CLIMATES INFLUENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 2 October 1930, Page 2

CLIMATES INFLUENCE

; RACIAL DIFFERENCES.

(By:<EILEEN DUGGAN " in/Aueklahd|i

“Star”)

A'New Zealander who has lived in! New.'York was .telling hie. re'cerii*<y that. hd‘himself, could not have,believed that', he/, possessed the .. energy - that 'he bad; expended . there. ; -- \ ‘Every. day, '. W’ne pickdd full/of;efforf,'-ahd M /always: seemed ready fbr ;nu>re. it inust. bp the air there, d think. 7 ’ It reniinckjcJ me of Speehan’s'assertion tiiat t-he. vei;y. character,of the:.Ce]fs. 'c|iauged. : ..wlien. ; they crossed the Atlantic. Frh'ljj dreamers they’became doers, and they, melancholy became .optimism- . Of course, a: new land breeds optimism By,.’ providing . riumerops . examples fdf self-Made' fortune, and a ch’nngg ...is 'alr mbit always' stimulating,' but h^. ; -zniai.x}/ taiped-thatThe. climatic,' deeper/and thatracial, characteristic diV|ppe«re‘d undyr one’s Very .fyes. put jt .’dpwh to/.an extra/'..supply ozone /ajjtf, a . drier air. 'lt ?t*ads' to reasoni/tiiat/ the Ouif Stream •fpgs-'aijjf; the preVailifig L rains do ‘ipakh for' an - uii* : derlyihg melancholy; a sepse of deffl|| and futility aefarns worldly sucqew ia/concernidi W*’know ourselves 'the diffOTenoe'thftt a/'dayV son ihakes aftyr week* of rain. /'-; '"// ; "' ■'//

BEK AND BUTTERFLY

It/is,".'of ; course, a trufam th«t .laM and climate do affeej; character,; the difference between Italy and Norway, between the folk of Oceania and the folk of an. Arctic country like Russia. The children of the sun are lik®> children, care-free and quick to anger, Northerners are slower in their rages and joys, . more steadfast, more stubborn. , Their views of life is the, view of the bee and not of the butterfly. Qn the other hand it must be admitted that there are too many > generalisations on natural characteristics.; Not, every Russian is dreamy, every Englishman cold, nor every. Frenchman mercurial. In fact this age is making uif A'of the tool, psychology, to change these alleged attributes: France has made if determined: effort to prove thalf'so far, from being* volatile, slie youths 1 are being taught to despisb emotionalism and to shun sentiment.' The' change is already evident. ih liqiy Mussolini is trying to dispel the notion that the world has adopted of Italians as lazy sun loyefs. He desires a return to the old Roman reputation' of virility and action. Russia is doing her best to destroy a name for mysticism that; certain novelists have - given her. She is trying, to swing to the opposite extreme and to be; a;.; prophet of materialism. America, a byword for boastfulness, is proving by her Lindberghs and Byrds that she is deter* mined to end that slur of vainglory, So that, besides climate and the con* formation of the land, will power, ap? plied with intent) can change the way's of nations. 4 “■/;.»" It is to be N remarked in passing that that electric and ehergisingfair ./ that sparkes over America has/'iti disadvantages. It is at times top dynamic, too. compelling. The nation pays the penalty of high pressure in individual breakdowns. Rightly or wrongly the United States is said to pay for success by nerves. One authority even goes so far as to say that this prevalence of nerves is due to a preponderance of vegetables in the diet. A vegetarian diet does not appear to affect the Eastern races. In fact, they are noted for their imperturbability, a trait that is the result of centuries of training and of a racial ideal. There is to the East something, numbing in the depression of the East. Sometimes deeper than a mere difference of climate lies between them.

NEW ZEALAND DIFFERENCES. Even in our own New Zealand, so interfused are varying national influences that it is difficult to trace to what extent climate enters. Certainly Aucklanders differ as much from Otagans as Cornishmen from Northumbrians, but there again it is impossible to say whether this is due to nearness to the tropical belt or to a more cosmopolitan population. Otago has the characteristics of its Scottish forefathers, but much in its character assimilates to that of New Eng. land, which, too, is cold and rugged. It would be fascinating to know how muchi of the calm and poise of Ohristehurh is due to the influence of its wide-flowing, tranquil plains, with the climate that attends them. On the other hand there are those who attribute these traits to the fact that it is predominantly an English settlement with the English ideal of restraint and order. The trees give an English look and already in places Christchurch has the dreamy, thrush-thridden atmosphere of an English cathedral close. It has been remarked by more than one traveller that the Coiast has a climate like Ireland. “A-soft-day-thank-Gpd” sort of climate that takes the rain as mull for granted as the sun. Perhaps its isolation accounts for its happy-go-luckiness, for Taranaki, which can rain hard too, has not its “come-day-go-day-God-send-Sunday” philosophy. But there again the racial element enters in. The Coast- is Irish-belt, and that as well Bls climate may account for the warmhearted, irresponsible gaiety and generosity that has always marked it among the provinces. That and an almost provocative loyalty in its exiles. Never have I met a Coaster who defied the Coast.

Marlborough and Nelson, which have a similar climate, do not show •any remarkable divergence. Nelson’s name,- Sleepy Hollow, is a- misnomer, for Nelson is deeply interested in world events, and especially people. Old Neisonians , can. trace relationships nearly to Genesis. Both Nelson and Marlborough are far more thrifty than the poast,;and in that they are indubitably influenced by climate and ' cb n form at ion for those' th a t make tliei rliving above ground live' in dread of ’/the/seasons. A bad harvest mean* nothing to a. miner, but it means short ;faifioj).s to a fanner. The miner works under such hard conditions that in his leisure hours lie . spends -his money on compensating pleasures,' and so is a child '-of the. present-.-rather than of the future with lio land, to guard' and pass on. !" ' ‘ THE EASIER: LIFE. Similarly life, is lived'on pn easier and, more luxurious,scale in the slieep' lands of Hawke’s Ray, for larger holdings make larger incomes. Hawke’s Bay is jovial and sunny like its own 'skigs. Its sunshine average, is very high, and t-bat-makes-for ruddiness 'ap'd'-'chuckles'.’'’ Of Course Hawke’s Bay has its bad seasons, but on the whole it- ’is’ prosperous. Turhnaki is most democratic. It ' Iras' won its gain .by tlie >weat: of its brow. Its. rains bring , luijh'. gi/gss, • and lush grass.-bring cows, and cows' brihg/lWOfl'k. It lV as inevlt. able as The - House : that Jack Built, "Cows, it is- true,- ape a fairly sure .speculation, but .they are animals of routine, and in their season they are masters of the farms. Wellington and Auckland are world ports, and. overikeas influences make it- difficult to place them in theip relation to climate. In the parly day* one clerical historian attributed tbq ‘•‘factiousness” of the Wellingtopian? to the high winds of 'Port Nicholson, Certainly they always seem to be in. p hurry ns if' blown along bv gusts of wind. The wind, too, may have helped on a certain doggedness of purpose. Auckland must get just enough of the tropical sun to give it a sparkle for its shows no capricornian languor. If we could .get an Esquimaux to leave his igloo for a hunt in Raboul, 1 we might he able to trace the influence on his character of. a change of climate, but, alas, the. only change might be dissolution. We are so much the slaves of climate that 1 he might die. without his snows. (