CORRESPONDENCE.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18303, 10 February 1925, Page 11

CORRESPONDENCE.

The name Londonderry might have been suggestive. The announcement that the majority of New Zealand judges are Scots comes later. .We recollect that we have had no eminent judges—who were not Scotch—and pass on. I Sir Robert's experiences at Camj bridge, though not of special signifiI cancc, are next recounted. They serve rather to recall to tlhe writer a reminiscence by Sir Joseph Ward, which may be repeated. When receiving his honorary degree, Sir Joseph told his hearers of three students of one college (St. John's) who had done good work in New Zealand. And the list might have been extended. They were Selwyn, the first Bishop; Domett, an ! early Prime' Minister, and the author lof "Ranolf and Acioliia"; and Sir Wil- | liam Martin, our first Chief Justice, j These men were English, though in ! other respects tbev deserved well of | their fellow colonists. Sir William, ! a line classic and a wrsngler, was in ! later life an acknowledged authority on ! certain Eastern languages. Ho did ; valuable work as a .jurist, and was a ; sincere friend of the Maori. His same is all hut forgotten among u?, though !ho appears, with Selwyn, on the ; sculptured pulpit in tho Cathedral. • The lecture proceeds. We are told j of a luncheon where all the speakers ; were "Scots or of Scottish descent," 'and finally are informed that of the Masters of the seventeen Cambridge Colleges not less than five were '"of Scottish extraction." Some peregrinatory Scots, alas! suffer keenly from over-sensitiveness, arising from clannishness, and the symptoms are plain when the victims press forward, notebook in hand, to more or less _distinguished strangers, with the anxious ouery: "Are you Scotch or of Scottish descent?" Genius is a delicate plant, but _it has oft-m grown nntended on Scottish soil. Scotsmen, we all nr'mit, have added firm strands of industrv. good sense, and, in the main; of loyalty, to the national fibre. S~ots, of course, are among the best colonists. But is national self-respect engendered by continual boasting, and the dull parade of names? It is to regretted that the educated Scot, when soundin? the praises of his countrv, often shows little seme of proportion, and that his . native cautiousness docs not protect him from. misstatement and ignorance , of fact.—Yours, etc.. ' p ATAfA VIRTUTI.