The Mixture as Before

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 436, 31 October 1947, Page 8

The Mixture as Before

IN his series of talks on The Making of- a New Zealander, Alan Mulgan appears to have no intention of giving us a recipe for this dish; possibly the list of ingredients yaries too much. What Mr. Mulgan does give us, however, is probably far more.to the point: a collection of reminiscences about the process as he remembers it. Not the best writing in the world can replace the first-hand verbal account of the days which often seem to us of the younger generation remote and sometimes a little ridiculous: the fact that our grandfather probably proposed to our grandmother as "Miss Brown," for instance, or even (for sheer ludictous effect) the thought of chaperones, those

Victorian fire-extinguishers. But even for us it is not hard to see that these people had of necessity something we lack. They had to provide their own entertainment, instead of being mere passive audiences, as we so often are to-day; and (or so they tell us) they weren’t in nearly such a hurry to get anywhere! This last I find a little difficult to believe: they were in just as much of a hurry, the only difference being that they didn’t get there as fast. The difference between whipping up the pony and stepping on the accelerator I refuse to regard as anything more than autre temps, autre moeurs; which, being interpreted, means you'll probably be late for your appointment in any case!