ENGLAND HONEST, THOUGH OLD.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1007, 23 December 1910, Page 4

ENGLAND HONEST, THOUGH OLD.

• —4— . • AND STILL BEATS YANKEE . "SMARTNESS." (By Telegraph.—Special Correspondent.l Auckland, December 22. After surveying mankind from east to west and back, again—the . United States, Canada, .Britain, and the "Continent, India, China, Japan, , and >the Philippines —Sir. Geo. Elliott (of Messrs. W. and G. Elliott, of Auckland) returns to this city with one dominating impression—the ab-. solute honesty of the British nation, and it is satisfactory to add he further finds that honesty in nations, as in individuals, is still the best policy. It comes about in this way: Some years ago the feeling widely.prevailed that all. success belonged to the ."smart" American system. The British manufacturer .built as for all time; the American built for - the moment. The American motto was "something cheap and light, to bo scrapped very shortly to make room for some new improvement." In the Old Country they adhered to the traditional thoroughness, and were called prejudiced and hidebound. And the doom of British manu. factn'rers was foretold. - Instead of that, Mr. Elliott found the British . manufacturer "quite at the top of the tree." Moreover, he, even found an American manufacturer who was pre* ' pared to recant. This man, whose Una was machino toojs and such like, stated that the dav icas gone by when they derided British heavy machinery as behind' hand. The Americans had found that Britain was right. They had changed their policy of building light machines' to last the moment, and they were now building even heavier machinery than Britain. Tho faithfulness of British. - workmanship is thus vindicated in one important department, and Mr. Elliott finds that. British honesty is similarly; prevailing in nil directions. It is so popular to praise the cult of smartness, and to' depreciate thoroughness, that the oversea Dominions have a wrong idea ot the Mother' Country. They do not fully appreciate her resources, and her imx lueusity.