SELF-MADE MEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 319, 27 December 1862, Page 6

SELF-MADE MEN.

'fi^WWm a; B^s^jMernokis^ 'c^o'^ent(Mfifi^% New $wxM^ made ifleri.7 ; f! ; 'ln*:the^ majorityof cases, ihose< who udyf: e^cilejthe and hold tßi^Bi^e^ positions, arej menwfio-hfve" worked^^dir^Vi^up: 'from;':"comparative povert^Jtoishciai eminence aiid jirospeßty.f; A/* false pride shrinks; from-the surveyof w v vp r . hill lifeji ' " SweeVare-fhe uses. of '.adversity-;?' &Mt >an? honest p!^^"%^i^ad^t<^ prosperity to its proper source^and.-wifLm^gnif^ the strong right arm and enei^tic^mind thitthe has laughed at obstacles and overcome tbera^ Colonial.independence, liberty, equality, arid. fraternity^" thus has its origin. Although the relative spheres in society ofthe settlers when in England many have been wholly different, some moving in high circles by virtue of educational advantages, still, nearly all who are now in New Zealand went there actuated by the same motive—to obtain a better position and improve their pecuniary condition. Those who have had had young families growing up around them, seeing the utter impossibility in their own overcrowded country of ever plac-' ing them in positions of comfort and independence, have gone there with the certainty of success as the warrant for leaving the homes of their childhood, determined to endure hardships and privations in order to accomplish this praiseworthy end. The same motive that has actuated the educated man and the capitalist, has also led the • mechanic and the laborer. Leaving England for the same object, prosecuting their labors in the far-off land for the same ends, is it strange that an equality in interest generates a social equality ? Is there shame in this'? Nearly all the old settlers in the colony, although now widely differing in point of station—some holding high and influential office, while others plod on in comparative obscurity —can look back together to their early struggles and privations, shared in common, bearing together the burden and heat of the clay, and trace step by step their progress through long years of hard work, self-denial, and economy, to their present relative standings in society. . There are some highly refined minds who would think it a disgrace to be linked in such associations, who would be ashamed to stretch out the hand to a mechanic who had risen in the world by reason of steady industry and persevering energy, and now stands on the same level witli themselves. Such people will not approve of colonial society There, it is a matter of small moment whether you were appreciated in fashionable circles at home for your very limited notions of true independence. New Zealand is the race-course of labor, with prosperity and influence—real practical influence—at its goal; and he who speeds forward on the way, with nerve and strength strained to the work, is the man who ranks the highest. The present head of society in Nelson—his Honor the Superintendent— was merely a working man when he arrived in New Zealand, and now, by his own indefatigable exertions, has risen to a position which he has most honorably and ably sustained with credit to himself and the colony. There are evils arising frcm this state of things ,* wealth is often made the passport to position, without any other qualification in its possession. That man has not stepped beyond his proper sphere, if his competency ensures his success; but wealth, unsupported by talent, being a man's only recommendation, he acts a part discreditable to himself, and in the end mortifying to his constituents. Filling offices for which he has no ability, to the exclusion of men of intelligence and mental powers, the consequence is that the progress of the colony is hindered. Another evil is, that the race for riches is often undertaken and eagerly prosecuted to the entire rejection of all intellectual culture ; and many melancholy instances occur, of men who, when they have reached the goal, have found that the charms if presented in imagination have had no place in reality, from tiie fact that the talents, which could alo^e give power to enjoy them, have been sacrifice d in the contest. What remains for such a case ? Facts have proved, unfortunately, in too many cases, that the favourite of fortune finds no pleasure in the society which his circumstances entitle him to enjoy. He cannot understand, and therefore cannot appreciate, the refinements and intellectual luxuries of life, and he has recourse to enjoyments which appeal to the senses only to mock them ; finds nothing more congenial than the society which is found in ale-houses, who sponge upon his wealth, and drag him down to an abyss of moral degradation. • These are the extremes : all between is a fair open field for enterprise, where the capitalist and the laborer, the man rich in mental wealth, as well as the humble and illiterate, may all find successes proportionate to their abilities, and solely congenial to their tastes. r There was a time in the history of New Zealand when prosperity, with few exceptions, smiled on all its inhabitants. Since then, some of the « short cuts" to wealth have been shut up, and "no thoroughfare" hangs over many an avenue th it once led to fortune. For the past few years, complaints have been made of hard times," v temporary depressions," and the like:.. and, ..certainlv, in many of the Provinces, the complaint has not been without foundation. At the present time, however it may be said that the colony is in a flourishing condition. If independence is not to be obtained so rapidly as a few years back, nevertheless, it is to be obtained; if money is not in abundant circulation, still, moneys worth is always at hand to tender to every man his fair day's fee, and prosperity is as much the Deacon-light to New Zealand as ever. The laboring man or mechanic, whose capital consists iri a strong pair of sinewy arms and a determined will to work his way up in the world, can invest his capital in no better country The care-worn tradesman, unshackled from the thousand ills to which his trading flesh was heir in England, and unlettered from the galling antipathies unfortunately rife at home, breathes in a more congenial atmosphere. All who adopt the colonialmotto, 'Work, work!' and bear in their hands 'the banner with the strange device, Excelsior!' find in New Zealand, if not an independence, at least a comfortable living among comfortable folk; but idlers meet with the same reception Beau Brummel did in Manchester—' Friend, thou art not wanted here.'