ENVIRONMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19720, 20 August 1927, Page 6 (Supplement)

ENVIRONMENT.

EY ORIEL. Environment may be either an advantage or the reverse; it may mould the destinies of nations and of individuals for good or for evil: it may be considered as a limitation or as a power for expansion. Thus in the case of the national development of a country like Greece, c»r our own England, the near proximity of the sea to all its parts, on the one hand that of au island and on the other by a long indentured 'coastline, there is no doubt that environment—the watery environment. of the deep, gave to those nations the power, the will and the incentive to develop their maritime life and lore. Again, small states shut up in the interior of great, continents, hemmed m TX-rhaus bv mountains on every side, will tend* to become military nations, fighting for their existence along a rugend frontier, the very ruggedncss and sterilitv of whose heights will aid the development of iron frames and hardy constitutions such" as arc required among a soldier race. Again, a land of deserts is responsible for the Wowth of a nomadic people, wandering hither and thither in search of food, or more often, of water. Living from oasis to oasis, travelling with thentrains of camels or baggage mules we find, generation after generation, these same people wanderers still upon the face of the earth, for it is in the blood, ever demanded by the environment of a sterile home, incapable of receiving the more settled benefits of agriculture. Then, again, we find the influence of environment affecting the whole mental and moral outlook of a people, influencing their characters even/ more deeply than thenmode of life and employment. Ihe hot belt of the ironies, the sultry sun-warmed atmosphere of' numberless islands in the southern seas,'the lingering warmth which settles : over great continental tracts, and languishes through seemingly endless summers about the swooning shores of tne east—all these tend to procure that enervation among the people which nothing can ever stir into activity, and on which the more hardy men of temperate zones look down with contempt almost unjust, considering the circumstances which are responsible. * . From this hasty scansion of wider horizons, let us come down to the narrower consideration of the effect of_ environment of individuals. Here we tiave no such vast issues to contend with; here, environment may consist of the four walls of a house, a narrow street or at most the boundaries of a town or village. We' live—most of us ill a little°world; it is only given to the few and the fortunate to travel far and visit the great and glorias places of the world. Always it seeiks that our own special lot was not cast in any great or glorious place; always it seems our own home town is dull, exceedingly dull, because we are so ' terribly used to it. Many of us long to spread wings and soar up and out of it all, but ciicumstances chain us to the particular niche life has designed for us to fill. Perhaps our ambitions go no further afield than the nest street, possibly another and more favoured suburb! then it would seem easy enough to change matters. But no, it is often just as impossible to move one iota from a certain position than to travel a thousand miles.

It : is no use preaching contentment; many are not content ; many others are so horribly content and complacent about things that they are even more annoying than the discontented. Environment more or less is forced upon us for good or for ill—a thicket of thorns against ■which in divine or profane unrest many are kicking against the pricks.