PASSING NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25672, 21 October 1944, Page 3

PASSING NOTES

As the National Council of Womer is in the limelight this week it will b< courteous to begin with a current prob lem of interest to women. Recently th< Scottish Church General Assembly de cided to allow women to be eligibh for election as elders in the church But the Scots are a cautious people For, although the proposal was carriec by a large majority, it still require: ratification by a two-thirds majority o: the presbyteries. This is under < church law known as the Barrier Act which is also in force in the church ir New Zealand. We might wish that s Barrier Act controlled our hasty Par liament so that its legislation had t< be confirmed by two-thirds of oui county councils and borough councils If this involved too much delay, le us restore the old Provincial Govern ments and require their consent to important changes in our laws. Thi: would provide a valuable reform, for a present we are cursed by over-central isation. To return, however, to the womer elders. This reform is also to be askec for in New Zealand at the next Gen eral Assembly of the Presbyteriar Church. As fashion is said to rule thi world ih every sphere and strikes art in fashion to-day the National Counci of Women might help forward the righ of women to become elders by threat ening to withdraw all women from th< churches, and as women are the mair support of the churches the Genera Assembly would yield, perhaps withou a struggle. It might even ignore th< Barrier Act, But once elected, hov shall we address the lady elders? Ar anxious correspondent writes: " The clergy are in the habit of addressing the session as ‘ Fathers in Israel.’ Will the new method of address be ‘ Fathers and mothers in Israel ’? The present phrase is too habitual to be dropped, so one can foresee quite a thorny problem. It couldn’t be ' Fathers, mothers and spinsters in Israel.' Perhaps it would be ‘ Fathers, mothers and virgins in Israel,’ but that sounds a little archaic these days.’ ’’ But does not this correspondent in his anxiety to • define the status of ladj elders, overlook the fact that as well as spinster-elders there may be bacheloreiders? Hence if he is determined tc be precise he ought to say “Fathers brothers, mothers and sisters in Israel' or “Brethren and sisters in Israel”. Nc doubt the combined wisdom of thf grave and reverend elders and theii lady colleagues will discover some fom of address that is not too cumbrous and not too inaccurate. Major K. T. Harawira, a Maori padre of both world wars, declares that the colour bar is more obvious here than in England. In his view it is more marked now than it was after the last war. If this is true it is regrettable. Only at rare intervals does the question crop up in New Zealand. In the South Island, where the Maori race is merely a scattered remnant, the problem does not exist. In reply to Major Harawira, we are assured by the secretary of 'the Maori Advisory Council that no such prejudice exists. "A colour bar,” he says, “ suggests somo intention to frustrate the social and economic aspirations of a minority.” But is not this a complete misreading of the facts? When the colour bar arises is it not due to the fear of the white race that, being outnumbered by a coloured race, it will lose its own way of life and its own culture? For example, in India and South Africa the British, being in a hopeless minority, hold themselves aloof lest their standards and ideals may be smothered by the culture of a,friendly but alien race surrounding them. It is not that the standards of the Indians are any less praiseworthy than the British. It is merely that they are different, and the British do not wish to be different. In fact, it is always a minority, never a majority, that raises the colour bar. Hence if the question is arising in the North Island may it not be due to the rapid increase in the Maori population in some districts? It will be a strange irony if some day the Maoris once more outnumber us and by peaceful penetration regain control of their country. In that case it would be incorrect to say they had reconquered the country, for they never admitted that they had been conquered! • A correspondent whose interest was aroused by the quotation from the poet Southey in this column last week sends another extract from the poet’s works. This relates to New Zealand, and affords an amusing example of how little was known about this country at the time when Southey wrote in the early part of last century: On Zealand’s hills where tigers steal along And the dread Indian chants a dismal song; Where human fiends on midnight errands walk And bathe in brains the murderous tomahawk: There shall the flocks on thymy pastures stray. And shepherds dance at summer’s opening day. Our correspondent adds that these lines are quoted by Dr Merrington in his life of the Rev. Dr Burns intituled “A Great Coloniser.” The lines were recited in a farewell oration to the emigrants of the Bengal Merchant ,in October, 1839. “No doubt,” the correspondent adds, “ * the human fiends ’ and ‘ the murderous tomahawks ’ must have proved singularly attractive to those wh<? were embarking for unknown regions. For some reason he omits to mention thG tig6rs stealing along the

Every schoolboy knows (as Macaulay said) that money is falling in value. The economists say the history of money, shows a continuous process of depreciation or, .what may or may not b f . th i * ame thing, a steady growth of inflation. Hence we have to consult experts if we want to know the relative purchasing power of a penny .or a guinea in the time of good Queen Bess as compared with the present day. These reflections are prompted by a recent statement showing the average amounts paid in board by junior railway employees away from home. These amounts range from £1 15s 7d in Auckland to £1 9s 3d in Dunedin. Is it not curious to remember that the last, or second last, generation of youths could get excellent board and lodging in Dunedin, with three good meals a day and their clothes washed, for 15s a week? The present writer speaks from personal experience. In fact, on Sundays his good landlady often put some free bottles of beer on the table. Gone are those days of cheap living! No doubt wages were lower, but costs seem to rise quicker than wages. What will our old-age pension or age benefits be worth when we reach that distant goal? Will our declining days be blighted by starvation allowances owing to the fall in the value of money? Or will a. benevolent Government double the amount of money we are allowed to draw? Some people delight in collecting and correcting common misquotations. Here are a few recent examples, which may afford some industrious reader scope for research, as we have no opportunity to verify them. We often hear people in speaking of a* portent say. “A cloud no.bigger than a man’s hand” on the horizon. But Elijah’s servant did not possess a powerful telescope. and we are told (1 Kings xix: 44) that he saw “ a little cloud like a man’s hand ” —a very different thing, says the critic. Another frequent misquotation is from Gray’s Elegy:— Along the cool sequestered vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. This is invariably written and spoken of as “the even tenor” of their way. Again, the critic declares that "the pen is mightier than the sword ” carries quite a different meaning when its context is quoted. Beneath the rule of men entirely great, The pen is mightier than the sword. Some other examples must stand over in the meantime. Civis.