The Uses of Diversity.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20619, 8 August 1932, Page 10

The Uses of Diversity.

Bishop West-Watson's reply to a critic of the Church in New Zealand, printed in The Press this morning, leads him into some interesting reflections on the social life of the country. " New Zealand," he says, "is a country where "all sections of the population are "much nearer to one another: there " are not the extremes of poverty and "wealth, of culture and ignorance, of "aristocracy and democracy, which "mark English life. And the nature ■' of the country is reflected in the •' general outlook of the Church, which "is more homogeneous than at Home." It may be, as the Bishop suggests, that this homogeneity is more fruitful than excessive, controversy; and it is certainly true that the social extremes he mentions are such as no community would willingly foster. But it is worth remembering that the alternative to these extremes is not a dead uniformity. There is a fruitful diversity which can exist without a basis of economic inequality and without sundering extremes of opinion; and the lack of it seriously impoverishes the cultural life of New Zealand. In part, no doubt, the prevailing uniformity is .due to a comparatively placid and uneventful history*. To a much greater extent, however, it is due to the deliberate suppression of regional life and its institutions, a policy which has had its worst effects in education. Dr. Ernest Barker has said that " a national system "of education can produce a culture "rich in diversity or it can produce " the mechanical uniformity of a " tcrmite-hcap." The New Zealand system of education, which is more exclusively national than most, has unquestionably assisted rather than counteracted the general tendency towards conformity in thinking and living. More subtly, but not less effectively, the centralisation of other branches of community effort has led in the same direction. Though in the early stages of national development this concen-' tration of effort was wise and necessary, it has now lost its justification and become almost wholly bad. The central Government itself is heavily overloaded; loc-.-«l and private initiative have grown weak; and uniformity, which should never be more than a necessity, is in danger of becoming' -a virtue.

New Markets. The Minister for Industries and Commerce, who officially opened the Winter Show on Saturday night, delivered a speech in which good advice, rebukes, and compliments were well and usefully mingled. Mr Master's central theme was the need to find and gain new markets; and it is to be hoped that his argument Avill not be wasted upon his own or any other Department concerned with the Dominion's oversea trade, or upon the special industrial organisations devoted to it. It will, of course, be greatly to the advantage of New Zealand if, without selling less to Great Britain, new markets for primary products can be opened, as there is good reason to believe they can. It is quite true, also, that ''New Zea- " landers are bad salesmen " in the large, national sense intended by Mr Masters. That publicity, to begin with, has in more than one way been inexpert, unenterprising, and badly calculated is suggested by evidence far too strong to ignore; but failure here may not be the worst failure, though perhaps the most conspicuous. The greatest failure in salesmanship always is to neglect studying what the consumer, wants, in order to supply it; and to judge the Dominion guiltless in this respect is to be altogether too easy. The truth is that, much as has been done to improve the standard of export (and other) products, more could still be done, and must be done, faster, with greater energy, and more systematically. Recent and very clear warnings of the danger of deterioration only emphasise the need; it would be imperative, even if nothing threatened the standards that have already been attained. One reason is the plain fact that New Zealand's competitors are not standing still. Another is that top quality commands top price, while producers in newly broken areas are extending and sharpening competition in supplying lower grades. The Dominion's policy, therefore, should be, not merely to find new markets, but to win and hold the best markets; and this will not be done without hard thinking.