EFFECTS OF CLIMATIC ENVIRONMENT

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 249, 18 July 1944, Page 4

EFFECTS OF CLIMATIC ENVIRONMENT

Noted Visitor’s Views PREDICTION OF FUTURE OF DOMINION “Of nil the countries of the world for which I could predict prosperity—not in terms of mere wealth, but in the highest terras of life—l mention New Zealand as worthy to rank in the four highest,” said Major S. F. Markham, a member of the United Kingdom Parliamentary delegation. in an interview in Wellington yesterday. He has been National Labour member of the House of Commos for South Nottingham since 1935; is the author of “Climate and the Energy of Nations,”’ published in 1942; and is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society . Discussing the philosophy of climatic environment. Major Markham said that south-east England had been remarkable for producing men of brilliance responsible for the greatest inventions in the world in the last 100 years. Holland was noted for brilliance in a number of fields, such as painting, shipbuilding, aviation and science. The Pacific Coast of the United States of America, though young, already had a world monopoly in films. It was extraordinary that an odd, isolated place like Los Angeles should dominate in this field.

Major Mai’kham, who gives New Zealand the highest priority in this respect in his book, of which a new edition is shortly coming from the Oxford University Press in New York, added that be did not feel obliged io revise his opinions after experiencing the rainfall in Wellington. It was not climate, so much as control of climate, he said, that was the determining factor. Wet weather drove neople indoors, and there they could control their thinking on a higher intellectual plane than outdoors. There was no doubt that it made a difference. New Zealand children had 1} hours more sunshine daily than did British children. That gave them a sound advantage in health, and with no smokepall to trouble them as it did the people of England, New Zealanders suffered less from respiratory diseases. England, with its older background, had certain cultural and intellectual assets, but New Zealand would rapidly catch up on these. New Zealanders did not approach the high tension and nervous irritability which characterized people who dwelt in countries of tropical climate. A Changed Tradition.

“Tradition is a most extraordinary thing,” .said Major Murkham. “Britain, for example, lias changed the whole traditions of her life during the last century. She has changed from an aristocratic oligarchy to one of the most, complete democracies the world bus ever seen. A. century ago her leadership was found in the great families of the land. Today her leadership springs with even greater brilliance from all classes. tradition is a very changeable thing. Every generation makes its own. .Tradition is not handed down. That is important to remember.” ~ , , “The new Education Bill winch has just been passed will make ilie education ladder in England wider mid taller, he continued. “I think it can be said that rhe Bill will place Britain at least on a par with New Zealand as regards elemetnary and secondary education, and possibly further ahead in university education. New Zealand has a very impressive record with education, in which your country has been very much ahead of US -” . ~. rz Major Markham, who visited New Zealand in 1933 and prepared a report on its museums and art galleries under the auspices of the Museum and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, yesterday afternoon visited the Dominion Museum. He described museums to his interviewer as the raw materials of science.