PROGRESS OF THE WORLD. 



561 



already taken place. But the outstand- 

 ing achievement in Union is the agree- 

 ment arrived at in Edinburgh last May, 

 when, in the two Assemblies of the 

 Church of Scotland and the United Free 

 Church respectively, it was unani- 

 mously decided to go forward with ar- 

 rangements for organic union. A con- 

 stitution for a united Church is now 

 being drawn up, and within a few years 

 the seeming impossible will have hap- 

 pened, and there will be but one Church 

 in Scotland. It is as if the Archbishop 

 of Canterbury and Dr. Clifford had got 

 together and arranged an organic union 

 between the Established and Noncon- 

 formist Churches in England! In Vic- 

 toria the time is ripe for Union, and 

 efforts are being made to bring it 

 about. Three Commissions have been 

 sitting for some time, and have arrived 

 at agreement so far as the Union con- 

 trol of Home Missions and the possi- 

 l)ility of combined theological educa- 

 tion are concerned. These Commis- 

 sions will present their reports to a 

 Congress which is to be held in the 

 Collins-street Independent Church from 

 September i — 4. This Congress has 

 been arranged by a Council, drawing 

 its members from the Anghcans, Bap- 

 tists, Brethren, Church of Christ, Con- 

 gregationalists, Methodists, Presby- 

 terians and Society of Friends. The 

 leading men in each of these churches 

 are taking an active part in the move- 

 ment, and the prospect of the Congress 

 achieving something tangible is very 

 bright. 



Reforming the Legislative Courtci! in New 

 Zealand. 



Reconstruction of Second Chambers 

 is in the air. Mr. Asquith has pro- 

 mised that a measure providing for the 

 reform of the House of Lords will 

 shortly be introduced. The danger, 

 from the Liberal point of view, of alter- 



ing the present Upper Chamber is that 

 any reform is bound to strengthen it, 

 but is unlikely to make it much less 

 conservative than it is at present. In 

 New Zealand Mr. Bell, leader of the 

 Government in the Legislative Council, 

 in introducing a Reform Bill, stated 

 that all sections of the community de- 

 sired the Upper House to be made elec- 

 tive. At present it consists of 45 mem- 

 bers nominated by the Crown. The 

 Bill, which the Government is deter- 

 mined to carry through provides for a 

 system of proportional representation, 

 the best in the opinion of Mr. Massey 

 and his friends to secure a reflex of 

 the opinions of the country. In Vic- 

 toria, New South Wales and South Aus- 

 tralia there is continual agitation for 

 the alteration of the Upper Houses, and 

 — since the decisive victory of Labour 

 in the Senate — Liberals consider that 

 there should be radical changes^ in the 

 method of electing Commonwealth 

 Senators. We have not yet evolved any 

 satisfactory arrangement for an Upper 

 Chamber, but the inate conservatism 

 dormant in even the most radical com- 

 munity hesitates to do away with what 

 cannot but be regarded as a brake on 

 advanced legislation. Our politicians 

 might with advantage study the 

 methods of working two Chambers in 

 Norway, the \oungest kingdom in 

 Europe. 



The Invasion of the Deadly Microbe. 



The small-pox scare which took hold 

 of Sydney early in the month has made 

 all Australia uneasy. We lead such a 

 happy-go-lucky life that invasion, whe- 

 ther from a foreign army or an army of 

 deadly foreign microbes never sug- 

 gests itself as possible. How easily an 

 invasion of the latter denomination at 

 least might overwhelm us has been 

 proved in the case of the small-pox 

 epidemic. Happily the visitation has 



