WHITHER?

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 21, 4 December 1931, Page 29

WHITHER?

(Continued from last issue.)

N Australia and New Zealand we should understand and recognise the emergence of this nationalism, Our own new environment and life, afar from the Old Country, prevented our falling into the mistake of England that the people of the U.S.A., taken as a whole, were, or are, only a crude or primitive or undeveloped section of the English people. This was, and too often still is, in certain circles, a judgment under which we ourselves smarted. We should feel, too, that there are lessons in American history of great value to us: the problem of racial relations, of colonist and aborigine specially interesting to us because of our contact with the Maori; certain parts of the constitution, though rather as foils to our own than models. the period of reconstruction after the Civil War with its lessons for the legislation of the last few years; the use of arbitration in settling political disputes; the attempt at political isolation; and the use and abuse of a high tariff. : Co-operation. PRINALLY there is the shifting of the eentre of international politics nearer the Pacific, our awakening to the fact that we might be endangered by alien powers against whom it would be difficult to guard except in co-operation with other countries on the Pacific with similar interests and ideals, and the realisation that of these countries the U.S.A. is incomparably the greater. Private and quasi-public co-opera-tion in Pacific affairs is now well established and necessitates on the part of New Zealanders, if they are to pass @ reasoned judgment on‘ proposals, an intelligent comprehension of American ideals, interests and policy that they cannot form without a knowledge of the history and social economy of America.

Modelled on American Colonies. W5HIstT marked by notable differeuces, especially with regard to i‘ade and native policy, New Zealand is the colony of the New Empire which was most consciously modelled on the old American colonies. The foundation motives were very similar; the New Zealand Association and the New Zealand Company were the first of the more modern attempts to apply the old chartered company system in a modified form, shorn of most of the political functions of the old, without their commercial monopolies and subject to strict control especially as re: -gards intercourse with the natives: there was frequent invocation of the spirit of Elizabethan maritime enter: prise by the founders of these associations; the Mayflower compact was in the minds of. the pioneer expedition of Wellington settlers when, in September, 1839, they’ voluntarily agreed to a code of laws drawn up for the government of their colony, the Charter of the New Zealand Company granted in 184] invited comparison with the Charters granted to Penn and Baltimore; Gladstone in hig yer;

lengthy speech on the Constitution Act of 1852 based his support of it mainly on the belief that the powers given the colony "are so many approximations to the old colonial system of the Empire," and in the spirit and manner of the Massachusetts Company the Canterbury Association in. 1851 delegated its authority to a Management Committee resident in the settlement itself. The special pleas for the planning of colonies overseas which we find in writers of the early 17th Century in reference to America are repeated in writers of a century ago in reference to New Zealand-the necessity for new supplies of naval stores and raw materials for industry, new outlets for manufacturers, and the conversion of the heathen to Christianity. A Transplantation of English People, J UST as in America, and consciously to a far greater degree, the colonisation of New Zealand was a transplantation of English people and Hn¢lish society, English culture and civili-sation-a momentous thing for the new land itself, for the home country, and perhaps for the world, taken into account with the similar movements in Australia and Canada. The ideal of Wakefield was to cut a vertical slice out of English society to establish it in New "ealand, to transplant a shoot of the old tree to grow more vigorously in the new soil and under more genial skies.

The possession of sea power enabled England to establish these colonies and in each case the conditions in the homeland that occasioned the migrations were similar. In both cases the colonisation followed and was rendered easier by an industrial revolution. In the later 18th century as in the 16th there were agrarian, industrial and commercial changes which favoured the development in the English people of the motives, the methods, and the means of establishing overseas colonies. Enclosures of land, development of manufactures, the growth of towns. and the habit of co-operation, the accumulation of capital seeking profitable use, a general spirit of enterprise marked the years that saw the birth of the American and the Australasian colonies in the two ages. Policies Regarding Aborigines. "THE policies of the colonists in respect of the aborigines, however, showed marked differences, but the differerrce in the attitudes adopted toward the natives is a rough measure of the moral progress made in the intervening two centuries.

Social Structures. ‘THH ‘social structure of the two groups of colonies has tended to follow the same line of development. At first the Bnglish class system Was reproduced without, of course, the princes and the peerage. I have already referred to the ideal of Wakefield; but circumstances were against the perpetuation of the rigid class divisions of the old land-the religious freedom, the abundance of land, the very sense of spaciousness itself liberating the spirit, the unequal balance ot the sexes, the more pronounced adventurous streak in the pioneer stock, the sense of oppression suffered in the old land, the character of their occu-pations-all tended to promote a much higher degree of mobility, both vertical and horizontal, in colonial society. Not that class distinctions passed away, but they were smoothed down, and class was associated rather with individual qualities and achievement than with inherited status. Wakefield revived in New Zealand in the 19th century the idea of colonies associated with particular ecclesiastical systems; but neither in America where the religious motive was very powerful in the founding of some of the colonies, nor in New Zealand was a State Church the ultimate outcome.

Constitution and Government. [THE constitution and government of New Zealand were influenced. by the political experience gained during the existence of the Old Empire of the thirteen colonies. The post of Governor was no longer given to placemen or poor relations with no interest or training for the work. The very first colonists in New Zealand clamoured for selfgovernment as early as the American colonists of the 18th century had done. Unlike the British, but similar to that of the United States, the constitution of New Zealand is largely a written one, and, just as in the United States, the Supreme Court of the Dominion is competent to interpret its provisions. Moreover, the Act of 1852 provided for a kind of federal system. Political life in New Zealand and in many of the States in America, particularly in the Middle West, has been subject to the same kind of criticism ir respect of its preoccupation with local affairs, its neglect of external relations, and provision for spiritual, intellectual, and artistic sides of life. Travel. (SASUAL travel and reading and the movies do much to make us acyuainted, but so many when travelling carry their prejudices with them overseas and confine their observations to tourist routes, and books, newspapers, and pictures are so often apt to give partial and distorted views. But the more of our young people we can help to live abroad for a time in intimate touch with the youth and teachers of other lands, the better for international understanding. But we should send those who have attained to some

maturity of judgment. and .stability of character, and are desirous: of returning. to their native land. The Univer-, sity has been sending a great many to England and helping some to other parts of Europe these last few years.: (Unfortunately they receive little en-. eouragement to return home again, and so our public opinion and practical politics are the poorer for their absence.) But it is greatly to be desired. that more of our potential leaders should acquire that exact knowledge of American conditions that our political and economic future well-being demands, In the U.S.A. I can say from personal knowledge there is a deeper and more widespread interest in and a higher appreciation of what education can do than .in most other countries, and a warmer welcome for students from abroad,. Some of our young men now there ‘have spoken in the highest terms ef the encouragement and facilities they are freely’ given. Must we take all and give nothing in return? The good which both parties get from such contacts is expressed in a communication from the U.S. Commissioner of Bducation, issued two months ago, to foreign students arriving in the U.S.A. for the beginning of the present academic year:"Perhaps you are interested at the present time in becoming known. We are anxious to know you also, not only for yourselves, but as personal embodiments of the culture of your respective nations, -°-I am sure you will find your-_ selves much at home here, for a careful analysis of American institutions will doubtless reveal to you some contributions which the people from whom you. come have made to our Western clyilisation. You can also help us, and. we hope we can help you in the building of a new concept of citizenship.

"We have erected a Federal Republic consisting of forty-eight important states or commonwealths, each of them actually sovereign and supreme in exercising certain functions of government. Our schools have been reasonably successful in making our citizens eonscious of the responsibility. which they have as citizens of the community, citizens of the State, and citizens of-the Wederal Union. Many of our educators feel that we are now ready. to attempt to make them also conscious of a world citizenship, not of an allegiance to a world flag or of electoral responsibilities to a world government, but appreCiative of the fact that the financial difficulties of a great European Power, or the economic distress of a great Asiatic Power, or social or political dis-

turbances of one of our American neighbours is of concern to us; that our sympathy and our help where possible should go out to these fellow world citizens. If American leaders are to aceomplish this they must have the support and encouragement of educators, men and women, the world over. | "May your stay here be profitable for you as well as for us, and in the long run for your people as well as for our le." We have had American educators here in New Zealand, not the least eminent of them this week, in the person of Dr. Coffman, president of the University of Minnesota; and a couple of hours ago I bade farewell to Professor Shelley at the railway station, embarking to cross to America for a

year’s study of conditions there, But we should have a steady stream of men and women eager to find the truth for themselves and interpret it to others; and among: them a larger proportion than at present of younger students in their post-graduate years who may return eager to educate.us in the knowledge and understanding of peoples abroad. The English Speaking Races. (THESE are only some of the reasons which should arouse a keen curiosity to get to know that the U.S.A, is, anil; jhow it came to be, what it is. But beyond and above this urge, there should be the feeling that in the U.S. we have a great nation with which we must have close intercourse, trade and social, whether we will or no, and with whom therefore we should cultivate the friendliest relations. The immense degree, if not the exact nature of its importance in the economic and political future of the world should’ pe clear to us all. We cannot escape its influence. And we cannot reasonably expect to have any understanding or influence on it unless New Zealanders and Americans get to understand each other and tolerate and respect their particular points of view.

As Bryce says: The growth of the English-speaking races has been the most significant phenomenon of the last century. They have grown most rapidly in wealth and population, and are in. control’ of* most’ of the world commerce. This influence on the world at large is the most ‘potent of racial influences, and if directed to the same ends should be unique in power. But we must form opinion to that end. And America ‘and the British Empire must develop.a spirit of co-operation. The first step-is. the fuller knowledge by each English-speaking people of: the mind of the other in the "broadly fraternal spirit that seeks the welfare of mankind," In the development of intellectual and moral Sympathy is to be found the sort of co-operation that will best promote that welfare. I am sure that those who are charged with shapin the ideals of young New Zenland}ts are very anxious to learn what is Hest in American life and ideals in order to be able to do their part in developing that sympathy.