THE POET'S PROGRESS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20470, 13 February 1932, Page 13

THE POET'S PROGRESS.

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part two.*

. v TV 4 Cesesweli-.] rßy " * tt WBITTBX r°-" IHB rELDbT Zealand a great deal o£ **« and volcanos exist, wheiecountry is hot and many " flakes are heated and give 1,5, 1t steam. Beside these are ' fhich issue from snow and ice, g ! forests of exceeding aarkness P" s \h from the mountains whence 'ilT ascend. likewise by now ? £ are extinct, while others, "Tists or insects or plants, have *££ .h«». The rW tbem- ,» of two kinds, brown and fL former are dying away and they possessed, while the 8 *"'£ all -a »«s™">; ' SI A Among these arc many but : rived or at least who were yet havo come there to 1 If die-while others have known :r, r tell of BO Other place So Jlhere is by contrast; as when holidays they do all the con- ' .f that they are used, as to sleep It beds, to wear no clothes, to eat Liar * ood ' and t0 r6ad 110 k 001 "' S they are much addicted, hav\m of their own. I mean they „t aU they read. i Ifow with them the Feast of the srettion- takes place in autumn, ijjiii is the Btrangest confusion they , t proceeding from which their to'snd savage landscape holds a? aloof. Nevertheless a great deal Jj country is Christian, so far as to U Their chief industry is farming, tl they pursue with attention, and i(lei; produce so far, a great many iteaded to deal with shipping, ae[tiap, land-dealing, and legal and jj matters to handle so vast an aoiing of goods. In this manner retail arose, which are mainly govjiy clerks, who so throve on this iaihey soon had the whole country •IB control, and administered ijiting, and multiplied every office, IIW flothing and no one is free i their interference. There is no I land in the world, it is said, so bed and plagued, nor clerks and ilj io conceited and saucy. As to rest, for the most part their man- ] me friendly and modest. Yet this it ose more contrast they have. I They have everywhere great naturalises, such as honesty, courage, I mice, and an exquisite simplicity; in business they cheat and defraud j tote quite openly, and, as it were, illy. Therefore their men are disced but not their womon, who trt and complexity the more they :b them. In whatever they do they pick and efficient, but not fond; ftey like less to be doing than to j pne. let they have above all things iibit of seriousness and belief, and . Omental doggedness. In political J wial affairs this often results in '■ iM exaggeration, as many laws Mlt savage administration attest. | I. Towards vagrancy and any sexual i Sutiey think, inept versatility they j i ttspeakabiy cruel. And yet, j i-tsdr private lives, not prudes. arose in this way: in ilabroods a law indicated a state r sMgency, and so was agreed on, riieli the officials took their ad vanfla this way laws are passed ft.men agree to in theory but not ftst in practice, as touching them[a. Tims a law that was passed nnSmJ, or in an emergency, becomes in lod a Axed moral custom and ckarac- #* of all; as many vexing restric- j stiey have now in England will in ft if suffered, become the ideas of people; and of this weakness in *WMS take advantage who are for'Majming to ingratiate tlieir pecuI'ttWfl. Yet the making of laws beto the highest statesmanship; wawer the gTeat regard posterity •jrlycnrgug and Solon, who gave ? ™ Athens their laws, while J," s P°leon drew up theirs for the And in each case these were Wo of laws. Yet a new system of *OB lets cause of suspicion than PW new law; and the passing of iri°f e ' avr ' as something touching nature and features of a people wtlvea, as adding or taking thereV*ltt a matter in which it merits ebe vain. Yet do we remember W»«s of laws and hold them ac«oie, to reward them or punish? Mvmg a certain number of laws, J r ® of no use, we replace te ■rt m . were commodities, and Iftifi °* one * aw the less. jhoiild be equally worthy: to j, laws, to pass no laws, and ™ B°«d laws. * Jlr ch . f , or laWs in general. I jj,, dy said how the New Zeart,.„n P ar ticular suffer from theirs, in «r>. ° st no beggars nor fortuneS. 'h* ®y s terious persons among ill 6t al ' are alike in their views; and they persecute W ?,° are diff crent. For about vagrancy, K.W 9 h m °l e rank in their hunt aMins/n,' is ' disagree- !♦ « ® eneral opinion; and fi'W t hrl - o£ bein s were perfellow* » W i? t0 ® uol an y w ' lo urge Hi aftive t0 alter this m. : " 0t to breasc laws, but fee, j t j° or boycott, to de4lS!y <jh' denounce, in short to fettlTL ' or however to go snee.h 11 «' Tllere iB no measure i ? ong them ' "or have for justsce ' y et . °? bow far they are & lto «» ey d 0 and uphold; while Nsk tCw rr h maini y dis - Kthev . g , lSh from all other I 1 ® and forget. But anVtW® of El 'Sland, as makii flag ' the - v tirenthese. 5 , ojeisa ace, and tliey Sieflv tw, gs TCItU their chatter. !W«t, on v. l J 1 r V ' i or tables I f r,ccoum - ir tbt R ,;„, feH ' we ekn old thev l**? s »i<3 to b/f ft ail(1 ?ratitu,le ' ca n. this in ~ cmos t, of all couniufaatl i® C t re of tho Btatc f" e Hlltnoo,' 0 ,' , to be disagreed or in fe, 5 ?°i and the WT °-T' ei ' venture ,peak > ,0 the Lu • " aggravation \i 7 hid. Her» ICe and rottenness h Tel y; for r ay be Seen on Sent official s to bf a Cotnc their s lt and root necessity, t out from the first it no 10 / 110 a,,swer Triilv n 110 a by well am n mrn nceds be n 8 s t them. You

[sfc ■ , % Lif, 0c !? ber 13th, 1938. in book 0a ? and was i. tad "The Poet's fiber, London.

might suppose the sea never cast up a stink on their coast. 109. They do everything by cheapness, and rejoice in what they obtain for nothing. In their common, or as thev term them, their public, schools, their teachers are mainly women. For these aro cheap to employ. Or else they think women more apt to teach since these are more apt to be taught. These teachers themselves attend classes wherein thej' are taught how to teach; and those that teach them must themselves at some time have been taught how to teach those how to teaah; but where I know not. For no more is known of where this matter begins than of where it thall end. But this teaching by common rule and practice they reverence above all else. 110. They have no political talent, but a great desire to be governed, le3t they be thought savages. Even so they desire to be artists and poets, yet there are none among them, and few persons of ta*to. Their statues and monuments are among the worst to be found;'-yet so eager they are they prefer a bad taste shall flourish than none. All they do is savage and violent, in accordance with nature around them; and this exercise of their passions they mistake for progress. In all things they exhibit immense energy; and in this alone they sho-.v they are subject to the titanic ! and terrible presence about them. In the face of disaster they act with discretion, at once, and together, and herein they show themselves a truly great people. In short their failings are such as enlightenment may remove; while their virtues another people might long in vain to acquire. Their physique is superb, and surpassed by no other peoples; while in features they tend to get dark and more aquiline. The air of their islands is mainly fresh from the sea, and the rainfall abundant from the mountains whereon it • condenses, from which, in some parts, a violent sirocco results. Their present condition depends on the state of peoples a great distance off and their communi- j cation with these. They have as yet no future their own, and when at length that confronts them they shall awake to find where they lie, and what realm it was they so rudeiv and rashly disturbed. 111. Their history begins with no certain aim, but haphazard. The first there, of whom there is any record, were Maori, who lived in tribes and were gifted with eloquence and great daring and prowess in war. but of whom no convincing account exists. In time navigation was so increased, ships began to arrive there from every part, some sent by Stales, some to trade, some to implant the Christian religion; wherein they greatly presumed on the natives' good nature to preach on their shores. For this people, when at peace, paid great honour and kindness to but chiefly they had no law against hearing sedition, and this was their downfall. After this great numbers of traders and settlers arrived there, and bargained -with muskets, and having got land for so little they claimed to possess what none liad a right to confer upon them, since the land of each tribe was owned jointly, and there was no portion thereof but contained many sacred and inviolable objects and places, in no way distinguishable; on which account its free occupa tion was a constant risk to our men and a source of annoyance and sharne to the natives. Yet these were so eager to trade, they parted with more and more by degrees, on conditions so doubtful, at length war was the only means to settle the matter. 112. By now the Maori were "well armed with muskets; but meanwhile they had fought each other with these hand-to-hand, as their method was, so that the numbers we met with were much less than at first; nor did they cease to fight with each other wliiie fighting with us. While they expected of us the same frankness and fashion as that they practised in warfare themselves, such as to inform us beforehand where, and how soon, we might have the pleasure to fight them, or to offer us food if besieged and to oxpcct it of us in like case, to which our soldiers paid little respect; so that the advantage they had of occupying a centre. ; and mountainous country and impenetrable forests unknown to our troops, they disdained or had no idea to mako use of. Moreover we brought up cannon, without which we had been unable to take their strongholds, for these were so judiciously placed and so strongly contrived, they amazed and baffled our men. But at length, after several wars and uprisings, we wrested the North Island from them. The South Island, being colder, was barely inhabited. 113. Now even before this was accomplished and the country pacified, several expeditions, promoted in England, arrived in both islands and settled mainly at two points in each. And at each place they laid out a city, and buiit on a part, and sold the remainder in lots; while those in England who controlled these affairs, in which the churches were foremost —for like the temple at Delphi, these prophesied for a price—continued to furnish more and more settlers for this, to whom they Bold all the land their charters entitled them to. And in recard to the South Island, there was never beforo. to my knowledge, so large and so fair a land to be had for the asking; but in regard to the North, and their title for what they took there from the natives, and how they increased it, it differs but little from many examples, which the Hpaniards began. 114. These settlements flourished, and so far out-grew their beginnings, and their aims were so altered, they were formed into Provinces to manage their own affairs, a Governor a 6 well having meanwhile been appointed, with a central Assembly, to sufjervise the whole country. And thereby it happened that the affairs of each Province were ad.ministered by thoso who were known in each place to be the most able and wise, who had done the most hitherto for their, district: and this made an example to all. But such an arrangement, of separate Assemblies that is, while it favoured. each district (since each, being small, yet made a political system entire, in which all had a shaie, and manifest in the sight of all, from its roots to its flower, as grander systems are not) yet it stood in the wa y of those who.se ambitions were boundless, who aimed to control the whole country, to scttlo it closely, to exploit its resources, and so to increase own prestige and power. These now had control of the central (Jovernmeut; and when the Provinces resisted their aims, i they swept them away. So that which began so well came to no result, though experience and time were like to .ivt justified what was well-founded and done for the best. For these had anus other than acquisition and the destruction of all that stood in the way oi t|io most rapid settlement for the sake what could be gained. But their tions took longer to plant and to foster ; than did the aims of those who wt-re 1 now in control, which last had a rapi result and greatly increased the population and wealth. Nevertheless much that the Provinces did remains, as tnc founding of schools, the planning ot the city, the erection of public b ings, and the remembrance of manners, both light and devout,, all a fashion of whatever party in England promoted their Province. 115. But now a great shout of progress arose; the forests v) '^ re 0m 1,4 where set alight, ana e . wliiie sown and fenced and stocked , thfi slumps of the trees were ye ing. Ship-loads of settlers poured into

tlio country, and soon the steamship and railway came to assist and enrich them. So careless lliey wore of all they destroyed, and such havoc they made, some parts where the climate was pleasant and equable hitherto are now arid in summer and dangerous even for sheep. And destructive and dangerous floods are now frequent in many parts where the forests had kopt the lainfall and rivers in bounds. Too high for the farmer, nolv the hills are for hundreds of miles huge uplifted deserts, their streams barren shingle, their birds no more, their waterfalls mute. In short that mirror of nature was cracked, the most flawless and heavenly the eyes of men have beheld on earth. The great bulk of men are monsters, whom freedom makes drunken, whom profit alone attracts. For the profit that came of all this was immense. This, then, was the time when the clerks took control of the country. This was dcuioeracy. (To be continued.)