OUR OWN LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 238, 8 October 1935, Page 6

OUR OWN LAND.

An Englishman, an observant journalist, travelling in Xew Zealand, told us lately (vide

"Star"') tliat our people are too liumble; they do not think enough of their own land, they arc too imitative, loath to advance the qualities of their country. Too true, .John Bull! Very many Xew Zealanders lack the courage of their opinions; they look to England for a lead, and our politicians arc the most imitative of all. There are so many people trying hard to make this country a dull copy of the old world rather than a land with a great and peculiar genius of its own. Even some of. the Maoris of the young generation are apt to beeoirrc brummagen copies of the pakeha. It was comical to read, the other day, an interview in Australia with a notable Maori footballer in which he spoke of teams going "Home," meaning England. Sonic of our aspiring young literary folk are givep, to the habit of extolling everything but the books written about their own land. Little things indicate the tendency to set an English standard. I was amused to read in a Xt'w ZealandeiVs preface to a hook that writer's amazing assertion that there was little, if any, country in Xew Zealand "any wilder than Dartmoor." Why drag in Dartmoor? was the natural question. A few days 41 go a Wellington paper, describing the preparations for the boating season at Evans Bay, in. Wellington Harbour, said that the spot "has at this time of the year something of the aspect of an English fishing village in*the off season, when the foreshore is lined with keels." Here, again, why drag in the English fishing village, which the writer of that par. had probably never seen? Why not compare Evans Bay with St. Mary's Bay or any other Auckland Harbour vachtmen's hauling-up beach, where similar pictures are to be seen, on a larger scalc? That would be more to the point, and more in accord with fact. —TAXGIWAI.