AS OTHERS SEE US.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1043, 14 May 1912, Page 4

AS OTHERS SEE US.

NEW ZEALAND THROUGH GERMAN EYES.

Max Herz, m.d , has written a book in the German language and has translated it into English'. The work is entitled, “New Zealand ; the Country and the People.” The German doctor gives a slirewdlywritten account of the life and work of the late Richard John Seddon, who, he says, was “not great but lucky,” and whom he holds responsible for that idea of the almightiuess of the State, which “still pervades all New Zealanders, who see in the State only the cow to be milked, the little father to whom all eyes turn for help.” After history comes topography, and in many of his descriptions of New Zealand scenery Dr. Herz waxes really eloquent. His enthusiasm becomes less marked when, in the last section of the book, he gives his impressions of the New Zealanders of today. Dr. Herz has a turn for rather caustic epigram, which not infrequently hits the very centre of the target, as when, for instance, he asserts that the national vices of New Zealand are gambling and legislation. He declares that there are no decadents in that fortunate country, and that the average inhabitant is far-seeing, enterprising, reliable and absolutely honourable in his affairs. In Dr. Herz’s opinion, the New Zealander is ludicrously bumptious, and, moreover, he cares for nothing but what is practice! and material, disdaining culture and art of every kind. He is a Philistine to the core; he reveals it in the twang with which he murders the King’s English, in the horrible pictures he hangs on his walls, in the childish plays he applauds in his theatres, in his love of vulgar display and speech-making. “He has no true sense of humour. I firmly believe there is not one New Zealander who has ever laughed at himself. He takes himself very seriously indeed If an

unimportant post office is to be built, the Prime Minister must lay the foundation stone, and make a speech, and subsequently he must open the building and deliver a second oration. A Sunday school is erected. Tne Mayor, with all due ceremony, lays the foundation stone, and his Excellency the Governor declares the barn-like hall open. All this is transmitted to posterity in the inscription on the commemoration stone.”