Sayings of the Week.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 6, 11 August 1909, Page 3

Sayings of the Week.

Socialism. 1 THINK Socialism is a mistake—that is, I believe that any State which nationalises land and nationalises industry will come to grief. I do not belive State ownership in one country can compete with private (enterprise in another. I can respect an honest Socialist however much I may differ from him, but I cannot possibly have any respect for men who are one day Socialists and the next day Individualists, just as it appears to suit their purposes, e— Mr W. Massey, M.P. * * * * The Polynesian Society. Your Polynesian Society has done a lot of good work; in fact, New Zealand is about the only one of the British colonies which has done anything of any magnitude in the way of examining into the lives and traditions of its primitive people. Things have been found in New Zealand which are unlike ordinary Maori things, but which by their very unlikeness help us to answer the question as to where the Maoris came from. These things may thus be very important links in chains of reasoning.— Professor Dixon, Harvard University. * * * ♦ The Examination Fetish. The two main evils of the examination system were that too much credit was given to the top man in the list of successful candidates, and that wrong educational standards were created. There was a tendency to regard an examination as an end in itself, and this was one of the things which a young university should strive io avoid. In the older universities, original work in science and lite"ature acted, so to speak, as a correction io the tendency referred to. One of tin most significant events of recent times It this connection was the abolition of the. Senior Wranglership at Cambridge. When the teachers of that university worked to replace that examination by the present system, they struck a blow at the examination fetish.— Professor Laby, Victoria College. * • • • Wool for Japan. There is one interesting feature which lias developed largely of late, and that is the export of wool to Japan. The country now regularly sends buyers to the Australian wool markets. It shows that the Japanese textile industries are by no means confined any longer to cotton, and that their woollen manufactures are assuming important dimensions.— Ur John Duthie, Wellington. * * * » Fighting for Trade. When we saw the feverish haste with which the nations were arming, it behoved us, who were proud of belonging to the greatest Empire in the world, to be up and doing. To discover the cause of the excessive haste among the nations in the matter of armament-'., one had only to look at the movement for preferential trade within the Empire. The other nations could see that it was time for them to fight for their trade and commerce. If ,We, on our part, saw another nation preparing to take our trade away, we should fight for it too. There was, however, nothing better to prevent war than being prepared to fight.—Hen., J. A. Millar. • • « • Better to Specialise. In a young university the difficulty is to do things well and thoroughly, and so avoid a shallow superficiality which Is the inevitable result of attempting to cover too much ground. It is better to Specialise in those subjects which offer congenial scope for intelligent and enthusiastic study, according to the particular bent of the student’s mind. The atmosphere of the university, and the social intercourse among the students would supply the broadening influences which would serve as an effective balance to specialised effort.— Professor Laby, Victoria College.

From Precedent to Precedent. Whatever comes, if it is good it will fce the result of a growth, and not of a contract, and, as far as I read British history nothing good is gained except by Continuity, by slowly broadening down

from precedent to precedent, and it will come by instinct rather than by set policy. I speak advisedly as one who has been over 30 years in the Colonial Office. I believe that the motive power must come from outside government, and not from within.— Sir Charles Lucas. • • • • Two Great Forces. If I judge rightly of the people of New Zealand, they appeal- to me to be actuated by two great forces. First, there is that

spirit of enterprise, self-reliance, indomitable pluck to which the Empire itself owes it very existence, and which was so characteristic of the old pioneers of New Zealand. But there is another force, and, perhaps, even a stronger one; the force of mutual self-sacrifice, and that is to be seen in her loyalty to the Empire and the sacrifices she has made for its welfare, and, nearer home, in her care for the children, for the old and sick, and in her thought for those who are to come after. —Mr A. A. Pearson, C.M.G. • < * • The Yellow Peril. Indians were not climatically suited to the conditions of Canada, but there were other - reasons —he might call them trade union reasons—against their introduction caused by the determination of the men in the country not to have their wages low’ered or a race introduced that could work for less because, on account of their physical qualities, they could live on less, and because on account of their habits they did not require such a high development of comfort. That was a point which must never be lost sight of. Great white communities could not be expected to allow their economic standard to be lowered in this way by a vast immi.

gration of those who could live on next to nothing, who could work longer hours, and who required none of those accessories of life to which the white population had been accustomed for centuries.— Colonel Seely, Under-Secretary for the Colonies. » • • • Are We Educated. In New Zealand it was a popular boast that the community was a highly educated one. It was true that most of the people living in New Zealand were able to read and write, but there were very few amongst them who would be able to conduct a scientific inquiry should it be required. It was in the direction of remedying this state of things that the educationalists of the future would have to devote their energies. — Professor Easterfield.

A Puny Infant. New Zealand, if the Empire failed, would be merely a puny infant squalling in the South Seas. Communication would be cut off with everyone outside, and the inhabitants would be reduced, like Andrew Lang’s islanders, to eking out a precarious existence by taking in one another’s washing.— Miss C. Freeman, Canterbury Navy League.

Clean Clutha. People should go to Clutha to see for themselves what good no-license had done. He was not going to say nolicense was an “absolute” success. What was? Even a rat trap could not be made an absolute success. Some rascal would get out. The same with no-license. There was always somebody to break the bounds. No-license was not a perfect success in Invercargill, but it was very close to a perfect success in Clutha. He would die quite content if he lived to see every part of the Dominion as clean as Clutha. —7ie-c. F. IF. Isitt. Not a Leg to Stand On. The British nation was becoming too luxurious in its habits altogether. What with motor-cars and motor-bicycles there would soon be no need for legs at all. The national life was not of a kind to

conduce to the progress or stability or any Empire. The Teuton race was the only one in Europe that was progressing in the matter of population. France w-as retrogressing, and Britain was standing still. Germany was determined to find a country where her people might expand under the double eagle, and she would find it—where, the future would tell. — Rev. E. Eliot Chambers.