A TERM' THAT OFFENDS

Otago Witness, Issue 3510, 21 June 1921, Page 25

A TERM' THAT OFFENDS

(From Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, April 29. Mr E. C. Birley tells in the Daily Mail that in five days’ reading of the London daily newspapers he has found 62 examples of the incorrect and offensive use of the adjective “colonial,” and he reminds readers that overica Britons, especially the native bom, object to the word on more grounds than one.

Deciding that it may be well to give one reason why dominion folk arc apparently so “ thin-skinned ” about one harmless adjective, Mr Birley writes : —“ Apart from their pride of race, the word ‘ colonial ’ has sadly deteriorated in the dominions. Its deterioration is due to its use there by a certain type of Englishman, only to* be found in bulk, fortunately, outside of England. He is tho type of Englishman who provides a ready sale for printed posters bearing the words ‘ No English need apply.' Iti is his whim to disparage all things of local growth or manufacture and to express his disparagement by the use of the hated word. ‘English beer, please:- I can’t drink the colonial ’ ; ‘I never wear colonial hats or boots; I can never accustom inyself to the colonial ways.’ “In this way he has made the word as /unpopular as himself. For the first time since the war many dominion visitors are coming to the Mother Country for pleasure. It might increase their enjoyment if it could he remembered that an Imperial Conference is to be held which will be attended by dominion Prime Ministers: and that it is of vital importance to Canadians. Australians, South Africans, and New Zealanders. "There will be nothing ‘colonial’ about it at all —unless it be Mr Winston Churchill.”