CONFESSIONS OF A COLONIAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14686, 20 November 1909, Page 5

CONFESSIONS OF A COLONIAL

ENGLAND AND THE ENGLISH,

Bv Gur H. Sciiolkheld.

THE NATIONAL PHYSIQUE AXD OLD MEN WORKERS.

Whero Is the colonial who,, does not honestly believe that tho English in their own land are- a physically degenerate race? It seems to mo that a great deal of nonsense has been written and spoken about English whitebait and tho English physique.

It has always been tho creed of our colonial politicians and preachers to bewail, in their patriotism, tho wretched physique of tho decadent, stay-at-home liriton — tho flat-chested, narrow-shoul-dcied, under-sized million of poor old England, When I reached London, tourist-liko, I hurried off to the East End to look poverty in tho eyes. There is a slab or two of it there, and conventionally I threw up my palms in horror and said that it was all true, and worse. Thcro did seem to ho ,i good deal of underfedness, a good catchment area for tho "chest" patients who are such a familiar sight on tho oversea liners at colonial porks. But, like the visitors to England, I had only seen a few thousand Englishmen Ibon.

Up to tho present date I have seen a million or two, in nil conceivable surloimdings and conditions, in poverty and in wealth, and every day I am more convinced that the first idea is an exaggeration, Personally I am tempted to go further, to ask pardon of colonial patriotism, —which in my individual case was inclined to be narrow,—and to say that the English aTc as ftno a raco as any part of the Antipodes can boast. One must not hasten to conclusions on scant evidence. London, of course, might be regarded as ;i sort of Mocca, which by a process of selection gets tho cream of the nation in tho West End and tho industrial quarters. Therefore, it is not meet that ono should draw conclusions from I/ondon. In a general, observation of England I havo found fully as large a proportion of strong, healthy, well-built men as in any of tho Australasian States. The proportion of weeds amongst the decently-fed classes is certainly not greater than iii New Zealand or Australia. I think it is less. And the robustness of the fed classes seems to be even more general than at tho Antipodes.

But hero is tho reservation. The trouble is that the underfed aro eo numerous, or rather that they appear so numerous from the fact that tltcy arc congregated in localities. The poor quarters of Liverpool Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, and so forth, even more than of London, embrace such myriad mawes that the fine physique of tho fed English is appreciably reduced in tho national average. This is the canker, Social inequality bas actually produced two distinct physical components in the- population. Tho fed and the underfed aro as distinct in physique,- in monkl capacity, and oven, possibly, in morals, a-i the black and white races of South ,'Virica. Social inequality has produced a racial question where there is no difference of race. It bas accentuated classes into races, as a pristine civilisation did! amongst tlio Polynesian population of Hawaii. _ Tho man who says the English aro inferior to the overfca Britons ought to bo explicit as to the class ho refers to. Tho educated middle class tmd the fed lower class are the, compeers of any coinmunity of oversea. Britons that I have seen. The underfed aro doubtful compeers ot the Kaffir. Whether this condition in itself <s evidence of low moral standards in the nation I would not disi.U.ns.

Confronted daily and hourly by tho cruel evidence of unemployment and distress, T have often found myself marvelling that (ho industrial system of England should ibid room for so many eldcrlv men. In such an overcrowded labour market there must be at work some element moro 'humane even, than the labour legislation of mir own country to safeguard the aged and the halt against the pressure «of competition. To me, at all events, this reflection leaves it to be proved that unregulated industrial relationships are always tyrannical. Wo all know how few men of 50 years or more in Australia or New Zealand would be considered cflicicnt or would be able to find employment. Sightly or wrongly, thcter.dciicy of the present industrial 'conditions is to elbow men right out of the labour market when they pass the point of utmost efficiency, and so reduce conlinuailj- the ago beyond which they can expect employment. This is gradually tin-owing more and more men of middle age at tho mercy of the rales or the underrate workers' regulations. Yet hero iii England, where there aro 10 men waiting to crowd! tnto every vacancy, tho older men sec-m to get as good a chance as tho younger. In the workers' trams at night are to bo found hundreds of grizzled, grey-haired wielders of the pick, the shovel,.or the pen; in flic morning trains tho projwrtion of elderly business mencoming in regularly to 'office is just k large.

But the English are altogether better preserved for their ago than "their colonial cousins. Do not misunderstand. A man lives a healthy, vigorous life in the Australia*. Ho sees it out to (lie last copper. Hut ho wears out earlier than tho. Englishman al honw. Xo part of Australasia can show the proportion of aged men in full toil that England can. There are two reasons which I think may be assigned for thi.s. In the first case", most of the men who arc old in the Anlipodw to-day have passed through a youth and pioneering manhood more or 'os arduous and wearing, and it is taking toll now. Secondly, the English industrial system is lew exacting than tho colonial. The pace is not nearly so forced, so that while a man may reach greater efficiency in I lie colonics than at Home, ho lasts longer here, and so restores the economic balance. The working life in England is much longer than in th o colonies. Hoys Mart younger, and very many if them, if they survive, contribute more-than 50 years' toil to tho industrial output of the country. Not an inconsiderable number reach 60 years of service. If there f-hould bo any' doubt as to the comparative pace at which the oversea and the stay-at-home Britons live and work, it is dispelled by a study of the men themselves. In his habits and appearance the Englishman is almost Oriental- the colonial Spartan. Pass down (ho streets of an English city and scrutinise the facets ol the crowd. Where do vou see the alert hard-bitten expression of' America and the colonies? Where the wrinkles invadiii" early manhood? Lord Charles UuWord wius very apt the other dav when he said that tho Canadian always looks as if he has "a good thing coining off next week " The Englishman is not worried about next v-fok in any shape or form. He is posilively jv normal creature—tho most normal on earth. And his health gets the beneiii. of it. The face of tho everyday Einjlkhman, whether iio be a professional older!; or labourer or middle-class business man, preserves its youthful smoothness and pink fulness well into manhood. Englishmen almost invariably look younger than they are. They '.worn to weather the storm better in' this grev old land.

I :im well ;i\v-jre that all tin's is heresy. 'I is an assault upon sonic of our wellIwlovrd colonial beliefs. That, in why T lir>*ii- it for -,i year to matiiri'.