THE WAY THEY CAME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 25, Issue 629, 20 July 1951, Page 16

THE WAY THEY CAME

IX New Zealand citizens who for most of their long lives have been prominent in one way or another in the affairs of this country-one of them, Sir Albert Ellis, who died in Auckland only a few days ago-are to be heard in a recorded series of NZBS talks, The Way I Have Come. Most of them were born in the ’sixties, and the theme of their talks concerns the changes they have seen in New Zealand life. The Way 1 Have Come will begin from 4YA at 6.0 p.m. this Sunday (July 22), when A. P. Harper will tell listeners what it felt like in 1889 to be a New Zeeland mountaineer ridiculed by the followers of other sports. Most climbers when travelling packed ice axes and boots out of sight and disguised their blanket swags. But changes since ‘then have not ell been for the better; Mr. Harper thinks that the increase in alpine accidents may be related to easier access and the tempta--tion for inexperienced men to attempt climbs beyond their powers. Dr. H. F. von Haest, who gives the second talk, describes himself as sixty years a lawyer, though his life hes been father different from the bent back in an cffice, relieved only by walks to the court for a little brief thunder, that many people imagine a lawyer’s life to be. With the wanderlust of his explorer

father, he travelled much, though he _ probably had his share of back-bending as editor of the Law Reports for 15. years. He will recall in his broadcast highlights from the country’s legal past. Many people _ will think of E. Earle Vaile. as a pumice country pioneer, but his talk in this series is mainly about the advance of Auckland, which he knew when it was the smallest and poorest of

the four main cities. South Islanders were "really insolent" in their attitude of superiority. (One Canterbury farmer said he would not exchange his 2000 acres for the whole of the North Island.) Mr. Vaile does not disguise his satisfaction with what has happened since. American-born, and the junior member of the team, Professor A. G. Strong decided while teaching backward children that wrong home life was largely responsible for their condition, and that prevention was better than cure. She came by way of India to her post as Professor of Home Science at Otago University. Critical of some aspects of New Zealand life, she says of the loss

of good. New Zealanders abroad that "one must have a strong missionary spirit to remain." Professor Strong has that spirit; she saw to it that home science was not something that only a few students at Otago got to know about. The curiosity of the late Sir Albert Effis about a block of stone holding open an office door in Sydney led to his discovery of the vast phosphate deposits of Nauru and Ocean Island. Sir Albert, in a talk recorded a short time before his death, tells how he left his New Zealand home for the Pacific Islands when he was 18. But (as he said) though absent from his homeland, he was working in its interests. His big discovery was made

when all the known phosphate islands in the area had been worked out. Professor Arnold Wall ends the series with a talk on the way he has come as a speaker of the English language, especially since his thirtieth year, when he became a permanent resident of New Zealand. Professor Wall compares the standard English spoken by many, both then and now with the "Enzeddic Engjish" of most of the younger generation of New Zealand-born speakers. He discusses Australian and Maori influences on New. Zealand speech, and the forces that have made on the one hand for changes in spoken English and on the other for stability.