SCOTTISH SOCIETIES

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1934, Page 3

SCOTTISH SOCIETIES

The work of Scottish societies was commented on by Mr. B. H. Nimmo at the anniversary supper held by the Wellington. Burns Club last evening. Mr. Nimmo said he regretted to say there was, a tendency on the part of Homeland organisations in New Zealand to let themselves gravitate to the basis or standards of mere social gatherings of Scots and. their friends for music and dancing. Modern dancing and music were only too frequently indulged in to the exclusion of tho national music and dancing, the study of Scots literature, and all that had made world-famous Scottish history in the achievements of her sons and daughters. Unfortunately, •in almost every large centre of population in the Dominion there had been a marked tendency on the part of various sections of the Scottish community to hive off into sectional movements with interests oft-times widely divergent, and, as far as community effort was concerned, there was a grave lack of co-ordination; In other words, the national spirit is too often _ forgotten from a Dominion standpoint! He appealed to the various societies to work together on a sounder basis of unity and good will for the advancement of the ideals which the literature and the history of Scotland had produced for the benefit, 'not -only of its own people, but for humanity in general. '