The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1907. TO MAKE A NATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3765, 9 May 1907, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1907. TO MAKE A NATION.

There is a Jewish gentleman now in Australia whose mission is to secure territory for Jewish colonisation in the Northern Territory of South Australia. Evidently the Jewish idea is to form a self-con-tained colony in that great country, expanding merely for the benefits of the Jewish colonists, and having no stake in the country that is tiQt, a Hebrew stake. Israel Zangwill, eminent Jew, whose works are so\well known, writing to the ambassador who is trying to negotiate with tb e Federal Government for land, makes the extraordinary statement that Australia has either tip choose between a black population or a Jewish white one. Of 'course, Zangwill, in the vulgar vernacular, is “talking through his /neck.” Not but what Jews mahe good colonists; wherever the Jews go they form a close community, but in the North of Australia as in every other place where there exists, or is going to exist a epmmua&y of Jews, the individual Jews always have subsisted, and probably tinder my conditions will

continue to subsist on the Gentile. The extraordinary astuteness of the Hebrew is usually looked upon by some Gentiles as the least lovable characteristic of the race, but this is probably jealousy on the part of the said Gentiles. Jews living only among their own people, having no Gentiles available, do not 'become rich. It is in their contact with other less astute people that they accumulate money. A self-contained Jewish community living in Australia would not be content, because their acuteness would find no recompense in dealing with people of their own blood. The Jewish ideal is, of course, to return to Palestine, and to there become self contained and self sustaining. There is nothing that can be said against the Jews as colonists if they become part of the complete system of a country. They are extremely useful, and if their particular bent is the accumulation of money earned from Gentiles, it is at least a lesson to the Gentiles in the art of taking care of themselves. A community of Jews living apart in any country is not necessarily a menace to the country, but it is no source of strength, because the national element has no existence. Supposing that a Jew colony were established in South Australia, the Jews would not become Australians. They would be a people apart. But if the same number of Jews became assimilated with the whole of the people of Australia, conformed to the law of the country, and were imbued with the Australian ideals and the spirit of Australian nationalism, then they would probably be as great a source of strength as any other white people. There is no advantage to any country in isolated communities settling down in isolated spots, still conforming to the customs and mode of living inbred in them. The whole people of every country should have one definite aim. We go so far as to say that small societies, so many of which exist in New Zealand, instituted to glorify the small spots its members were born in, are against the development of nationhood. There are Hibernian Socities, Scottish Societies, societies that pay homage to even one English county —the Yorkshire Society may be instanced—which are in some measure a sprag in the wheel of a national sentiment. The man whose heart is not in the present and the future of his adopted country, is not so good an asset to the country as the man who forgets that he is anything but a New Zealander. Coteries are danger-signals in the path of progress. Comparison of the country one gets his living in with the country from which one came, to the former’s disadvantage, are odorous. Being imbued with the idea that one’s country is superior to all others, may make other folk talk of **swelled head,” but it is better to have “swelled head ” than “ chronic pessimism.” The man who comes to New Zealand with no intention of becoming heart and soul a New Zealander, is better away. The man who comes to New Zealand, buys some of it, and goes away from it to live, is a weakness too. For any body of people, be they Jewish or otherwise, to suggest taking up a residence in a British colony, where they would be a law unto themselves, is in the highest degree unsatisfactory. In these days when talk of the unity of the Empire prevails above every other topic it is the duty of every part of the Empire to root out everything that is not beneficial to its interests. The safety of all the sparsely peopled colonies, lies in the rapidity with which they may be peopled and although we read that there are too many people arriving in the colonies for the quantity of work that is to be done, we may be sure that it is a lie. The British colonies must have men. They must have white men. They should have British men who will forget their allegiance to their birth village, or their country and become colonists with the ideal of nationhood fixed as a goal. Failing supply of Britishers the colonies should welcome white men of any nationality and it dosen’t matter whether they are Jew or Gentile, Slav or Teuton if all become imbued with the desire to become a part of the State and not part of a small detached republic possible only by the bounty of the State. There is in many British countries an extraordinary disposition to treat the foreigner a good deal better than the born Britisher. It alienates the sympathy of the Britisher and makes the foreigner believe, we are fools. Britain itself is just now beginning to notice that its peculiar policy of admitting any of the riff raff of the world into England is not a good one. It was cabled a week or two ago that the very large proportion of the cases heard in the Home Police Courts were against the foreigner to whom the doors of England are ever open. Britain cannot understand the discrimination the colonies exercise in the matter of the admission of foreigners. The foreign element in England not only means poverty for more Britons but the weakening of British sentiment. There are literally tens of thousands of anti-Britons in Britain. This then is unquestionably the point to be considered when the colonies are asked to admit crowds of people who probably will be quite out of sympathy with colonial ideals. There is less of an Imperial sentiment than there is a colonial sentiment because each small part of the Empire through its loyalists looks upon itself and should consider itself preeminent. Lack of brotherly feeling is most evident. At the present moment Australian papers are engaged on a campaign of vilification of all things.- pertain jpg to New

Zealand. New Zealand for her part had in the past said many things not at all complimentary to Australia. Parochialism is even noticeable in a single small country. Wellington will throw mud at Auckland and Christchurch will propel refuse at Dunedin. There are thousands of anti-Federation-ists in the Commonwealth and thousands of Secessionists. Man in the bulk sees little further than his own back fence and to foster Imperial sentiment the real Iraperalist has to feel in his heart that the needs of the people of one part of the Empire should be sympathetically regarded by the people of every other part of the Empire, just as if their interests were identical as indeed they are. That homogeneity is possible and this by the fusion of white people from all parts of the world, is proved by the enormous success of America as a nation, whose citizens of whatever blood have a belief in and love for the country that is America’s finest possession. The admission of any large body of people into America who did not intend to become American in aspirations would; be exceedingly unpopular and such admissions into any British colony should not be tolerated. We believe, notin theory “ New Zealand tor the New Zealander ” alone but in the cry “New Zealand for the New Zealander and he who will become a New Zealander.’’ You can’t shout tor a foreign flag while on New Zealand soil and be a good New Zealander.