A CURTAIN LECTURE
WE NEW ZEALANDERS. By A. R. D. Fairburn. Progressive Publishing Society. Reviewed by F. L. Combs "POOR old New Zealand. She is due for another kick in the pants," was my thought when I saw Mr. A. R. D. Fairburn’s title We New Zealanders. My forecast is fulfilled. Does Mr. Fairburn enjoy himself? Does a boxer enjoy himself when, confident that he has a mug to deal with, he sets out to land his punches wherever he pleases? One New Zealander bridles a bit under the diatribe indulged in in We New Zealanders. Diatribes are apt to be bad-tempered things. Mrs. Caudle was not an angelic better half. Suppose we regard Mr. Fairburn as a male Mrs. Caudle. What does he curtain-lecture us about? Here is a brief summary of our de-fects-our abject submission to dictation from overseas in all matters from culture to currency-our feeble snobbish-ness-our ape-like capacity for copying without adopting-our grovelling impercipience of anything but the main chance-our damned mediocrity-our opinions on beer which are not (at least mine are not) those of Mr. Fairburnour national vice of stupidity-our political dumbness, etc., etc. And then the phrase I was expecting from the outset: "you (New Zealanders) need a good stiff kick in the pants to bring you round." Well, we have had the kick, and if we take it lying down we shall confirm a good deal of what Mr. Fairburn has vigorously and almost recklessly said. { I for one wish to rejoin. It is no admission on my part to say that a good deal of what Mr. Fairburn has said is true; because, though true, it is true of every other country in the world. G. B. Shaw made a fortune by saying it of the British with a point and malice hardly equalled by Mr. Fairburn, Mencker said the same and worse of Americans, but his cudgel, though brutal, was more discriminating than Mr. Fairburn’s bothers to be. To wind up, We New Zealanders is worth reading if only New Zealanders will resent it. Its spirit is one of insoucience begotten of an airy confidence in the writer's impunity. If, heaven help us, "we" take it lying down, it will do a good deal of harm. Caught bending we shall have permitted ourselves to be laid out cold.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 256, 19 May 1944, Page 21
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387A CURTAIN LECTURE New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 256, 19 May 1944, Page 21
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