A New Age

Ideas change: change is the order of life. The New Zealand environment changes, though some people will never believe it. A university changes, though changes, it is said, do not become it. And among the colleges of the New Zealand University, even Victoria College—the youngest though it be, and I'enfant terrible though it is—has witnessed some remarkable changes during its sweet, young life. It has looked with wild surmise at a changing world; it has seen an age of steam giving way to an age of electricity, wireless and aviation; it has seen an age of comparative democracy giving way to an age of bureaucracy. It has taken its part in the greatest war in history, and it has seen the greatest empire in the world emerge successful and intact. And now, it can see growing up in civilised states an appreciable section of public opinion in favour of the abolition of war; it will see, in the future, this section grow more influential as the significance of these changes is grasped.

In the past, conditions have been different; they have been such that civilised nations stood to gain by wars. Large fertile portions of the earth were lying unused, but the European wars of the last four hundred years have witnessed their acquisition by the European races. Now all the temperate and most of the tropical regions are held by civilised peoples, and moreover, the sentiment of nationality has become so pronounced that the absorption of one civilised nation by another seems well nigh impossible. At the same time, the idea is gaining 'ground that misfortune for one nation has unfortunate effects for all the others.

One of the most momentous factors in the changing environment is the rise of the coloured peoples. Japan so far has won through; China is stirring uneasily. The Pacific, where the colour question is coming up, is therefore credited with having largely in its keeping the future of the world. Is the supremacy to go to the White Race or the Yellow Race? If to the White Race, will it be to America or Great Britain? That is the new problem. In the meanwhile, new inventions, improved communications, the spread of education, are changing the face of the world, and these things are already having effects the ultimate results of which nobody can foretell. Already they have brought about increased intercourse between widely separated nations, which year by year are becoming more interconnected and more economically dependent. At the same time, new munitions of war threaten with extermination whole populations. In all directions, great changes and new circumstances are altering the case for war, and under these new circumstances war will bring no spoils, not even to the victor.

An age of individualism has gone; an age of co-operation has come, and red tape and bureaucracy seem the inevitable accompaniments. In politics, men of the Gladstone and Bismarck type are now hardly possible; the Lloyd Georges, Hardings and page 54 Ramsay Macdonalds are taking their place. The age of imperial and commercial expansion is, for most nations, at an end; there are no more worlds for them to conquer, and so they are beginningto reorganise their own resources and to remould their methods of industry and commerce. One notes in this connection the various schemes proposed for the production, the marketing, and the distribution of goods; one can point as well to the activities of labour, commercial, and professional organisations; one can point, if not too frightened, to the changing character and functions of parliament. Changes such as these touch life at all points, being reflected in the popular attitude towards everything—literature, art, recreation, manners and the fashions all included.

New Zealand.—A young and isolated country left lonely and apart in the South Pacific. The people descended from a conservative British stock, have in some ways been compelled by the conditions of their life to step aside from the onward current of human progress. New Zealanders, for instance, are sometimes accused of indifference to the finer things of life; literature, art, music, it is said, do not interest them overmuch. Our environment, we are told, makes for materialism and conservatism. At the same time, it is admitted that the standard of life for the masses is fairly high, but even they are considered to be too innately conservative to make a wise use of the opportunities that legislation and education are placing within their reach. In short, New Zealand is a conservative country, not nearly so progressive in practice as its advanced legislation would lead the world to believe. Thus, at any rate, write some of the strangers who have been within our gates, and they often instance, as evidence, the position accorded to women in public and professional affairs. Some mention with amused surprise the teaching profession, where well tried and capable women are not considered fit to hold certain positions of responsibility where the education of girls and women students is concerned.

The Fashions.—In spite of all this, New Zealand is not so black as she is painted; she is most up-to-date in the fashions for clothes. Convincing evidence on that point lies all round. One can even venture to say that an attempt to foist the crinoline on New Zealand would be met with ridicule and contempt. One may go even farther, and assert with perfect safety that our fashions are so far advanced that they would have aroused indignation and hostility in the Victorian Era. After all, in spite of what the critics say, New Zealand has obviously moved with the times. And New Zealanders would be even prouder of their country (if that were possible) if they were only able to understand that their insistence on the latest in socks, ties, and hats indicates qualities of the highest and profoundest order. It indicates far more than individual taste and caprice: it indicates a receptive attitude of mind to new ideas. Incidentally in the mind of Pro Bono Publico—bless him—this attitude indicates ideas of great social and economic importance about the entry of women into commercial and professional life. No wonder Shakespeare and Solomon attached such importance to the fashions.

And Victoria College, too, must move with the times and adapt herself to these important changes. Universities have been called the most conservative institutions under the sun, but signs are not wanting in Wellington that even a University College can have a receptive mind towards the latest jazzes and frocks. This page 55 certainly encourages one to hope that the College will not be utterly impervious either, to ideas about the British Empire, Proportional Representation, the League of Nations, and other serious subjects. Victoria College certainly began life well: it began with a strange motto—"Wisdom is More than Gold." True, the motto is hard to understand, and difficult to put into practice, but it has one great virtue—it lends itself to many interpretations.

To end with some "good advice"; what passed for wisdom in times that are past may not be wisdom in present times. So let not strict age and sour severity—that is, ex-students and others—look askance at the young people when they interpret wisdom in terms of their own age and understanding. The young are not the only sinners in this respect. We ourselves do it; everybody does it; but in the long run, nearly everybody comes to interpret wisdom in terms of gold. Howbeit, the wisest man in history interpreted it in terms of pleasantness and peace.

N. E. Coad.