The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1930. CHANGING ENGLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1930, Page 8

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1930. CHANGING ENGLAND.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

Following the excellent precedent of the Duke of Plaza Toro, the Duke of' Norfolk, England's premier duke and earl, has turned his estates into a company under the title of the Fitzalan-Howard Estates, Limited. This is another sign of the change that is coming over English society. Fifty years ago England was an aristocratic country. The power was in the hands of a few families. The land and the great houses were occupied by these same families, and the country seemed organised for their comfort and pleasure. One by one these houses are changing owners, and either becoming hotels, schools, or boardinghouses, or else passing into the hands of newcomers. A few of the great houses are still in the possession of their owners, but the ancient splendour has departed. Knowle, with as many rooms as there are days in the year, as many staircases as there are weeks, and as many courtyards as there are days in the week, with its long galleries, its chapel, its King James' bedroom, is unoccupied. Deepdene has become a hotel; Osborne has been given to the nation; Grosvenor House has been sold, and Devonshire House has been pulled down to build shops. Taxes and the increased cost of living have in many cases made it impossible for the owners to keep up the old historic mansions. Even the Leader of the Labour Party has lamented the passing from the countryside of so many old-established families and the entry of others with more money than traditions of service. Yet with all this England still retains a veneration for the past. Old customs are kept up, and at schools like Winchester and Eton the tradition of the place outweighs all else. Cambridge is one of the most modern centres of scientific thought in the world to-day. Yet at Trinity the Dean still reads a Latin grace, and on certain occasions the choir boys sing grateful responses for the blessings of a dinner in which they have no share. In Parliament at the beginning of each session some of the members, preceded by ushers carrying lamps, explore the cellars of the House of Commons in pious memory of the Gunpowder Plot which happened three hundred years ago. Writing in the current "Cornhill," M. Andre Maurois, whose "Silences of Colonel Bramble" is one of the wisest and wittiest studies of the English character ever written, reconsiders England after an acquaintance of ten years. He notes the respect of the whole of England for its Sovereign, and the admiration for antiquity and for the ccrenionios attaching to the existence of a Court. But he also notes the different manner in which prosperity is distributed. Life is now organised for the enjoyment of the masses, and there is a wider distribution of wealth and a greater mixture of classes. The change has come insensibly, and Englishmen have, he says, shown a supple adaptability to constantly changing conditions. The spirit of moderation is very potent. This observant and sympathetic Frenchman says that he and his countrymen came to know the remarkable character of the Englishman. They have feared lest this character should be altered in the new generation, but their fears are imaginary. Judging by appearances and the many difficulties in which England is placed, a superficial observer might feel some anxiety as to her future. But those who know her best realise that she is still rich in moral and material resources, drawing her inspiration from the past, and meeting new situations with that spirit of courage, wisdom, compromise and moderation, mixed with humour and good humour, which has enabled her io survive more difficult trials and which will yet carry her through to a future no less illustrious than her past. All Britons should be grateful for this tribute from a discerniffg foreigner.