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New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 357, 26 April 1946, Page 5

Sir-The "O, To Be in England" controversy has been both irritating and amusing-but no one has pointed out the salient facts, which are: (1) New Zealand’s pakeha history extends back only 100 years. (2) Most of that. 100 years has been spent in wresting from nature the wherewithal for food, clothing, and shelter (besides fighting in a few wars). (3) New Zealand has a population of under two million. In the face of these facts, it is not surprising that we have not yet developed a strong and distinctive culture of oir own. We are too young and underpopulated. But what is rather surprising is that we lead the world in so many social reforms, I would ask "One who wants to run away" to remember our Plunket system, our free Dental Service ‘to school children, and our Social Security benefits when next she feels compelled to judge us in print. She may have had symphony concerts and ballet and grand opera in China-but did millions of Chinese living on and below the bread line share those delightful things with her? I should not be too disturbed that her Van Gogh print passed unrecognised. I venture to suggest that such a thing could happen in any country in

the world, and in all fairness one should point out that Van Gogh with his often crude outlines and wonderful simplicity is rather a trap for the uninitiated. I wonder what proportion of all the millions of average working people in Britain or America has ever heard of Van Gogh or Gaugin or Degas-or in the field of literature of Montaigne or Voltaire-or in music of Debussy or Ravel? It is, I think, a matter of proportion. The greater the population-the greater the number of people who know and love the great works of art, music, literature, and the things of the mind. Arnold Bennett called these people "the passionate few." In thickly populated countries and in great cities there are always enough of these people to make their influence felt. In a sparsely populated country like New Zealand our "passionate few" seem very few indeed-and have little effect on the cultural life of our country as vet Rut cive ue tmal

JULIA

BRADLEY

Ww pper Hutt).