COLONIAL AMUSEMENTS

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 166, 18 March 1864, Page 6 (Supplement)

COLONIAL AMUSEMENTS

[From the Southern Monthly Magazine.'] There is an old proverb that a man may bo known by the company ho keeps. It may bo said with almost as much truth that a very good estimate may be formed of the character of a community by the nature of its amusements. The peculiar idiosyncracics of the various peoples of the civilised world are quite as strongly marked in their amusements as in any other branch of their social economy. Thus we find the volatile Frenchman adopts as his means of recreation modes of pleasure in accordance with his nature. The proneness to the excitements of the gaming table, the hal masque, or the theatre ; the love of spectacle, whether in the shape of reviews religious festivals, or royal and civic ceremonies ; and

the desire to participate in frivolous and luxurious pleasure generally, quite as distinctly indicate the tone and temper of French people, as anything in their political changes. The stolid Hollander enjoys himself after a heavy and ponderous fashion, for although with the other members of the great German nation the educated Dutchman infuses no little cultivated art into his pleasures, yet the bulk of the inhabitants pursue recreations in a very deliberate and laboured style. With but few German communities do athletic amusements prevail, and when they are practised there is an absence of that intense enjoyment which characterises the field games and sports of Englishmen. In the Austrian Tyrol and Switzerland the different physical and social condition of the people is shown forth by the different character of their amusements. I ho hardy courageous mountaineers find pleasure in the contests'*with the rifle, the hunting of the nimble chamois and the village festival. The luxurious Italians, with their natural keen appreciation of all that is beautiful in the arts, seek enjoyment in listening to the | strains of the opera, the study of the creations of ' sculptors and painters, and in that dulce far niente ! which they so well know how to enjoy. The son- j sual indolent Turk finds pleasure in the gratifica- | tion of his natural taste of idleness and luxury, i On the downy cushions of the divan, lazily inhal- 1 ing the perfumed smoke and listening to the sto- j vies of the improvisatore, or watching the impassioned dance of female slaves, the Turk experiences a delight which ws, whose blood circulates ! more quickly can scarcely comprehend. In Eng- ! land alone whose people have always been famed j for physical prowess and powers of endurance — 1 do we find anything like a general indulgence in : athletic amusements. And ths out-door sports of ■ Englishmen are generally of that character which calls into action both physical and moral effort. W hether in the hunting-field or the cricket-ground on the river or the moors, the pursuit of relaxation and amusement necessitates the exercise of the moral or physical qualities. Muscular strength and moral courage must go hand in hand, and ihesc cannot be called into action without increasing development. It would be difficult to find combined in one individual, skill in our out-door amusements and debased morals. There is something exceedingly incongruous in the idea of i man being a first-rate bat, oar, or hand across country, and at the same time a coward, a sneak, or a scoundrel. It is considerations of this sort that make it so desirable that out-door pastimes and sports should not be suffered to grow in disuetudo, but that they should be encouraged and increased. Many of the games of olden time have certainly died out, but their place has been filled by others, which, while preserving the general principles of their predecessors, are be! ter adapted to our habits and education. The six-foot bow and the cloth-yard shaft have made wav for the rifle ; the quarter-staff for the bat,- t he bull-bait for the foxhunt; the cock-pit for the foot-race or the rowingmatch. Whether all our existing athletic sports are worth retaining admits of some doubt, for in spite of all tnat has been said in favor of t he prize ring, wc confess to being totally unable to recognize in it any essential value. The proper and scientific use of Nature's weapons is undoubtedly a very necessary part of a man’s education, but wc do not sec that this need bo in any way identified with “ pugilism,” as that term is commonly understood. Although out-door sports and athletic amusements generally are widely practised and encouraged in the home country, there is still room for their more extensive application in connexion with the education of youth. There is not that general adoption of gymnastics as an essential part of education there ought to be, and which there will doubtless bo in the course of a few years. When we have seen what the character of the amusements of Englishmen in England has effected, the enquiry suggests itself—What is the character of our own amusements hero in New Zealand ? Are wc maintaining the standard of England's sports and pastimes? Are wc preserving the healthy, invigorating, and elevating enjoyments of the old country, or are wo falling into the adoption of a mongrel code of pleasure, made up of continental frivolities and vices, with just sufficient British metal about them to save appearances? If wc lived in India or Australia, we might perhaps with some little reason modify our out-door exorcises and sports to the nature of the climate, but here in New Zealand wc breathe a truly English atmosphere, only without the desa- ‘ ffremens of an English winter, and w.e can practice and enjoy every out-door sport that is cultivated in England. And yet, to our shame he it said, instead of the rational and invigorating amusements of our native land, vve are rapidly falling into idle sensual habits, preferring the liquor shops, the billiard room, or the card table, to the games which stalwart Britons should indulge in. There is no disguising the fact that the social standard of thepleasuresmost commonly indulged in by the colonists, is immeasurably below what it ought to be. True, wo have our regattas, cricket clubs, and rifle matches ; but these are only partially shared and indifferently supported. The bar of the hotel and billiard room, are the chief resorts of our youths, and almost equally so of their elders. Tile “ nobbier” reigns supreme in every town and settlement in New Zealand, and although perhaps wo are not more prone to drunkenness, than others, there can bo no question that drinking as a habit prevails to a very serious extent. It is impossible that this can exist without producing a great deterioration of morals, to say nothing of its destructive effect on our social and domestic relations. Perhaps the most serious phase of this £; drinking institution” is the impunity with which it is practised. High and low, rich and poor, alike enjoy almost a perfect immunity from the social consequences the practice would entail in the old country. No one seems ashamed of frequenting the bar of a public house, or the billiard room, during the hours usually devot ,-d to business. In England, no respectable man would care to be seen thus spending his time; the man, be he a merchant, tradesman, or any other profession, who made a habit of so doing, would suffer invenience and loss of character. We remember a case in which the banker of a merchant stopped his account, because it transpired ho was in the habit of frequenting a billiard room. It is not that there is anything necessarily wrong in playing a game of billiards, or drink a glass of liquor, but it is with regard to the

young men of tho colony, that tho prevailing habits of drinking and billiard playing are so much to bo deplored. Any of our readers who have any extensive cxperionce will be able to bear-jut our remarks, when we say that the two evils »which we have referred, are the curse of every colonial town. They begot expensive habits—for both drinking and billiard-playing are attended with considerable expense—they destroy the hallowing elevating influences of c oraestic life, and they prove tho wreck and ruin of many a promising youth. It may be urged that billiards is not a game of chance, but of science, requiring manual skill, patience, and calculation. We admit all this, and could even, as did Canon Stowell, of Manchester, write a homily in favor of the game. It is undoubtedly all that its most enthusiastic admirers claim for it, but it does not follow that it cannot be abused. In nine cases out of ten the billiard-room is attached to a publichouse, and is the resort of sharpers, loafers, and roues. Facilities are thus afforded and temptations to dissipation and gambling held out which prove fatal to many. The game of billiards is a fascinating one, very expensive, and very engrossing. Few regular frequenters of the billiardroom are men whom one would care to introduce the one’s family circle, or with whom one would care to keep up terms of intimacy in public. The habit of incessant liquor drinking is, however, the most striking and most to be regretted feature of the social economy of the colonists. There roay, perhaps, not be a larger proportion of habitual drunkards in the colony than in England, but it is quite certain that there is a much larger proportion of persons who are either ruined or killed by drinking, and that too amongst the educated class. The reader may, especially if he have lived any considerable time in the colony, be able to call to mind many painful cases which have under his own observation. The strengtli of this universal habit of drinking consists in the immunity its votaries enjoy from those social consequences which attach to it in England. Until it becomes “ unrespectable” to frequent tho liquor bar; until employers and tho guardians of our young men discourage the habit, and until the women of New Zealand show their marked disapproval of it. “ nobblerismg” will continue to flourish as an institution. But if society would only hedge itself round with some of the conventional laws which operate so strongly as a safeguard in England, we would soon sec a very desirable improvement in our social habit. Almost as powerful an engine in breaking down the prevailing vices of the colony would be the providing and encouragement ol athletic and genial out-door amusements. From the Government downwards general effort should he made to foster and extend the practice of those i manly and invigorating pastimes which occupy so prominent a part in forming tho character of English youths. No town or settlement should bo without its gymnasium, its cricket ground, or rifle range. No public school should be considered complete without the provision for training and practising the pupils in athletic exorcises and sports. Fathers of families and employers of labor should each and all encourage the pursuit of healthy and invigorating recreation. Rifle-shoot-ing, running, wrestling, and sports of a kindred nature, should constitute the principal amusements of our colonial youth. If such were tho case, we should find that in place of a race of indolent, dissipated men, we were rearing a race of stalwart, healthy, and courageous people, fitted to do all for New Zealand that Englishmen have done for England. But there are other walks of pleasure to which greater general attention should be given. Music and the drama open out a vast field, and one that rightly cultivated is capable of producing tho best effects on onr social character. Music, that art which of all others combines so much that is pleasurable and elevating, is not cultivated and encouraged as it ought to be. Our Choral Societies have in their power to materially assist in elevating the tone and character of colonial amusements, and for this reason it should be considered a duty to encourage and support their efforts. Music should form an essential part of the education of youth, and sinking classes should exist in every school. The drama, too, can largely influence the public taste and morals, and we arc glad to think that its cultivation is increasing among us. If once we can break down the objectionable features in our pleasures, to which we have referred, and supply their place with more rational means of enjoyment, wo hope to sec a speedy change for tho bettor in the manners and habits of colonial society—a consummation devoutly to be wished.