The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1926.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3754, 23 February 1926, Page 51

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1926.) THE WEEK.

"Nunqoam allud nature allud saplentia dixit" —JUVXKAL. “Good nature and good sense must ever join.”-* POPH.

Bu*h Fires in victoria.

Only those who have lived in Australia and who have experienced

the damage and devastation which accompany

these conflagrations arc able to appreciate the amazing rapidity with which a bush fire can travel over a drought-stricken region. When once the fire has fairly gained a hold, then fanned by a strong wind, it feeds on fuel in its path and sweeps everything before it. Roads are overleaped, miles of fencing disappear as if by magic, outhouses are attacked, homesteads are and sheep and cattle, men and women flee affrighted before the devouring flames. The bush fires which occasionally occur in the Dominion are as nothing compared to the widespread fires in the backblocks of the Commonwealth, of which one of the worst in the record of Australia was re ported last week, • attended not only by grievous loss of valuable stock and pro perty, but by a lamentable loss of life. The only parallel to the recent bush fires in Victoria and New South Wales is probably to be found in the prairie fires in the Western States of America, the terrifying nature of which is attested by many descriptive writers, and which have furnished novelists and poets with material for thrilling situations. The unfortunate circumstance in connection with these disastrous happenings is that they almost always have their origin in criminal carelessless, if not, indeed, deliberately started. Suggestions in this direction have been made concerning the Victorian fires, but nothing has been definitely proved. The consequences of such carelessness is pathetically illustrated in the tragic descriptions which have been published of mothers vainly attempting to save the lives of their children and of entire townships virtually destroyed by the raging clement. The deepest sympathy will be felt for all the unfortunate sufferers, and the hope may be expressed that the moral of the tragedy will not be entirely lost. Too great care cannot be exercised by campers, picnickers, and others who light fires in country districts, since to utilise a phrase made famous by a great writer: “Behold, how great a blaze a little fire kindlcth.”

Tho University and the People,

Professor Shelley, of Canterbury College, has a reputation for say-

ing startling things. Indeed, he sometimes rides his hobbies to an extent

which deprives his utterances of their proper force and influence. Addressing the Dominion Conference of the Workers’ Educational Association, Professor Shelley expressed the opinion that the Universities of New Zealand were only Technical Colleges for training for the professions, and that the nearest approach to a real University in the Dominion to-day was to be found in the Workers’ Educational Association. Bearing in mind the well-known predilections of the speaker and the occasion of the deliverance, the opinion thus

expressed will give no cause for .surprise, j but it embodies one of those* half truths which are extremely misleading, if not absolutely dangerous. At the same time, the meeting in Dunedin of the Senate of the University of New Zealand, coinciding as it does with Professor Shelley’s speech, should serve to direct attention to the wide divergence of opinion which exists even amongst those whose business it is to control and direct University affairs in the Dominion. That divergence was seen in the conduct of the Senate’s annual meeting, a considerable amount of valuable time being occupied in discussing points of order, discussions which served to accentuate the differences of opinion on important principles ami which were barely concealed beneath the points of order. These differences are so difficult of harmonising as to lead the Government last year to appoint a University Commission, which, after examining exhaustively into the internal economy of the several colleges comprising the New Zealand University, has made a comprehensive report, which it is the business of the F unto to pass judgment upon after due deliberation. In this report various reforms are recommended, some of which call for legislative enactment, such as the question of four separate Universities and the nature of the affiliation of the separate colleges to the one University. Other of the reforms dealing with requirements for degrees and other relative matters come within the comprehension of the Senate itself, while yet other matters pertain to the routine work of each college. On all these points more or less difference of opinion prevails, and to expect anything approaching to unanimity of opinion would be the height of optimism. The discussion, however, may help to clear the air, and the business of the Senate is therefore likely to arouse rather more than the usual interest.

Germany and the League.

The interest aroused by Germany’s application for admission to the

League of Nations in terms of the Treaty of Locarno has given rise to

all kinds of rumours, and lias aroused a certain amount of feeling, the outcome of alleged diplomatic intrigue. It is nowasserted that the rumours had their genesis in a good-natured promise made by Sir Austen Chamberlain to M. Briand £hat he would support the giving of a permanent seat on the Council of the League to Spain •as a counterpart to the inclusion of Germany, thereby preserving the proportional representation of the Latin nations on the Council. According to the Constitution of the League the permanent members of the Council are four in number, representing Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, which Germany's admission will increase to five, and should Spain be made a permanent member of the Council, to six. In addition, there are six non-permanent members elected annually to the Council. It is stated that the matter of Germany's admission will be the sole question submitted to the Committee which meets in Geneva on March 8, and that a vote of the Assembly will first be taken on Germany's admission, the question of a permanent seat on the Council being subsequently voted upon. Sir Austen Chamberlain has definitely stated that the British Government has not decided on its attitude towards the enlargement of the League Council. There has also been a denial, on the usual “high authority,” of the report that Great Britain had agreed to the proposal that permanent se°*" on the Council should be awarded to Poland, Spain, and Brazil, in addition to Ger many. It was the rumour of this proposal which led to the remark of a Labour member in the House of Commons that Canada’s representation on the Council is as important to the peace of the world as the representation of Brazil. All this lends point to the statement of the diplomatic correspondent of the Daily Telegraph that British Ministers are daily becoming more aware of the difficulties attending any substantial enlargement of the League Council. Tt also illuminates the opinion expressed by Mr James Beck, former Solicitor-general of the United States, that America’s refusal to enter the League because its constitution was structurally false to the basic principle of the equality of sovereign States would be helpful in rebuilding the League on sounder foundations. Sweden’s projected action in regard to Germany’s admission to the League has also an important bearing upon the situation.

Bishops and Modernism.

Tlie extent to which Modernism has pone-

trated the warp and woof of the Anglican Church is strikingly indicated in the cabled utterances of

two prominent bishops. The Bishop of Birmingham—the Right Rev. E. W. Barnes—has proved himself relentless in regard to orthodox ideas in a valorous attempt to keep his theology abreast of modern science. • He has already jettisoned much that hitherto has been regarded essential to Christianity: he has now gone a step further, and, with Dean Inge as companion, has declared himself in favour of the sterilisation of the unfit. Addressing the Eugenics Society, Bishop Barnes expressed tho opinion that the prevention of tho survival of the socially unfit was in accordance with the Divine plan for the progress of humanity. “God,"’ said the bishop, “was making mau increasingly the master of his own fate, but we must not make an environment in which the feeble minded, criminals, and insane could multiply rapidly.” The utterance has been applauded by Engenists and medical men generally, but it has created consternation in clerical circles. Bishop Gore, for instance, is in n dilemna between what he has dubbed the “horrible, abominable canker" of radical modernism and tho narrow Uigoty of fundamentalism,

[ and lie instate that there is a middle way. Breaching in St. Paul’s Cathedral in defence of Christianity against the attacks of sceptical intellectuals and doubting philosophers, the white-haired septuagenarian bishop made certain concessions to the spirit of the age, but at the sanso time uttered a warning against the domination of the situation and the delusion of idea propagated by revolutionary modernists. He admitted that the Bible can no longer be accepted as an infallible historical document, and that parts of it must be discarded before the startling discoveries of science. “We are," added Bishop Gore, “living in an age of disillusionment, discouragement, and criticism, and we must face the task of disentangling Christianity from antiquated ideas.” Which serves to show the extreme. difficulty which attends upon the vocation of a minister of religion in the present perilous days.