EYES THAT SEE NOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18173, 19 August 1922, Page 4 (Supplement)

EYES THAT SEE NOT.

BY VIVHSN. " New Zealand—God's own country!" "New Zealand, this fair island-home of ours!" Glib phrases, fine-sounding phrases, dear to the souls of poets and ■writers, frequent on the lips of members of Parliament and patriotic speakers, genuinely inspiring to idealists and those with the gift of vision. But to tho rest? The average New Zealand man and lonian, the everyday people in the streets smile complacently at such expressions, nod in perfect agreement, and go on .Cheir way serenely unconscious of the fact that in actual reality those words are absolutely meaningless to them, absolutely empty. For the stark naked truth of the matter is that no country in. the world so beautiful as New Zealand, is populated by a people more utterly devoid of real sentiment, more utterly incapable of appreciating beauty or cherishing traditions, mora utterly lacking in reverence for anything or anybody on God's earth.

One sees evidence jof >t everywhere and nowhere more markedly than m Auckland. It is the casual visitor from overseas who gazes reverently at the rums of Tamaki Church, dreams on the slopes of Mount Eden and lingers over the relics at Sir, George Grey's old home on the island of Kawau- It is the passing stranger who sees Rotorua as a place oi stupendous wonder and glory, and appreciates the strange quality of its weird beauty and the graoduer of its pent up forces. But to the New Zealander what do all these things matter! "They are no good, no use I" he will insist So by all means let the Auckland water-front be neglected or defiled and historic hills cashed and scarred. By all means let Sir George Grey's statue >>e removed from Qaeen Street, while his old borne, so lovely and romantic in its loneliness, so rich u» traditon and historic relic, is transformed into a boarding-house and given over to careless holiday-makers. By all m*ans let the Tasinan Sea be renamed Anzac Sea to-day and given yet another name to-morrow if the occasion suggests it By all means let the grave of Uibbon Wakefield remain unknown or forgotten—Wakefield, to whom New Zealand owes her very existence as a colony and a British possession, to whom no monu : ment has ever yet been erected in the now land he lovecf and for whose memory New Zealand has so far done absolutely nothng whatever. "Why is it that New Zealanders are so casual, so utterly, almost brutally, indifferent alike to beauty and tradition, to places and people whose memory one would expect to be at least held sacred I It' is not entirelv because this is a young country with b'ut few traditions, and those of recent birth. The reason goes much deeper than that, for it lies hidden in the mental attitude of the people, anß finds its root in their ntter lack of imagination. And not only is the average • JJew Zealander entirely lacking in imi ■■■:''' agination bul, worse still,-fie is- immensely proud o!f fee fact! Even in the children both these truths are glaringly apparent The average New Zealand child, aßked to write a "bright, interesting essay" en a picnic to some well-known beauty spot, will devote a skimpy two or three toes to a description of the place, and the route taken, and all the rest of his essay to an elaborate account, of th£ luncheon and the contents of the picnic baskets. Similarly he knows how much oranges are a'dozen, and where thtare is ] a good place to bathe, but regards I "Peter Pan" as a mere name, and "The Bluebird " as a " silly thing." And it in exactly the same with the majority of the grown ups in New Zealand. The Auckland harbour is meruiy a stretch of water conveniently sheTbred for sailing, and pleasant to fish and iswim in- Tamaki Church or any other old rain is nothing more or less than a heap oi! crumpled masonry which might, and oaght to be converted into something ■nSefuL Grey's statue represents a mass of material carved into the figure of a man and preposterously occupying the '-■;'?:, v«sry position btsfc calculated to impede the Auxkiander's mad flight down Queen Siroet- As for Rotorua, is ■ a place where steam comes out of the ground " , ev-aywhere, and a smell of sulphur permeases the atmosphere;. a place where one has front for breakfast, and goes on an excursion every day. It has been argued by many a New Zealander that anyhow imagination is a curse raFrier than a blessing to "those who possess itThere are two answers one might make :!■ to that. In the first place, it is extremely dppDtftd whether the possessor of imagination, knowing full well that his greater capacity for happiness and appreciation of beauty m&ns a corresponding capacity for suffering, and J»nI ' sitrroness to evil and ugliness, wfiuld ! yet part writh his gift for all the gold in iha world. And >in-the second place, no one in this country need', emphasise the dangers of excessive imagination," Because the utmost imagination ol whicn the i average New Zealander is capable, j will neve? adversely affect* his emotions or bis character, his business career or his private life, to any appreciable ex-