THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1879.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5494, 26 June 1879, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1879.

It is somewhat singular to note how rarely visitors to the colony narrate their experiences and impressions, in their communications to the mother country, with truthfulness and moderation. From Mr. Gorst to Lord Ebriiigton and Anthony Trollope, the temptation to deal in the

legendary appears to be too strong to be resisted. Mr. Gorst, tho famous exWaikato magistrate, might bo excused for stating that " the dogs in New Zealand wore woolly like sheep, the rats larger than rabbits, and that lie had travelled 200 miles in tho colony without seeiwj a sober white man," because ho looked at all these matters strictly through his own spectacles. But we expect better things from " a higli-toned" contributor to that evangelical publication, the Christian World. In a recent number of that journal appears a letter by a Mr. Arthur Haydon (an English traveller), dated from Nelson, and in which, from the commanding stand-point of " Sleepy Hollow," he gives a panoramic sketch of tho commercial, religious, social, and matrimonial condition of Now Zealand. Mr. Haydon, at the outset, takes the precaution to remark that his observations are intended solely for tho benefit of that large section of tho British public " whom the colums of the Christian World reach—the middle-class religious public." Having thus soothed tho vanity of the literary Cerberus, he enters on his mission. In the investigations -which ho has pushed into New Zealand lifo he reports that "nothing haa struck, mo as being more needed than a largo infusion of our sound-hearted, reliable, religious, middleclass population. I should be sorry to speak disrespectfully of any class of men, but I must say that I miss here in New Zealand that moral and intellectual backbone which I have been accustomed to at home." Such, for instance, we should imagine, as is manifested by the Glasgow Bank and other failures, in which " the moral and intellectual backbone" was particularly conspicuous. Jfr. Haydon then gives the following sketch of social, trading, journalistic, and political life in Now Zealand, as it revealed itself to the argus eye of that gentleman, presumedly in Nelson ; but what the Nelsonians will hare to say to the indictment it would not be difficult to imagine :— Most of the tradesmen, farmers, ka., appear to have risen from the rauks of the working community, and as a consequence thero is sad lai-k of polish and refinement amongst them. I never read the advertising columns of a newspuper without a feeling of intense disgust at the vulgar pulling and the transparent lies. The supposed exigencies of business often lead English tradesmen in large towns to very questionable methods of tempting foolish people to their shops, jut you only know what vulgar clap-trap really is when you ruako tbo acquaintance of the colonial Press. And so with the political life. I have recently been a spectator of a New Zealand city election, and I never witnessed anything more puerile. The candidates were a couple of local lawyers—men a few decrees below the average cultured English merchant or manufacturer. Their speeches consisted of badly-dftlirered harangues of a purely personal or local character. The burden of each speech was the share of State aid which the candidate would, if elected, get for the electors. It did not require any special uncharitiibleness to assume that what each speaker really meant was that he intended if sent to Washington (sic), to thrust hii hands as deeply as possible into the public exchequer on his own account. Self-seeking is a leading colonial virtue, and nowhere is tho Scriptural axiom more clearly exemplified, " Jlen will praise thee when thou docst well to thyself." Perhaps there ia no province in New Zealand in which the gratuitous libel of Mr. Haydon, relative to the status of the colonial Press, could bo more completely falsified than in Nelson. For many year the Nelson β-jaminer stood in the forofront of Now Zealand journalism, and the articles in its editorial columns for scholarship, literary power, and elegance of composition, would not have disgraced tho pages of the Times itself. If there is one fact more patent than another, it is that the tone of the Australasian Press is infinitely superior to that of the United States, and will compare very favourably oven with the " middle class" Provincial Press of England. Mr. Haydon seo3 his way clear to remedy the sad state of affairs depicted in tho extract given above, and he proposes to administer it in the form of a " corrective." We quote : — An infusion of the j"i'ilin «>.i'Ho.l. ),i 1. 0 -middle-class middle-class population of Knglanu >uui» j

raise the political tone of New Zealand. And so of the religions world. There is a gooc deal of earnestness apparent, but I -miss the high tone of the churches at home. It is >ls tonishing to an Englishman what will pass foi good preaching. Those unfortunates, the third rate preachers of England, should come out her< at once. Let them only bring a stock ol Sankey's tune-booke, and go in for revivalism and their success is sere. Next to a pdlitica rumpus the dearest thing to multitudes ol colonists is a jood religious noiae. Here again, the corrective would be an emigration of English Congregationalistt who had sat »' the feet of such men as Dr. Allen, J. G. Eogers Baldwin Brown. Edward White, R. Glorer (o Bristol), and a thousand others trhom one migh name of the same spiritual calibre. Many an unfortunate clergyman froti the mother country, who ha.3 laboured under Mr. Haydon's delusion, tha "anything would be acceptable in th< colonies," and that clerical rubbish mighi be successfully "shot here"—uas returnee home again a wiser and a s.v'der man. In general intelligence and eJ nation it is notorious that the aveiagt congregation is not equal to the vorage colonial one, drawn, as it i <« ■•"• conditions of society, and fre . portion of the English emigrating cla*.. But Mr , . Haydon is as iittlo satisfied with our commercial as with our religious life, and the middle-class " transcendental bagman" expresses himself thus on that head :— There is room in New Zenland for a hijhei class of tradesman. Most of the men with shops appear to be mere tools, and, as I think, victims of sundry large wholesale importers. These " bloated aristocrats," as they might well be called, exact a tremendous profit from their subordinates, so th.it many articles of English manufacture are literally shut out of the market by the excessive price. What is needed are men of sufficient back-bone and stability of character to be their own importers; men who can run alone, and who will place the New Zealand consumer or purchaser as near »• possible to the English manufacturer. lam persuaded that, if this were done, and some reduction made in the import duties, thousands of N*ew Zealand homes would soon have a much larger assortment of domestic articles of luxury and comfort than they now have. Prom the commercial to the matrimonial aspect of colonial life, the transition is natural and easy—though it can scarcely be termed a step from the sublime to the ridiculous. Mr. Haydon, assuming the role of the "heavy father," asserts his profound conviction that nothing will sustain the foundations of colonial society, which are already seriously imperilled by " Our Boys," but an importation of "middle-class" females. To these he gives a general invitation to " come out here, and take their proper position as heads of the domestic circle," in the following terms :— Another section of the English people which would do well to come to New Zealand is that large and over-increasing one of marriageable, educated females; the daughters of the middle-class people before referred to. Instead of vegetating as thej' do at home, crowding ench other out of every eligible position, and being in everybody's way, they should come out here, and take their proper position as heads of the domestic circle. There is nothing more needed in New Zealand to-day than an importation of high-class, intelligent, thoroughly Christian young wonion. The bulk of the New Zealand youth are eadly the reverse of this, and give poor promise as to their future relations. If unyone noeded to realise the value of the restraints of our average, well-conducted Christian homes—homes such as I believe a large proportion of those of your readers are—they have but to visit a new colony, and see what comes of the other thing. But Mr. Haydon, knowing that "love in a cottage " is nonsense, aad that Angelina cannot live on the air, goes into the " tea-and-sugar " and " boef-and-bread " problem in matrimony, the solution of which that nymph is eternslly deferring to a moro prosaic season. He feels that all his exhortation! will go for nothing, unles3, as he says, ho concludes his letter "with something practical in the shapo of a weekly bill for domestic requisites for a small "iniddloclass colonial family," haying, we presume, a "moral and intellectual back-bone. "Liko one of old, keeping his good things to the last, Mr. Haydon submits the following dietary scale as the correct thing, taken, of course, from the stand-point of a "middle-class" provision dealer, and with this quotation wo conclude our comments :— S s. d. Log of mutton, !)lbs., at 4d, 3a ; 2 ribs beef, lOlba., at Oil, 4s2d 0 7 2 lib. tea, at 2s 8d ; 7lba. sugar, at sd, 2s lid 0 5 7 2 dozen eggs, at Is 3d, 2 3 Gd ; C 4-ib. loaves, at Cd, 3s 0 5 C 121bs. flour, 2a .Cd ; 71bs. apples, at id, 2s 4d 0 4 10 51bs. best rasher bacon, at Is 0 5 0 Sundries 0 5 0 Total £1 13 l