THE FUTURE AUSTRALIAN RACE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11128, 21 January 1899, Page 6

THE FUTURE AUSTRALIAN RACE.

The Eev George "Walters, preach-, ing at the Australian Church, Sydney, recently took for his subject ' The Future Australian Race.' Much interest was manifested in the subject, as was evidenced by the large ■ congregation which had assembled. Referring first to a half-serious and half humorous essay by Marcus j Clarke, in which that writer had insisted upon the influence of food and ' climate in developing race peculiarities, it was pointed out that suiScient allowance had not been made for the influence of race. Of course, people from the Old Country must learn to adapt themselves to I changed conditions, but, as a matter of fact, the original inhabitants had not been able, through thousands of yearß, to make as much of the country as the new people had made of it in less than a century. Marcus Clarke's prophesy that the future male would be tall, coarse, and strong-jawed; and that the female would be thin and narrow, deficient in ' childward care,' and unable even to sing with zest, was not yet in process of realisation. "We could find here as large a proportion of well-made men and pleasant-faced women as in any other land yet discovered ! Mr "Walters recently overheard in Pitt-street the remark, ' How many beautiful women there are about just now ! ' and he also overheard the reply, ' Tes, as beautiful as paint can make them ! ' But there was a beauty which could not be put on with a — what did they call the thing they painted their cheeks with ? — and there was a look of clear, womanly kindness which was better than beauty, and could not be put on with a mere paint brush. Still, physical development was not all, and if the future Australian was to advance in all that was necessary for true manhood or womanhood, time must be allowed for intellectual moral, and even spiritual developments. Turning his attention to the recent utterances of Dr Thornton, Bishop of Ballarat, upon the morals of Australians, Mr Walters said it was impossible to deny that intemperance, profanity, (dishonesty, and immorality were to be found amongst us, but he denied that the Australian colonies would compare unfavourably with the older countries of Europe and America. There was nothing to boast about, but certainly in some respects Australia might be regarded as in the van of progress. Referring to a recent correspondent in the Daily Telegraph upon the conduct of our holiday crowds, the preacher said that Mr Henerie's experience on Christmas Eve must have been peculiar and unusual. In an hour and a|half that gentleman had counted on Oxfort-street 45 drunken men and 39 drunken women. Four were clergymen, with beer oozing from their lips, and one when assisted into a cab, gave the name and address of a temperance advocate. That part of Mr Henerie's letter was almost incomprehensible. Either he was sadly and strangely mistaken, or there were men wearing the clerical garb who ought to be ' drummed out ' from the service of the Church. But when the critic went on to make a general accusation, it was time to utter a very decided protest. Mr Heneria wrote : — The Australian people will not become temperate by denying that for the most part they are drunkards.' That, said Mr Walters, was a disgraceful slander upon the majority of the people. Our holiday crowds had been the admiration of many visitors from other lands. He himself could speak from an experience of almost 15 years in Melbourne and Sydney. He found positive delight in seeing men, women, and children starting off for a well-earned holiday, but he felt still greater delight in seeing them returning home sober and happy, though they might be dusty and tired. Let them fix their attention more upon the bright side of our Australian life, and then they would have no reason to look with misgiving or dread upon the picture (a picture painted by fancy or im- ! magination) of the future Australian race.