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Stray Thoughts on Several Subjects

Let me at once own that the following crudities which I flatter myself by calling thoughts rippled through my brain-tank on a dismal, dreary, wet Wellington Sunday, which is only worse than a fine week-day in Dunedin. Hence I crave that when you have spluttered your disgust at having wasted your valuable student time in even scanning the first paragraph, you will then perhaps feel for the writer a certain compassion, by reason of the atmospheric conditions which were operating on an already cracked brain-tank.

Well, the first ripple splashed over a number of persons. The stone that caused the ripple was an article printed in "Quick March," the Returned Soldiers' paper, some little time ago. The purpose of the article was to point an accusing finger at the University man and woman for not having taken a proper part in the national life of New Zealand. And, my dear University men and women, isn't the accusation true? Or are we all too smugly self- satisfied, too engrossed in our pursuit of private ends, even to admit the accusation, much less to try to remove it. If we look round and review the men and women who have passed through our College we find numbers of these who are making for themselves successful careers as lawyers, doctors, teachers, scientists, and soldiers. We don't, however, find many of them sharing their success with the community. How few of them do we find taking an active part in the nation's business. Not for a moment do I disparage their attempts to make a success of their own business.

By all means let them do that, but at the same time can't they find time and opportunity to assist in the national business of moulding national life and character? Heaven knows, we have enough unsuccessful, impractical, pettifoggers trying to do the community's business when they are incapable of doing their own; perhaps they are worse than the plausible platitudinous politician who are successful to the extent that they bamboozle the people, and at the same time gather unto themselves considerable loot. Surely, however, we must be disappointed when we first think that this College of ours has been in existence over twenty-one years, and we then review the personnel of the various bodies that control the community's business in our district. Surely, too, we must feel a little shame when we think how seldom we read or hear any attempts by our University men and women to influence popular opinion. One wonders whether we are merely careless or whether we are callous to the needs of the community. Do we realise that our Government, for example, has, with a few notable exceptions, been in the hands of a motley crowd of self-seeking, power-pursuing politicians whose care for the community has been consistently placed second to self-interest? Do we realise that the majority of these politicians have neither the brains nor the training ever to lead the people along lines of sound moral and material progress? Do we realise that the majority of our so-called leaders spend their most anxious moments trying to follow and not lead the vote-weilding mass, trying to find out what the people clamour for, and then give it to them? Do we realise that this type of politician succeeds only because so few try to educate public opinion towards demanding a capable and honest type of representative? Let us come nearer home: think of the last local body elections in Wellington. Do you think that the majority of the candidates could bring the influence of the trained and educated mind page 27 to bear on the community's business? Look round you and survey the numerous societies and institutions that exist for some public purpose: your survey again will, or should, disappoint you. No; a fair consideration of these questions must force us to admit that so far the University men and women have not taken up their proper burdens in the life and business of the community. Never was the need greater and the call more urgent than now. Out of the war have arisen a multitude of acute problems which demand the most highly-trained brains in the country for their solution. If these problems be not speedily and correctly solved, then we are threatened with chaos. The men of the University have rendered the nation magnificent service—perhaps more so than any other section in the community—during war time. They must not fail the community in times of peace and reconstruction after war. Democracy to-day in this country, as in other parts of the world, is threatened by the doctrine of brute force and anarchy. There is a large section of the community which, through no fault of its own, is becoming increasingly lawless, disloyal, brutish, and dangerous. The fault is not theirs. The blame must fall equally on the politicians of the past and the new class of unscrupulous demagogue who flourish and grow fat on the scum which rises from the ferment which they create by stirring up all that is base and worthless in the more ignorant of our citizens. Let the University men and women realise their opportunity to-day, and seek to assist in the solution of our national problems, and thereby help not only to preserve our nation, but to create new and better conditions of life for the people. Are you going to join the ranks of the active workers for the nation, or are you going to stand idly by and watch the country being overwhelmed in a deluge of anarchy born of ignorance?

My second ripple is just an eddy from the first. It splashes over some of the students of to-day. One cannot at times but feel that too many of the students of to-day are making a mistake in their views of a University education. Too many are in such a degraded hurry to get educated that they miss the best in University life, and finish their course perhaps more ignorant than when they started it. True enough, they may have crammed up enough compressed knowledge to scramble through an examination, and perhaps even enough to walk over others in the scramble to earn a living afterwards. But apart from this bread-and-butter knowledge, have they gained any real knowledge? Has their outlook on life broadened? Are they better citizens than when they entered the College? In most cases one can say "Yes" in answer to these questions. There are still too many cases where the contrary is true. Probably the greatest cause of such a state of affairs is the lamentable lack of a residental College, and the consequent lack of opportunity for interchange of ideas outside the class-room. Many, however, fail to take advantage of the opportunities that do exist. The various student institutions and societies are an invaluable educational factor in the life of a student. They are not dens of iniquity, as "Parent and Guardian" would have you believe. They provide the only opportunity in your College life to exchange ideas with your fellow-students and to study human nature. Further than that, they provide you with a training which is invaluable if you are to take your proper position in the wider life of the community after you leave the College. For these reasons it is lamentable that there are still so many who dash breathlessly up to College for lectures, and dash away again immediately after the close of the lecture, and who never betray the page 28 slightest interest in their fellow-students. If you want to enjoy your time at College, and look back on it afterwards as the best time of your life, get busy and take your part in the student life.

My third ripple concerns—Oh! I must stop, as the baby is beginning to cry!

Quis.