ARE THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND TOG MUCH DEVOTED TO THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE

Otago Witness, Issue 2924, 30 March 1910, Page 84

ARE THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND TOG MUCH DEVOTED TO THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE

| FOR THEIR OWN BEST INTERESTS ? I NEGATIVE—By Casino. In the first piaee, what i 3 pleasure ? I take it that pleasure is some agreeable sensations or emotions, something we do for preference that is not part and parcel of our everyday life. In short, something that gives us a little relaxation from '-' the cares and worries of everyday life. Now; what are the- different ways in which we young colonials take cut pleasures or get the relaxation necessary from work? Some take their pleasure in football, tennis, cricket, or other such games. Then we are all more, or leas devoted to the theatre, picture gallery, ■or music hall. Some, again, have their chief delights in. camping, picnicking, or cycling. Prom all these a great.' deal of pleasure may be. derived. Why? Because we can get away from ourselves. 1 . It is a. change from our everyday work. We have got to work: wfe have no choice. But we can pick and choose cur pleasures. ±\ow, the question is, "Do we pay too much attention to the pleasures for our own b&st interests?"

In supporting the negative . side I am rather glad the words "of New Zealand" appear in the question to be .debated. This makes ray position doubly sure. And my answer' to the question is an emphatic No. "We colonials are too- busy—and, yes, 1 may say too .poor—to be able- to give the necessary time to overdo the pursuit of our pleasures. We can't s£)are the time nor the money; we are all too busy working at the problem of how to live to be able to give much time to any pleasure. There are not any millionaires among young colonials. The number that can be said to be even partially independent are greatly in the minority. Therefore, as it takes money as well as time, I say that the New Zealander does not devote too much attention to his pleasures. I suppose my opponents will say that a young fellow engaged all week working out the problems of life would be much better off if, instead of going in for some sport on his weekly half-holiday, he would take on some other drudgery, the profits from which might swell his weekly earnings. Again I say they are wrong. By taking part in some of the pleasures enumerated he will he much better off. If he has been at work in a stuffy office, dxisty factory, or ill-lighted warehouse, and he has a. good game of football, he will return to his work fresh and invigorated, and will be less likely to fall into the doctor's hands than those who are persistently in pursuit of the almighty dollar. Ours is often a sentence of hard labour for life. The employment followed is often no£ of our own choosing, and a little relaxation; such as an evening at the theatre or an afternoon's sport, will often make life appear a little brighter. • > paying the he does to his

pleasures the colonial gains a great deal that is beneficial to him. By following up cricket, football, or any such game we learto other lessons than how to make a hundred runs or the bdst way to form a Scmr&iHwg*. I? be a good cricketer one must have patience, and patience learned on the cricket field is often very useful in business life. We learn other lessons. There is always a losing side as well as a winning side, and as we can't always be on the winning side, we learn how to take defeat r.s we should. And when defeated we look for a reason nd h there is a remedy, and endeavour to do belter next time. Applj this same spirit in business, and success is assursd. A man who lias no patience or will not i:y again never gets over many of the rungs of the ladder oi success. Now, I hope I have made it pain to you that there are other results besides the actual physical training to be had from following some active sport. Now for the theatre. If we pick and choose the companies we go jo see or hear, do we not gain anything besides pleasure from them? Go and have a earty laugh over a comic opera or a- pamomime, :nd flee all oare fo_- the time being: in itself isn't this something, for a good laugh will often save a, man from utter ruin. Then what about the Shakespsarian plays? Truly, we don't see many of the?©, but then there are other good plays staged. Read a book, and then if it has been dramatised go and see the thing staged. Do ycu enjoy it? Some people will and some people wont. I hope, for their own sakes, the affirmative supporters- are of the former.

A life devoted to pleasure would be ver> selfish and empty. But, en the v other hand, all work and no play would be intolerable. Therefore I say, work while you must and play when you may, and there will be no fear of overdoing pleasure. Play should never be the business of life; but, there, I expect my opponents will have something to say to that, and if they do I hope to be able to say something further in my reply. AFFIRMATIVE.—By The Helmsman. ,Yes, undoubtedly. It would, of course, be the height of folly to suggest that a certain amount of sport is harmful. It must Jbe, remembered, however, that there is a medium in recreation as well as in everything else, but very few seem to know when, to- draw the line. Football, cricket, racing, dancing, and gambling take up far too much of our time for our own real interests, and it was none too soon when the Government introduced legislation to deal with the last-named of these. It is all very fine to speak cf ourselves as one of the world's greatest footballplaying countries,- but it is rather humiliating to have to admit that our Volunteer system was a failure, simply owing to the indifference displayed by a . great manj of our young men. It is theit greatest ambition to be considered a "sp<rrT," but; footballplaying or dancing would not assist them much if a few regiments of Germans or Japanese %vere quietly landed in one of our harbours. Compulsory training will remedy matters to a great extent, but all the same it is one of the greatest blots in our young country's history. The public were deaf to all warnings, and now they have only themselves to thank for what is practically slavery. Most young fellows have had more or less practice with the pea rifle for pleasure, but where would they be at perhaps a thousand yards range with a heavy Metford and a foe well skilled in the art of availing themse ,TT °s of every bit of cover? To use Lawso. <5 words—- " Now, .vno shall gallop from Cape to Cape, and who shall defend our shores, — The crowd that stands on the kerb agape and glares at the cricket scores? And who shall hold the invaders back when the shells tear up the ground— The weeds that yelp by the cycling track while a nigger scoreries round?''

The law prohibits " two-up" schools, street betting, and various other forms of gambling, and whenever the news appears in the papers of a raid having been made on a gambling den the virtuous raise their eyes in horror and prate of our degenerating f raoe. As a matter of fact, there is just as much pleasure in a "two-up" school, to those who follow up the game as there is in cricket or football to the devotees of these pastimes. It may be argued that a man runs a big risk of losing all he possesses in gambling, but judging by the daily accounts of accidents occurring in other branches of socalled "clean" sport, I dojjbt -if he is much better off in the long Van. It is a well known .fact that athletes are known as bad risks for" insurance companies, owing to heart strain or any of the other complaints liable to attack "the flannelled fools at the wicket or the muddied .oofs at 'the goal." Again, take horse-racing. This is, I might say, the grandest of all our pleasures, could the public, restrain themselves in the fever and rush of betting. There are very few who go to a meeting for the natural love of good horses. Their only care is to get to the

"bookie" or "tote" in time to back their "certs." The old saying applies. "Wherever there's spielers there's mugs," for the days of clean spori are at an end. Jockeys and owners are no longer unimpeachable, all owing to the foolishness of the pleasureloving public. The remark has often been passed to me by new chums to the colony, "Have your mates ever anything else to talk about except sport?" It is just the same in town. At every corner there is a knot of young fellows eagerly discussing the latest matches or the odds on Milan or Armlet, as the case may be. More than one Empire of bygone ages has fallen to ruin through this same pursuit of pleasure,. They had; great sportsmen and lawgivers, too, in their time, but the love of pleasure overcame all else, and they sank, even as we are sinking, down to disgrace and ruin.