A NEW ZEALANDER'S MISSION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 202, 20 May 1908, Page 8

A NEW ZEALANDER'S MISSION.

PRODDING JOHN BULL AWAKE. WANTS MILLIONAIRES. TO HELP. • (Extract from London " Sunday Chronicle.") Mr. P. A. Yailo is not entirely unknown to readers of tho " Sunday Chronicle." At least, lie should not bo. For it is only a few weeks since his tingling book ."Wake Up, England!" was reviewed in these columns, and those who read it. should still bo bearing the marks of its healthy bludgeonings in their minds.

I know that many people -wondered what on earth Mr. Vailc was doing by writing such a book. They failed entirely to see tho connection between it and lawn tennis aiid "swerve." For in:this delightful world of ours you can give a writer a (good or bad) name in connection with a certain subject, and hang him—at least, so far as other subjects are concerncd. I have hoard the question as to what he meant by writing it Put to Mr. Vailo in a club myself. But Mr. ailo has only smiled, a square-jaw sort of smile,, for he is now a Man .with a> Mission— a 'sorious mission.

It is a big mission—a mighty big mission,' and whether it comes to anything or not, the idea behind it is a fecund and practical one ? and it .will make you think, and then it will make you hopo that one day you may live to see the realisation-of it. Practical Patriotism. Mr. \ ailo is, of vourso, tho well-known ex--011 lawn tennis and "swerve." IJo is without question the greatest living authority on lawn tennis—his book, "Modern Lawn renins, published by Heinemann, is now tho standard work on the ■ game—and thero is certainly no one to dispute his titlo with regard to ' swerve." For ho has written the only book that has over been published on But Mr. Vailo is not at all pleased with tneso things. Indeed, ho is ratner annoyed about them. Ho has said to mo, "I wish to heaven, sometimes, that I had never written thorn." Ho finds that they tie. him down to sport—and to lawn' tennis and "swerve" in particular. _ Sport, says Mr. \ ailo, is a mighty fino thing in its way, and clean and healthful, so long as it is true sport; nut' sport is not the only, or the biggest boulder on tho bea'ch. Not by a ton or two. ' ' llioro aro things which matter considerably more than sport *, and ono of tlieso is Patriotism. Even Patriotism. Oh, I know that Patriotism is obsolete—is vulgar, and • bad form,, and. is only indulged in by'featherheaded. folk of irregular mental habits. But there is sueh a thing as practical Patriotism, Patriotism which does not consist merely of "killing Krugor, with >your mouth," or of repeating to yourself at pleasant intervals, "England is tho greatest country in tho world.", •

Out for Big Game. Indeed there is money to bo made out of tho proper Patriotism; sound commercial profit, and oxpanso of trade. Also,, and quito apart from this, bettor social conditions. This is tho real Patriotism, the new religion which Mr. Vailo has very' much at. heart, and which ho is here to push forward. Patriotism .in . futuro is going; to bo both Mr. Vaile's business and recrcatipn. Already (10 has had the good fortune to'interest tho Right Hon. 11. B. Haldano with a proposal, he has mado in connection with tho War Minister's Territorial Army chomc. Mr. Vailo-is a tremendous believer in the possibilities of tho sub-target rifle, and ho says that by its use he can demonstrate a schbmo for tho encouragement of rifle-shooting within two months. Mr. Haldane has not only approved of Mr. Vaile's proposal, but ho is of the opinion that it will, form tho complement of his plans for a territorial army.

Mr. Vaile has forgotten air about lawn tonnis and "swerve." Ho lias put them behind him. They . were pleasant enough in their ways; but they were onlj on the fringe of things. Ho is out, aS you might sdy, tor bigger "gamo." He is over here now in connection with a scheme which is as im■portant in its results as the Education and Licensiug Bills rolled into one. A Fascinating Sclicme. The scheme is a fascinating onor-fascinat-ing_beyond all else.' Very tersely and briefly it is tho converse: of Cecil Rhodes's great Imperial scholarship scheme. Instead of having young men who think, and who mean to count some' day; coming from -all parts of the world to England;,. Mr.' Vailo would havo a similar travolling scholarship established hero, by which young men!' who not only think, but who write and talk as woll, would be sent to all parts of the world, and then report on what they see in every phaso of social and civil existence. . . That England is too insular is Mr. Vaile's battle-cry. He sees the country being clogged and dragged down with it. England is, and 'has been for some . time, ' too selfsufficient in its attitude. ' 'Slowly, very slowly, it will cast about and see something that is' good in other countries, and adopt it But it is too slow. .There must be an organised effort to find out what is good in other countries. Tho nuinieipal, international visits of i tho last two or three years arc a step in tho right,direction; but they are not broad enough in their survey. •

"It is iio good saying," said Mr. Vaile to me, "that there is precious little in other countries which is. good that England hasn't' got.. England is just finding out that there is even something in her despised colonies which she can. adopt with advantage. Take New Zealand, for instance. England' has just taken from her tho idea of 'the First Offenders' Probation Act' and 'The Public Trustee Act.' " ' And do you think those are the only two 'things she could adopt and develop with advantage? Of eourso they are not,, and England is beginning to realise it, for Mr. Vailo told me that she lias , now sent out a commissioner to New Zealand to study the. indus-. trial conditions and the legislation of that busy aiid progressive little Dominion. But one commissioner is not, sufficient, and what Cecil Rhodes did in one direction Mr. Vailo would Jiltc to see some other publicspirited millionaire do in another direction. The thing is very far indeed from being impossible, and the possibilities of such a scheme as Mr. Vaile outlines are enormous. That will bo admitted. He would have the brain-work of all the other countries collected and laid at, England's feet for her to study and choose from. And you would have taken tho first step towards assisting the scales of " insulance" to fall from Mr. Bull's dyes. The example of Japan is tho most shining one that could be mentioned. "I would have," said Mr. Vaile, "a number of young men chosen each year by scholarships or otherwise—young men ,who have Jiot yet developed. into tramcars, but who can write and talk—and these.l would have sent abroad to other lands, thpro to study the laws, and customs and social conditions of a particular city or country. They would remain there for a specified period, and would then return home to spread, either by writing or by lectures, the knowledge they had gained. "There would be jio waiting, however, until they returned home for results, for in the meanwhile the scholarship holders would have to send reports, together with photographs, to England ovory month or three months to a magazino, which .- would ■ be started for tho purpose. And in the course of timo this magazine would bo tho greatest educator in the country. These reports would cover all subjects, technical and otherwise—education, sanitation, electrical engineering, and so forth." What England May Learn. ■ And that, in the rough, is the schomo which Mr. Vailo is over here now for,-and is giving his time and energy to promote. Ho may,regret sometimes that his name has been so prominently connected with sport; but, at least, it has given hiin a namo, arid. I think lie will find it of practical-use in getting men who matter ,to r support bis scheme. It only wants some millionaire with imagination, such as Mr. Carnegie, who does' not sit tight on tho lid of his moncy-chost, ihq jchfune . triiwmtajitjy. "parried

through. And no doubt Mr. Camesie would find sufficient return for his founding of the 1 ravel Scholarship if the magazine issued in connection'with it was called "The Carnegie Magazine." In the meanwhile, however, Mr. Vailc is not pinning his faith to anyone, but is quietly going about seeing official heads, and getting them interested, in spite of themselves. He has a mighty task in front of him, but . should the scheme conic to pass in a year or" two; it is such, a natural one that I don't think there will be any surprise felt about it.

" One solitary commissioner in New Zealand," said Mr. Vaile vigorously, in conclusion, "is 110 good; wo want hundreds of commissioners scattered over the world, writers and sneakers, alert men and thinkers, who shall have the power, and shall know how to tell Englishmen what they have seen." .

Aiid, perhaps, there will be those among us who will say "Amen" to this. V —Stephen Winwood. •