A CRITIC CRITICISED

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 260, 16 June 1944, Page 2

A CRITIC CRITICISED

Sir-wWith reference to a. criticism, in your issue of May 19, of A. R. D. Fairburn’s book We New Zealanders, I would suggest that the reviewer demonstrates some of those typical New Zealand -qualities that reduce thoughtful people to despair and Mr. Fairburn to protest. If ome sees the mechanical structure of Western civilisation as comparable to a high-powered and complex arrangement, in the hands. of. peoples incompetent to handle it, one begins, I would suggest, to see a good deal. of what happens in this world in about the right perspective. Simplifying this simile one may, perhaps, consider New Zealand as a country town, athwart a highway, through which irresponsible adolescents, with little sense of discipline, morals or ethical behaviour, race in powerful motor-cars to the detriment of laws, property and the local inhabitants. ‘The town itself contains a good proportion of people who behave in much the same fashion, The quite logical results are "smash-ups," accidents, bribery, corruption, (including a vast amount of lying), fatalities, neurosis, clamour, "rackets," and limited chaos. The surprising thing is not that a Fairburn should arise to protest at what goes on, but that every sensible, decently-minded citizen doesn’t do likewise. Fairburn’s greatest difficulty must surely have been to so water the contents of his book down that our local population had a reasonable chance of being able to assimilate much of its documents at all. Your reviewer says "If, heaven help us, we take it lying down. . ." Heaven shows no inclination to help us, and we would be well advised to do some sensible things about our neglected matters without celestial intervention-THIRD GENERATION NEW ZEALANDER (North Auckland). : [This letter has been considerably abridged. ya)" tried not to change its argument.-