The Otago Witness WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MEROURY. (TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1923.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3593, 23 January 1923, Page 39

The Otago Witness WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MEROURY. (TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1923.) THE WEEK.

•Jn al ' Ud natura ’ * Uud »«Pienti» dixit.* Fowl** 1 n * tßr ® * ood sen *« moit ever The extreme delicacy of the relations between France and Great Britain in regard to the situation in Germany is. einphasised in the decision of the Daily Telegraph not to publish Mr Lloyd George’s seventh article, which was written prior to the deepening of the gravity of the situation in the Ruhr. The reasons which have actuated the editor in coining to this decision are stated to be ‘‘the difficulty of' the international situation and the importance of maintaining—notwithstanding present differences—the friendship that was sealed by Britain and France’s common services in the war.” In his sixth article Mr Lloyd Qeorge characterised the French advance on Essen as the beginning of a movement “the most far-reaching and the most sinister in its consequences that has been witnessed in Europe for many centuries,” and allowing for the writer’s fondness for dramatic language, it is probable that these words are by no means an over-statement of the case. Sir Robert Horne, addressing the English Speaking Union in New York, appealed strongly to the United States to ‘‘furnish some fresh idea to deal with the great problems affecting the human race,” for “he looked in the end to the situation being saved by the sagacity of the American people, who were able to take a more detached viewpoint, and whose influence was overwhelming.” American opinion on the international situation, however, is so divided that no official action is to be anticipated, and the endeavour to compromise has so far proved a failure. According to the Washington correspondent of the New York Times, dissatisfaction with the* conduct of American foreign affairs is widespread among the Senators. “The Trreconcilables want a clear-cut stoppage of participation in after-war European affairs,’’ and the present methods of halfway participation are declared to be more likelv to bring harm than good. With America keeping out of the imbroglio, and Great Britain content to simply mark-time, France and Belgium are bent on “improving the shining hour. if the phrase be not a misnomer, and this in spite of Germany’s stolid passive resistance. Already a number of the mines in the Ruhr have been requisitioned and are being operated under direct orders by French, Belgian, and Italian engineers ; at the same time French foresters are at work on the German State forests and the first shipments of timber are ready for dispatch to France and Belgium. It is also stated that the French authorities have assumed control of all the German banks, credit institutions, and tax-

France, Germany, and Great Britain.

collecting agencies, and the old and newlyoccupied territory, and that 1 ranee and Belgium have taken control of the Customs and have established Customs ports in the occupied area. The German authorities have proclaimed a strike \hroughout the State mines on. the Ruhr, but, despite this passive resistance, the French press are confident “of a final result in the contest against German obstinacy.” Apparently the French Government is determined to pursue its present policy to the bitter end, even though that end prove to be German disintegration. In which result, Mr Lloyd George ventures to prophesy that “France will have lost her reparations, only retaining the hatred of an implacable foe. ’ Calmly and impartially’ considered, the European situation appears even more critical than during the fateful days of July, 1914. The possibilities are so tremendous as to make the world hold her breath; and, alas, the prospect of a permanent and peaceful settlement to-day seem further off than ever. The ridicule heaped upon the Dominion in respect of its attempts <t literary censorship l.as called forth some semblance of defence on the part of at least two representatives of the Government, the Controller of Customs and the Minister of Internal Affairs, neither of whom, curiously enough, has really very much to do with the matter. According to specific Ministerial statements, the decision as to what, books and pamphlets shall and shall not -be allowed to enter the Dominion rests with the Attorneygeneral, who, presumably, acts upon the advice c.f someone in his or some other Government department, and whose identity, for obvious reasons, is not disclosed. In addition to the prohibition of the Attorney-general, the police may, in glaring cases, take action under the Indecent Publications Act, and experience has shown that action. *in this direction ordinarly has the effect of creating a demand for the publication which the police seek to ban. From the point of view both of the public and the bookselling trade, the situation as disclosed in the press comments and cable messages is in the hghest degree unsatisfactory, since it appears well nigh impossible to set a standard by which to judge whether books and publications shall be permitted or prohibited. Obviously it is impossible for any person to efficientlv supervise all the books brought into the Dominion ; it has been estimated that to keep pace with the printing presses of Great Britain alone rt would be necessary to peruse 30 volumes daily, Sundays included, on every day of the year; and besides all this there are the 'American books to be considered. It may be taken for granted, therefore, that only when a book or publication is especially brought under the notice of the mysterious censor does the Attorneygeneral instruct the censor to prohibit its entrance, and long before this occurs the booksellers will have ordered their supplies. To make matters worse the Customs authorities, so we are informed, refuse to allow such prohibited books to be returned to the source of origin; thus a bookseller who ordered supplies in perfect good faith has to face a dead loss on the transaction, at the same time having the knowledge that books of a far more pernicious character are permitted free sale. The Customs authorities, for instance, have made a dead set upon pseudomedical books dealing with sex matters, which are allowed free circulation in Great Britain, which from their very nature only make appeal to a limited public. On the other hand, hundreds of novels are allowed to circulate which, while perhaps they can not be classed as openly indecent, are distinctly pornographic in their tendency. In a recent booklet entitled “Moral Poison in Modern Fiction” Mr R. Brimlev Johnson, a wellknown critic and hook reviewer, says: “Without hesitation I would maintain that an immense number of novels now being written contain much moral poison. ’ This is the situation which has to be faced, and to censor any such novels is only to increase their cireula.tion, by reason of the curiosity which prohibition invariably excites. The root cure for the evil is not a drastic censorship, such as prevails in America under the Comstock Law, and which has created an undesirable condition of things in the United States, but by educating the popular taste. Readers trained to, revel in the best of literature will habitually recoil against the worst. » The deliberations -of the Seriate of the New Zealand University serves to throw into strong relief the chaotic condition into which education in the Dominion, both primary and higher education, has drifted, and the conflicting opinions of those charged with the responsibility of carrying out the educational scheme. The retirement of the Chancellor of the University, Sir Robert Stout, may be said to mark the dividing of the ways, since the retiring Chancellor has ever stood for the old order, and has “stoutly” oppose*— if the play upon words be permissible in this connection —the new ideas promulgated by the younger and more modem professors. It is impossible to over-estimate the services rendered to education in New Zealand by Sir Robert Stout, who, however, has come to the deliberate decision that his work is done' in this direction, his day has passed, and the time has come for the direction of affairs to be in the hands of younger men, who more closely represent the ideas and aspirations of a newer generation. It cannot be denied that, speaking generally. New Zealand, once in the forefront of educational ideals, has now fallen behind in the educational race; and this largely because the high standards set by the pioneers of the Dominion have become obscured by the ntilitarianLsm of a subseouent generation. The ideal of an education which was an end in itself has been allowed to become sub-

The Censorship ol Literature.

The Senate and Higher Education.

ordinate to the lower level of an education which should lead to earning a living, and the pursuit of this lower level has had disastrous consequences. The fact that in March next there will be celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the Otago Province may serve to anew direct attention to the lofty educational ideals of the Otago pioneers, ideals which connected progress and prosperity with the highest possible educational attainments. The discussions in the Senate have once more brought into prominence the difficulties inevitable from the composition of the New Zealand University, difficulties which, it has been suggested, may be solved by the creation of four independent but closely co-operating Universities. The discussions on the respective merits of the special schools and the location of such schools does but emphasise the existing difficulty. And while the Senate has for the present rejected the suggestion, the rejection is at best but the postponement of a. professed solution.