The Otago Witness WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, MAY 15, 1928.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3870, 15 May 1928, Page 47

The Otago Witness WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, MAY 15, 1928.) THE WEEK.

"Nunquam aJltid natura, allud saplentla dixit." •JtjrtsxL “Bood nature and good seaao must oxer ioin.”«~ ?ora.

Perplexitics of Politics.

The forthcoming election campaign in the Dominion promises an un-

t usual degree of interest by reason of the perplexi-

ties which it presents. There is one clear issue, viz., whether or not the Reform Party shall continue in power with the present Prime Minister as leader, but any number of side issues are being introduced in the endeavour to cloud the main issue. Among the side issues the most prominent at the moment is the emergence of the United Political Party, an organisation which is proceeding upon quite a novel plan. It appears on the political horizon as a party minus two important essentials —it has no policy and it lacks a leader, but it possesses an astute publicity manager, who is apparently responsible for the circulation from time to time of progress reports regarding the prospects and position of the organisation. The novelty of the procedure consists in its order. [First of all candidates are being selected, and a number of names have already been announced. Presently, when these candidates are sufficiently numerous, a conference is to be summoned, when’ the selected candidates will produce a policy and select a leader. The simplicity with which is launched this organisation of a leaderless, policyless party argues a faith in human nature to which the experienced politician has long ago breathed a cynical farewell. The future activities of the United Political Party will be watched with interest not unmixed with amusement.

Pledges and Perturbations.

While the presence in the field of three political parties is calcu-

lated to increase the perturbations of the average

elector, those perturbations will he greatly increased owing to the habit of pledge taking and pledge exacting, which seems likely to reach its apogee during the coming campaign. There is a great gulf fixed between the Reform Party, pledged to the upholding of sound, constitutional government, and the Labour Party, ready to experiment with the fortunes of the Dominion by all manner of mad and dangerous Communistic schemes, apart from which scarcely any other direct political issue is before the country. On the other hand public interest in any number of quarters is focussed upon such questions as Licensing Legislation, Bible-in-schools, Summer Time, Penal Reform, and educational efficiency and administration, questions which oidinarily should be decided by individual judgment, the expressions of which certainly sway and influence a large number of votes, quite apart from ordinary party considerations. The Labour Party’s Conference has devised an ingenious scheme to extricate its candidates from an evident difficulty. They came to the agreement: “ Candidates selected by affiliation to the New Zealand Labour Party to stand for any

parliamentary, municipal, or local body position shall sign the pledge of the party, and shall not allow themselves to be bound to give political support to any society, organisation, or group not directly affiliated with the Labour Party.” Whether or not the hesitating Labour candidate may not find himself out of the frying pan into the fre "is a matter of conjecture. That so much precise pledge taking hampers the usefulness and lowers the dignity of members .of Parliament there can be no question at all.

The Ministry of Women.

Mr Baldwin has voiced his belief that in

years to come the passing if of the Bill giving votes to women at the age of -21

on the same terms as men will be reckoned not the least among the achievements of the great Conservative Party in the Homeland. Thus what for many years has been a commonplace in the dominions is counted a tremendous reform in the Homeland. The visit to New Zealand of so famous a speaker and preacher as Miss Maude Royden serves as a reminder that giving the vote to women has not- been followed, as was anticipated, by any entry in large numbers of women' into' public life. With one or two exceptions women candidates x for parliamentary or municinal honours are rare indeed—the majority of New Zealand women appear quite content to leave the onerous task of public life to men. And despite the fact that the granting of the vote to women in Britain is comparatively a new departure, women have won their way into almost all the professions, the pulpit not excepted. Miss Royden affords a striking example of the fact that a gifted woman is aided rather than handicapped by the accident of sex; the very fact that she is a woman serves to excite curiosity and to attract large audiences. The mind of a woman is not easily turned away by superficialities; she goes straight for the essentials, which is the reason for Miss Royden’s assertion that theologv would have progressed and been more clear and concisely presented had the body of the theologians taken women with them into conference. Miss Royden’s visit will certainly stimulate thought and action along the lines of the things that matter ; indeed her tour throughout the Dominion gives proof that when women undertake a project they do it thoroughly and well.

Science and Immortality.

Sir Arthur Keith’s dogmatic assertion that “ scientists and medi-

I cal men agree that there is no evidence to support the assumption that the

1110 cuobUllipilun LHdL LUC spirit survives after the brain ceases to function ” has called forth a number of protests, and has elicited from him the modification that he does not think his statement destroys the belief in immortality. Sir Oliver Lodge is well to the front in proclaiming the spiritualistic view, and he advances the theory that the brain is simply the instrument employed -jy the mind, and that the dissolution of the brain does not necessarily entail the destruction of the mind. A number of bishops and other clerics maintain the Christian -view of immortality, and the discussion is exciting widespread interest. Some four or five years ago there was published a symposium, on immortality in which a number of eminent scholars summarised the opinions generally held by the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Indians of their conceptions of immortality, together with the Christian idea, the philosophic conceptions, and the ethical basis of immortality and the scientific view. Some introductory comments contributed to the volume by Lord Ernie may fittingly be quoted as throwing light upon the discussion : —

If men die shall they cease to live? There' is no other question that has stirred human hearts so deeply for so long a period over such vast spaces of the habitable globe. More than 10,000 years ago it was asked of ancient Egypt, and she made answer that immortality was an axiom of life. From the earliest literature of the Aryan-speaking race comes a reply which in effect is similar. In the primitive philosophy of almost all the savage races of which we have any knowledge appears a belief in the distinction between the human body and the soul, which gives it individual life and character, and is the continued spiritual existep.ee of this personal self, apart from the body which it has animated. No religion, whether it be of one God or of many or of none, has swayed great masses of mankind unless it has met the question : and all are agreed that the soul survives death.