The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1905. THE DISCOURTESY OF YOUTHFUL COLONIALS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12639, 28 October 1905, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1905. THE DISCOURTESY OF YOUTHFUL COLONIALS.

His Excellency the State Governor of Victoria, when ■visiting one of the public schools a week or two ago, took occasion, to animadvert upon what he char, aeterised as " a blemish on our Australian life," namely, the want of courtesy which marks the social intercom-!*} of the people, and impresses an ineffaceable stamp of vulgarity and .coarseness' upon the language and .manners ■: of Whole classes of the community. .In approving of Sir Reginald Talbot's criticism, " The Argus " : expresses the opinion that some of the causes are not far to seek. One of them may be found in a popular misconception of the spirit of equality which lies at the basis of democratic institutions and too often endengers in the minds of its possessors a lino of conduct and <a method of l«-----haviiour capable of (being translated into words by a personal declaaiation t-o thia effect:—" I am as good as you and — ■a great deail better." "This may be so, but the surly self-assertiveness of the man who thinks so, and lets you know by his demanour that this is .his fixed conviction disentitles him to your respect and 'provokes a feeling of anger and repulsion, which he resents as an affront to has " dignity" and " manhood." Now, it must be very evident that, to excite sentiments of respect in others, a man must be prepared to exhibit them in his own person, and that if these were cultivated as systematically as they are habitually neglected the daily intercourse of even the poorest and least .■instructed members of the community would be infinitely pleasanter and smoother than it is, that a competition in courtesy might gradually spring up, and roughness of speech and churlishness .of manner might eventually Jbecome things of the past. Those who remember what Japan was thirty or forty years ago will readily -recall the agreeable impressions produced upon their minds by the familiar spectacle < f artisans meeting each other in the streets and saluting each other with a politeness not to be exo&lled by French gentlemen of the most polished manners; These artisans went upon their way smiling, and each was the happier for the time being for the refined display of respect which had been exhibited by the others. Life was sweetened and brightened by usuages of this kind, and the absence of anything more than a surly (recognition by persons meeting in similar circumstances in a British community is, says the " Argus," a norable illustration of how very far removed we are from the polish of a Japanese labourer in those, and possibly in our own, days. But perhaps the most r>ignificainit aspect of our contemporary's criticism is its admission that " the want of courtesy which is so glatringlvy observable in Australia" is " not to be wondered at when we consider the example which is being set to tho masses by men occupying prominent positions in public life. One of tihe highest is, of course, that of the Premier of th-^ State. It is not >to his discredit, but the opposite; that he has risen from the ranks of the manual workers to be the helmsman of the State; but we may reasonably complain that he has not; striven to rise with his rising ...circumstances; that he does not adequaifcely appreciate the dignity of his position nor the demands it makes upon him to show 'himself worthy of it, and always ■to ■remember that he is the representative in a conspicuous degree of a community of a million persons land upwards, numbers of whom feel themselves humiliated 'when they read an account of his ' clowning' at public meetings, singing comic songs, relating foolish stories, resuscitating jokes of a quite venerable antiquity, and behaving just like those mountebanks who travel from town to town in France, and engage in all these devices in order to attract and amuse a crowd of gaping spectators, whom they beguile into having their teeth drawn and purchasing quack medicines. The Premier who imitates performances of this kind must be deficient alike in self-respect and, in a. sense, of what is due to the high office which ho holds. No doubt the people he addresses are entertained, but they would be equally so, and much more legitimately, iin a circus." " The Argus" goes further, arid" asserts that the language made use of, and the lack of courtesy exhibited, in the various Australian Legislatures are both of them calculated to offer a shocking example to the public at large. Our own colonial Legislative Assemblies often set no better example in tho matter of language and behaviour. Sir Reginald

Talbot, in lids address, advised the children to cultivate courteous manners, both amongst themselves and when? addressing their elders or those whowero 'in authority over (them." To* which " The Argus " adds: —And tiheentire 'absence of this culture is nowhere* more painfully obvious tihan in Victoria. It is vis.ble in all classes of society. " Reverence, that angel of 'the world, I**"1**" as Shakespeare calls it, has no place in? the mind of the average boy. He is aa-.self-assertive as any of his elders; asdestitute of respect for age, or station,, or for any quality in others which inmost worthy of admiration and esteem,. Ho has 'has heroes, at is true; but they•are mostly footballers, jockeys, orcr.'cketersl Physical, and not moral or intellectual, gifts command his homage^ and applause. And with such ideals,, all that is finest and best in ihis own*. nature is allowed to lie undeveloped.There is HttJe courtesy or consideration;, for others in his habitual speech or. demeanour, and the opportunities aresomewhat rare iin which you can exclaim, 'Ah! there is a little gentleman.'' And yet, -with proper training, the? poorest *boy in the community may bocapable of exhibiting the qualifications which would entitle him to 'the grand", old name.' It is not a matter of money p; of high bia-t/h or of costly apparel;, but of fin© moral qualities, courtesy of'feeling, delicacy of sentiment, modesty,;, reverence for all that is worthy of veneration, courage, sympathy with whatever is good and true, self-effacementer when circumstances <and the welfai-e andhappiness of others demand itj and, in--, short, a combination of those character— isdes of the heart <and mind which impelled Dekker the dramatisf,"whenspciaking of Christ, to designate tim,as'the first true gentleman, that everbreathed." •