A FRIENDLY CRITIC

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19893, 23 May 1936, Page 8

A FRIENDLY CRITIC

Much of the criticism of visitors to the Dominion is of interest, and often of value because it enables the people to catch the point of view of those capable of making comparisons. During the week a London accountant, Mr D. M. Sherwood, summed up his impressions of New Zealand in three sentences. The first dealt with the feeling of optimism he found here, and the second with the absence of poverty as they knew it at Home. The third, and easily the most interesting, was “the inclination of the people to live too vicariouslyon the glamour that was Britain’s instead of building up their own national destiny.” Evidently the visitor had not found any signs of n distinct national character here. In Australia and Canada, it has been. said, this spirit, or whatever ‘one chooses to call it, is said to be most marked. They are believed to be developing a distinct nationality, and probably it is correct to say that New Zealand has not kept pace with the sister Dominions in this respect. It might be quite as correct to say that she has no desire to do so, and that in itself is an admission of the critic’s point.

There are several factors to account for this. In the first place the history of New Zealand is a. short one. Not a. century has yet passed since self-government was established, and development was necessarily slow in the early days because of the distance of the colony from the Mother Country. In Canada the fact that two races were parties to the federation must have been of importance, and the influence of the powerful nation across the boundary must have been a factor in stimulating what might be termed a national individuality. Similarly in South Africa. two races met, while the huge extent of Australia, and the rapid growth of its larger centres of population, and its climate, all tended to develop a sense of nationhood.

These factors have not been present here, but there have been others that have tended to the maintenance of the British outlook and the qualities of the Mother Country. Both are island peoples, and the population of New Zealand is said to be about 97 per cent of British stock. Migration laws tend to restrict the incoming of foreigners and no Dominion to-day has the same percentage of British people in its population. Perhaps the geographical isolation of the country has tended to maintain the British standard and make for a unity of thought and spirit, and few would deny the statement made by the \‘iSitor from London that we have not attempted in develop a. distinct, national entity. There is a reserve in New Zealnndcrs that has often been likened to that of the people of the Homeland, and climatic and other renditions have not made neces—sary any marked change in the. manner of living. In time a distinet nationality may emerge. but it seems safe to say that it will he decades after that of the larger Duminioim Trade and other factors have all tended to maintain the British oonnevtinn. and today New Zealand seeks to devolon her industrial strength, her national life, not for distinctly Dominion ends but as the most pruptieal contribution that can be made to the strength and stability of the Commonwealth of Nations to \\‘hieh she belongs.