in the world has eternal significance. And what J. do through my fellowship is just as significant as what I do in my solitariness Therefore, if I believe in the eternal significance of the single life, I must also believe in the eternal significance of the community life. Contrarywise, the community is not more important than is the least of its individual members. They share a common goal They are partners of squal honour, engaged in a common quest. They are both destined for God.