Lists (None yet)

Login to create lists

Comments (None yet)

Add New Comment

7 corrections, most recently by anonymous - Show corrections

MELBOURNE SOCIAL SCIENCE I

CONGRESS. ?

LITERATURE.

The sub section of the congress devoted to literature met on Thursday evening, in Glen's MUBIC hall, when the opening address was delivered by Mr David Blair, one of the vice presidents The Rev. Dr. 'lorrance pre

sided,

Mr Blair delivered tho opening address, from which we make the following e\

tracts -

THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE OF A NATIOV

The failuro of the Lnghsh mind to grasp tho conception of the true province and func tion of literature illustrates a peculiarity of the national intellect The peculiarity is also a defect The Enghah mind has thia defect, that it severely liiBiBtB upon viewing the national bfo exclusively on what it terms the practical side and baa small tolerance for whatsoever it deeniB purely abstract and theoretical Literature ia ranked in the latter theory It is something vague, inde finite, intangible It doea not give forth those viBible practical results for which the English mind is BO impatient Besides, the profession of literature is a very doubtful one for the son of any careful plodding father to adopt It is not recognised amongst the learned or amongst tho regular professions It does not put a young man on tho way of becoming a millionaire, ita gama, excepting in a few lucky exceptiona which prove the rule, are always doubtful and never lucrative, and, moreover, it Btnacks of Bohemiauism Was not there Goldsmith, and Savage, and Magmn, and theodore Hook, and byron warning examples ' Lven Alexander Pope who made a comfortable fortune by bia writingB, protested that he abandoned no lawful calling for the ' idle trade of adding mperishablü contributions to the treasury of his nations literature Tho traditionary sentiment survives to this hour The bright youth vexes tho aoul of hia father still when instead of engroaaing deeda in a clerkly hanl for that wortby but utterly unintellectual parent, at Is per folio, he ia detected penning a stanza Only to think of it ' \\hy the youth, by grinding away Bteadly at his ei)grossin0, might in time become a solicitor with a snug practice himself, whereas, hy perversely persisting in penning stanzas he may haply one day sink to the level of a Tennyson, a Keata, or a Cole ridge ' But, banter apart, it ia a very eenoua -almost fatal-defect m the mental conati

tution of any man, still more of any nation, that he (or it) never naea to the conception of the intellectual life aa an end, not aimply as a means to an end But of what value is human life if this be not the case ' Of none, or worse than none And this magnificent conception it is which the English mind Btill fails to grasp , and by the failure koopa ltaelf at a long diatauce be hind ultimate civ lhaation Aa for the colonial mind in thia connexion, tho less said the better Nevertheless, the fact stands as here asserted The intellectual life, alike for the individual and for the nation, ia fully aa valuable, aa important aa imperative a necea Bity aa the spiritual life and infinitely more important more valuable, moro imperitively needful, than ita barely material existence A nation can manage to get on very well with out the wealth that breeds luxury and hastens national decay , but it cannot get on at all witbout activo intellect Now, literature poatulatea the national intellectual life as an end in itaelf, and knowa nothing of it aa

merely a meena to an end

LITERATURE AND NATIONAL EDUCATION.  

Ihia being BO, it is plain that a system of state education becomes a primary national neccBBity No nation calling itaelf civilised, still less claiming to be Christian, can hold the principle that the great masa of ita population are merely beasts of burden for their wealthier and more fortunately circumstanced fellow citizens, and are bound to continue BO from generation to generation lho duty of the state to educate ita children ia primary, final, and imperative 'lhere is a habit, 1 am aware, of pleading for Btate education aa being needful to enable the children to earn their living when they grow up and also that the instruction imparted in childhood IB a clear set oh a0ainat con tinrent criminal habita in mature life Tne cost of schools saves the coat of gaola Prisoners coat more than pupils Now I heartily allow the validity of both pleas but I hold them to be totally unworthy of the cause Ihey are beggarly excuses rather than sound reasons Ihe true and un answerable argument for a state system of education IB that, wanting it masses of the population are left in the condition of beaata of burden and the intellectual life of the nation is starved and stilled Englishmen and Lngbshwomen muat on no account be left to grope blindly in the darkneaa of ignorance from age to age Lngland ia never weary of proclaiming to tile world that she holds heraelf bound to Christianiae her people, thia declaration would be a piece of intolerable cant and hypocr ay merely if there were included in it the tacit a"sumption that she ia not bound to eduevte them also The greater end includes the leBser The state school ia the neceaaary complement of the state church But even ina country where there ia no state church the people are bound to posaeaa a national intellectual life A Government that would deny this averment would deserve 8ummiry extinction Au individual denying it puts himself clean out of the court of R aaon Practical arguments and pra-tical objecta may be adduced in aid of this main propoai

tion, but the propoaition stands by ita own innate strength firm and unahal able A state sjstem of elementary education is nocossary in order to implant and foster intellectu ii life in the millions and in a country where there is not and cannot be a state church this object becomea the state a first and highest duty A truce to apoloyea ' No apology ia needed for the training and discipline which produces a Cirlyle, a Tennyson or a Glad stone-splendid personal illustrations of the national intellectual life

LITER VrUlE AS THE EXPRESSION 01 TIIL

tiUIONVL INTELLECTUAL LUI

It is a truiBin to remark that the literature of any nation IB the expresaion in laugua"c of its intellectual life Other and varied modeB of expression there are, no doubt the fine aria, for example But what a people think and feel ia regiatered in books Aa recorda of the national thought and feeling, booka take precedence of atatue3 paintings, buildings-even of temples and pyramids the coliseum and the aqueduct

A few sheets of inscribed parchment aurvive kingdoms, and outlive ommres, and when every vestige of the splendour and glory of Solomon s throne has perished, we are still

aa familiar w ith the intellectual character of the superb Hebrew Sovereign and his people as if he and they were our contemporaries Not a stone remains to attest that Joshua or Gideon or Samson overlived, but nevorthe less we are as familiar with the spiritual life of the timo of tbe JudgeB of ancient Israel as we aro with the spiritual lifo of the people of Victoria m 1830 Of Greece uudor Pericles, of Rome under Augustus of Lngland under Alfred, we have the fulleat and most minute knowledge Literature it ia that gives it to ua Our postulate ia eatabbahed by innumerable illustrations But now, if it bo the duty of a state to awaken and foster the intellectual life in ita people, and if literature be the expression of that life in written language, it ia, de monatrably, also the dutv of a state to encourage and chenab the growth of a national literature Indifference to the se condary duty IB neglect of the primary duty

HOW TO CKEATE AND FOSTER A I. VTION" VI

IITERATURE

We have now clearly before us the means, and the only means, by which a national literature can be created and fostered The superlative value of tho national intellectual life must bo recognised Popular education, as the first means of evoking and sustaining that life, must bo counted a primary duty of the state The higher education must bo generouBly, even lavisbly, endowed, both by the Btate and by wealthy citi/ena The ad vancement of learning must be accounted as the nobloBt use (aave one) to which wealth can be applied Tho intellectual life, both of the individual and the nation, must be rocog niBed as in itself an end, not merely aa a means to some lower practical end Culture must be valued for its own sake, aa tho richest of all personal possessions The aristocracy of intellect must be constituted Lastly, that same aristocracy muat form itaelf into a brotherbood for the promotion of the one Biipreme end AU objections to

these proposals, come from what quarter they may, must be laughed to scorn aa tho quibblcB of dotards or unreasoning bigots No tolerance muat be given to the obsoleto stupidity which denounces literaturo as dangerous to morals, hiatory aa heroay, poetry aa a Bin, philosophy as scepticism, science as atheism, the drama as an agency of the devil We muBt allow of no index ezpmgatorw, Bavmg for publications that openly outrage pure and wholesome morals We must all of us within the intellectual region be true Catholics The brotherhood of the aristocracy of intellect must work together, each m his sphere, and all unitedly, for the practical verification of the cardinal truth, that tbe temporal salvation of a free democracy like our own can only be achieved through the intellectual emancipation of tho people Nor must the worker in the domain of religion distrustfully or doubtfully hesitate to co oporate with the intellectual brother- hood in their laboura, but must rather hail them as brethren and co workers. AU good ends are aubserved by whatsoever Bubservea one good end. Tbo creation and fostering of

a national literature through the means I have enumerated will likewise tend, as Bacon truly asserts, to the glory of God and the

relief of man a estate

Mr J HINCBTOV propoaed a vote of thanka to Mr Blair for hiB address Ho was a gen tleman who knew well what he waa speaking about, and was the rifebt man in tho right

place

Mr STUMS seconded the proposal, which was unanimously carried

Mr BLAIR briefly acknowledged the compli

ment

Mr TunNEn thought that in his reference to colonial literature Mr Blair liad not suffi

cientl) considered that we wero living m the first generation of Victorians and that we ha 1 scarcely arrived at the primo of our power Nationality in literature must necessarily be of slow growth but we had already produced several excellent writers Allowance muat alao be made for the busy nature of our com munit) and when tina had been aomowhat overtaken ho thoueht that a literature woul 1 be developed which waa peculiorly Auatra han The germa of this were already Bhow ing on the surface

Mr J Fihcvcox referred to tho poems of Adam L Gordon which ho considered wero unequalled His Bush Rides might be regarded as tho foundation of Australian

national literature

Mr BLAIU m reply pointed out that they had amongat them thatovemnt, a gentleman Australian to tho tips of Ina naila who had written aome travelled sketches equal to those of Kinglake Warburton and Ihacko ray HiB îmtiala wero James Hingston (Laughter and applauae )

THE MLLUOUKM. i UIILIC rinnAnY

Dr 1 TniUAULi contributed a paper On the Public librar) of Melbourne the dualities Required in the Librarian and the Necesaity of Conatructing a Catalogue Raiaonn After praising the formation and contenta of the 1 ubhc Librar) tho writer contended thatjthe only man deserving of the name of librarian must bea true bibliographer in tho most noble sense of the word and that tho future and

high character of the Public Library would chiefly depend upon the qualifications in this respect of the librarian to be appointed anl upon this alao depended the degree of reputo or of obacunty to which the institution might be possibly raised or aunk It waa an imperative necessity for the librarian to kno v how to diatinguiah the works of merit from the innumerable crowd of useless distasteful

and bad writings and thia waa taught only by theaciencoof bibliography Again among the good workB some ehtiona de served a preference over othera, and the libral ian muat know how to make this choice, and to be possessed both of Ililli classical attainments in every branch of ancient and modern literature Among the improve mentB in tho Library Buggested by the writer were-1 he comp etionof quite modern worka in all the branchea of acience and of 1 uro pean literature the suppression of all thoso worl a which are of no interest utility or merit and the compilation of a new and improved catalogue whicn might leave nothing to be desired in point of accuracy and completeness The production of auch a catalogue would be a work of immense value and would shed an incomparable lustre upon tho Library

Iho busineBB of the section concluded with a vote of thanks to the Rev Dr torrance for presiding at tho various meetings

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

The Jurisprudence section of the congress met on Friday afternoon at Glen's music-   hall, for the purpose of discussing papers on

"Proportional Representation" read on the   12th inst., by Professor Nanson, Mr. Gregory, and Mr B. Hale. Dr. W. E. Hearn, M.L.C.,     presided. About 50 gentlemen were pre-

sent.

Professor ELKINGTON explained that an ex-   perimental election of members of the con- gress had been held since the last meeting of the section for the purpose of demonstrating the practicability and feasibility of the sys- tem proposed by the readers of the papers. The members who had voted numbered 503 and there were supposed to be 11 candidates for five seats The result of the election was arrived at in an hour and a half. Professor Nanson's proposal, so far as simplicity was concerned, was found to compare most   favourably with the schemes based upon Mr. Hare's system.  

Professor Elkington then, by means of   blackboards, demonstrated the mode of deal-

ing with and distributing votes under each of   the proposed systems. Up to a certain point   Professor Elkington and Professor Nanson     agree. The returning officer ascertains the total number of votes polled, and determines a quota or number of votes sufficient for the   return of a candidate. This is arrived at by  

dividing the total polled by a number greater   by one than the number of vacancies. Should any candidate obtain more than his quota he is declared elected and the surplus votes are transferred proportionately to the candidates   with the next highest number of votes, no   candidate receiving more votes than will just suffice to elect him. When all surplus votes     are transferred the lowest candidate is   excluded, and the votes credited to him are transferred proportionately to the other can-   didates. This process is continued until all the vacancies are filled. Professor Nanson's   proposal differs in this respect. He provides   that each candidate shall, before the election, publish a list of the other candidates to whom the surplus, or useless votes given to him are to be transferred. Mr. Gregory, on the other hand, suggests that each selector shall by numbers indicate to whom in succession he wishes his vote--or any available part of it--to be transferred in the event of the candidate first indicated being rejected or having more than sufficient votes for his re-    

turn.

Mr. H. G. TURNER thought that Professor Nanson's proposal to empower a candidate   to name those to whom his surplus votes should go would give a very popular man the power to secure the return of some can- didates who were unpopular.

Professor NANSON explained that each candidate had to publish his list before the day of election, so that the public would have an opportunity of resenting any attempt to force an undesirable man upon them. Any man daring to try such an experiment would court defeat for himself.

Mr. WRIXON M.L.A. remarked that if we       were to accept democratic self-government as   a permanent institution, we must adopt some   means of qualifying elections by the majority. (Hear, hear.) The majority ought certainly   to govern; but to exclude the minority from being heard was dangerous to the majority as well as to the minority, because although they were excluded from having a voice in the state they were not extinguished. Another evil in the majority system, and one which was developing in several of the American states, was the removal of the electoral power from the people to the party managers.

Mr. A. SUTHERLAND thought that Professor Nanson's proposal was much more likely to   suit a democratic colony like this than the adoption of Mr Hare's system.    

Mr. JOSEPH JONES pointed out that under our present system parliamentary repre- sentatives were frequently returned by the minority. He was returned on one occasion for the largest constituency in the colony by the minority of the erectors (sic) who voted, although by a majority over his direct opponent. Elections now were the result of chance, and it was even possible for the entire Parliament to be elected by minorities throughout the colony. Mr Baily's plan of   proportional representation, as advocated by Professor Nanson, was remarkably simple and effective, but he (Mr Jones) thought it was extremely unlikely that it would ever be adopted in this or any other democratic country, because it was an utter departure from the principle of personal representation. The proposal that electors should vote only for the candidate's list was a most astounding   change, and practically made the candidate an electoral college. He considered Professor Elkington's scheme the fairest, more in ac-  

cordance with our existing principles of re-

presentation and one which could be carried out by an average returning-officer.  

Sir JOHN 0'SHANASSY, M.L.A., believed           that all would agree in condemning the pre- sent majority system as faulty, and in ad- mitting that the minority should have a voice amongst those who have the making of the laws. The system of proportional representa- tion was being employed with success in the   election of school boards in England and had worked remarkably well in the State of Illinois. It had been in operation there for 10 years, and had given general satisfac- tion. Each elector there had three votes, and he could plump with these, or divide them amongst three candidates. By this means the minority could not be kept out of the Legislature and he thought it was the best method of proportional representa-

tion to introduce here. He was afraid some difficulty would be experienced in making our electors understand the principle of the dis- tribution of votes as proposed by Professor Nanson, and that they would be dissatisfied with the result of the election if conducted in that way. In Illinois there were no such things as a plurality of votes, or a property qualification, or a ratepayers' roll, but each man had an equal voting power. That was a simple and an effective plan, and a thorough check upon the power of the majority.

Mr. DOCKER, of Sydney, pointed out some practical difficulties which he thought existed in the mode of distributing the votes under the systems proposed by Professor Elkington and Professor Nanson.

Mr. E. G. FITZGIBBON was gratified at attention being directed to the desirability of finding an escape from the plan of government by majority. He hoped some scheme would

be devised for not only applying an improved system of electing representatives to Parlia- ment, but also of applying it to the system of government by majority in Parliament it- self. He thought the great mischief was caused by the country being divided into two hostile political camps, and that the success of one party was looked upon as the defeat and spoliation of the other. Affairs in Parliament, in his opinion, should be treated on their merits. We had not the feudal traditions which attached to the Legislature of England; we   were really a joint stock company of adven- turers, and, being so, we should treat matters on their merits, as was done by banking and other companies. He agreed with Sir John O'Shanassy that our present   system of voting was far inferior to that in

the State of Illinois.

Mr J. B. GREGORY, LL.B., briefly pointed   out the difference in the method of distri-

buting surplus votes under the three systems

before the section.

The discussion was then adjourned until

next Friday evening.  

Zoom

plus
thumb
minus
left
thumb
right
up
thumb
down