The Dominion. SATURDAY, JULY 31, 1909. KNOWING A COUNTRY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 574, 31 July 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, JULY 31, 1909. KNOWING A COUNTRY.

A question which is ' all the more fascinating becatisc it admits of no quite definite answer is suggested by the Australasian tour of the delegates from the Colonial Office. llow much can a man know and understand about a country which he lias never seen? Mu. MILLAR gave a somewhat rough and very ready answer to this query when he remarked lit the Ministerial luncheon on Wedncsr day that , the visitors "would learn more in one month's visit to Australasia than they would learn in twelve years sitting in their own But Mr. Millar, with all his excellent qualities, to which we should be; the last to: do injustice, has his limitations. He is not a student, and does not appreciate the student's way of understanding things. Not many minutes after he sat down Sir Charles Lucas was gently reminding his hearers that he himself -is "a keen student, of' colonial history." ' ' His published works afford evidence that ho has evory right to that honourable term. Other students regard him a,s an authority. Wo could quote a oertain English scholar, whose labours largely overlap those of, our .visitor, and who, .when asked, "Why don't you • go abroad and see for yourself ?" replied, "I have my library.'' Dr. Emil Keicii, on the, other hand, whose suggestive studies in national characteristics amply certify the value of his opinion, has said that no man can thoroughly understand any country until-he has earned his living in it.; ■ -■■

There .lies before us as we write, "A Historical Geography of the British Qolonies. .Vol. VI, Australasia, by J. D. Rogers, 'Earrister-at-Law, - formerly ,Stowell Fellow of University - College, Oxford." The first words of :the preface are : "This book owes its existence to the suggestion, advice, and moral and intellectual support of Mb. 0. P. Lucas, O.B;, Assistant Undersecretary for the Colonies and author of the previous volumes, in the series." "Mr. C. P. 'Lucasi, C.8.," is now, of course, Sir ' Charles , Lucas, K.C.M.G, ■, and our very welcome visitor. -At that time : he had not seen, Australia or New Zealand, except with the mind's eye,, and .there are in the book some .indications that Ite Rogers also was in what Mr. Millar might call the same benighted'condition. And- yet, strange : as it, may seem, it would be a hard task to. And a New Zealander. who .'could learn nothing'from the threo or four chapters .of: .the / Historical■ Geography which, ■are devoted to this country. Bearing in mind, Sir Chaßlf.s Lucas's paternal.' relation to the .book, we may safely take.it as representing, not indeed the whole of his knowledgp about New Zealand, . but the .nature of the. conception which he had of the country .when he "liked it as, an official and a student," but had. not,yet hid the opportunity of liking it as a visitor. In his speech on Wednesday last, ; Sir Charles,quoted, .as from, a friend of his, the remark, "Our .British colonists have -proved that , whatever thrives' in Great 'Britain,/ thrivos'.'.better 'in Great Britain 'of the South."' The "words are Mr. Boo'ers.'s, arid -;their: citation by .Sir Charles Lucas aptly illustrates the fact that what | our distinguished, and scholarly visitor sees in-, the Dpminion. will; in the main ■confirm what'he 1 , knew when. he sat in his Downing Street:office. : - 1

■ Historical Geography may seem to many readers an uriattractivo .title, but the book- is, really intensely' interesting.. It is geography made alive.' It,stands in .the same "relation"'to ..the ordinary school geography as the kinematograph to the mero lantern slide. • Hero is an extract, not, be it remarked, from the text, from the side-notes which;' are ■ strung along the/outer margins of the pages: by way of summary: ,

"One range unifies, the .three islands, and .explains _ Canterbury Plain and Christchurch. E.; Hokitika, \V.,* Dunodin, S.E./Blenhcim; •N.E:, Nelson, N;, Invercargill, 5.,. but cxvoleauocs also' explain Duncdiri' and Port Lyttelton. The range. , makes ; Canterbury agricultural and the'rest,,of the provinces of Middle'lsland minora!.' In Northern Island: it explains Wellington, the' Manawatu district, everything: east:of the range, and the Whakatane district, but nothing else."

To some, even among our members of Parliament, these will seem meaningless words. ; To others, more intelligent, they will be a conundrum. Those who read the lucid. and scholarly text, which is merely summarised in our quotation! will admit the justice of our claim that here is-geography made alive.' For that we can , pardon !the intrusive syllable ' in "Northern Island," and we can even smile without indignation when we read that Wellington lies "seoure from every wind that blows through the windpipe of the Pacific, as Cook's Strait, is called." Another side-note reads: "There is racial as.'well 'as geographical dualism in Northern Island ; the English are continental, the Maoris atollic, in instinct." Properly considered, these few' words throw a flood of , light on New Zealand history, and a ray or two reaches down to the .-.Native land question that vexes us, to-day. We are not suggesting that this vital distinction between . a racc which requires broad acres and one that loves a habitat of little land and much water is original with Sin Charles Lucas and his friend. Our point is that New Zealanders can learn it from a book produced by ■ stay-at-home • Englishmen. It is but one of many thipgs that may be so learnt, for the historical section, like the geographical,' consists of facts vitalised. • .

While epigrammatic phrase and apt quotation'adorn the tale, the moral is not openly pointed, unless where the writer hints'that New Zealand's natural place is- in the Australian Commonwealth. Without reopening that closed question, we may acknowledge the whole-, someness of the reminder that, with the exception of tho institutions connected with the Maoris, . ,

. ' "Every otlior poh'tical characteristic of New Zealand is Australasian. . At its birth it, was ' part of Now South . Wales; three regiments raised in Australia fought, in tlio Wailiato War; Australians chose, its capita] city; its squatting systems, land theories, and constitutional leanings are indistinguishable in hue from those of the Australian States. Its labour parties arose, and its hank crisrs 'occurred, at the same time as those in Australia. Economic forces draw it into the Australian .midstream. Exports are j the very breath of its life ; and it exports the same things to the, samo places as its six Australian ,siptois.", . . . Somewhat too absolutely put, 'perhaps, Jmt minac fHtferexxcoa oie acarcoly yisible.

in ii -somewhat distant perspective, The passage! reminds tin that such a book an this should bo nil the more valuable to Now Zealnndcrs on account of its apparent unconsciousncss of what it is, ,porhups, pei'iniwiibli! to call the Zrialandoccntric theory of tho universe. ' Equally, of coursc, it is implied that Australia is riot "the hub." On (.he whole, while it would be as- unfair -to our visilohi as it would bo to New Zealand to suggest that they can learn nothing whilst they arc among us, it seems more than possible that even Mil. Mar, Ait, who can boast of sixteen- years in Now ZealamJ politics, might in a eotiplo of ho"ire learn something from this excellent little book.