AUSTRALIA AND AMERICA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 13 September 1924, Page 13

AUSTRALIA AND AMERICA.

In an address at the Royal Colonial Institute, London, recently, Mr W. A. Holman, K.C., emphasised the danger of Australia drifting away from her sentiment “toward the Mother Country. In opening, he pointed out that the average Australian visiting England, or the average Englishman visiting Australia, required at least six months to see the country. About ten weeks were consumed in travelling, leaving only three months and a half for seeing the country. The consequence was that the average man, from either end, left his travel until he got into a position that the needs of business were not so pressing as when he was in his prime. On the other hand, a trip to America could be made in three weeks, or one to Honolulu in a fortnight. In Honolulu the Australian would see an alluring result of American administration; in San Francisco, he would see the result of American organisation, and the ordered aspect of the city would appeal to him as far ahead of anything he could see in Australia, therefore he would ifiistakenly conclude that American civilisation was preferable to ours. As a result of their distance from each other, there was growing up an estrangement of mentality between the two grades of persons—the Australian on the one hand, and the Englishman on the other, though the two persons were as alike as two peas. During the war the supply of theatrical and picture films, for instance, came largely from America to Australia, because English artists were engaged in more important work, and to-day, though he was open to correction, he believed that 70 or 80 per cent of the picture films shown on Australian screens came from the United States. Australia was in this position, that there was a danger of the Australian mentality becoming Americanised. It seemed to him that this was a very serious matter, and a real danger—a danger that Australian mentality should turn away from British models toward American.