MY COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

Otago Witness, Issue 3764, 4 May 1926, Page 57

MY COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

Bv

MURIHIKU.

(Specially Written for tiie Witness.) What all the buses and people in town will do now that the big show is o\er I know not. We country folk can go on with our work, making our own pleasures as we have always had to do. Visiting Dunedin we can say that we enjoyed ourselves, and invariably get our money’s worth. For some of us the amusement park; fof others the band ; for pasture enthusiasts the plots of weeds and grasses—for most of us a little of each. * * * From the opening day to the closing we of Otago have been very proud of our province and our chief city. Some parts of New Zealand had looked upon us as a back number among the provinces; now they have been compelled to readjust their values. Town and country alike supported the idea, and backed their opinions with their money. * * * We also have learned to become very proud of our country. The people of Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Southland have come together and exchanged points of view. All this is to the good. Sometimes one fancies there is growing up inter-island jealousies. Intercourse during the past five months has tended to impress upon us that we New Zealanders are all in together—with a common prosperity as New Zealand prospers ; also suffering if New Zealand suffers. Never before have we realised the great activity and progress of our secondary industries. And this reminds us that if we are to make New Zealand more prosperous by cutting down importations, we can contribute largely to this result by buying New Zealand-made goods—whenever they are suitable for our purpose. There h.' been a lot of talk on the subject; it is now time to act. Secondary industries in this country have a fair measure of protection ; what is wanted now is an increased local demand so that mass production may be possible. # # # But go into any restaurant in Dunedin to-day and ask for tomato soup. It’s a safe bet that in nine our of ten instances the tomato soup will come out of an American tin—although New Zealand manufacturers make tomato soup, the tomatoes grown in New Zealand fields, and the soup made and. packed bv good New Zealanders. It is the same with jam ; with biscuits; and with soap. We solemnly send our tallow to Europe; have Euro pean workmen work it up into fancyscented and fancy-priced soap—whereupon we reimport it here and pay big money for it. Vet we have soap works in New Zealand turning out reallv high-class toilet and household soaps. We’ve got to stop talking, and do something. * * * I believe that all our people have done in the past 80 years is now beng realised. To-day—and largely created by the holding of the Exhibition—we have a real New Zealand spirit. Choirs have sung and bands played “Gcd Defend New Zealand” more than ever in our national history. In these past five months we have come to understand the struggles our early settlers had; the great progress succeeding generations have made, and the glorious future before the Dominion, if we are only true to ourselves and true to our fathers. « * * Vve are a quiet and undemonstrative people. The New Zealand soldiers abroad were well named “The Silent Division.” But during the currency of the Exhibition each and every one of us had our hearts stirred and our pulses quickened in contemplation nf the great traditions handed on to us by those who have moulded the British nation. Time after time in the British Court we have placed before us those deeds which gave British people the personal liberty and the political constitution that they enjoy to-day 4 * * In that wonderful frieze decorating the hig baronial hall, we have seen vividly depicted "the signing of the Magna Charta.” We see the barons grouped solidly on the right, while on the left a baronial representative bends over to see that all is being signed aright by the king. It was the barons who made the stand at Runnvmede ; but in Cromwell’s day is was the common folk. Many of us have been strangely drawn to the artist’s representation of King Charles and Cromwell The king with his backing of courtiers and archbishops, with their laces and frills, is confronted bv the solemn Cromwell, who is backed by stern-visaged soldiers, their great cannau dominating the foreground of the picture, and evidently speaking eloquently to the king. In these great pictures we learn vividly how the power of the kings and aristocrats has been curbed, until to-day we have the power vested in the common people. # # # The great moving map of the world, with the merchant vessels plying incessantly over all the sea routes of to-day. is a forceful reminder of the fact that all our exports must be shipped in vessels overseas, and that all our imports must come along those great waterways, too. Those communications with the Old Country and other overseas markets must be kept open in war as well as in peace. So it is fitting that ckse to this wonderful map is ranged types of all those vessels which, in time of war, would protect the British Empire, and ensure, ns far as is humanly peesitle, the safe transport of our troops and our produce. • • • There has been an inevitable reaction after the war. The world was weary, and needed rest. But events that liave happened in the last month or two show that

the nations of the world are yet far from being a happy family. One of our own professors—Dr Lawson, of the Otago University—who has recently been in France, says, “On the whole, the impression I g<\ from the few weeks in Fiance was that universal peace is many a long century away from us at the present time.’*. We ourselves have only to think of the recent actions of Italy, Poland, Germany, and Russia to understand that Dr Lawson is not wide of the mark. * * * So it is good to know that the heart of the British Empire is still sound. The after-war reactions are passing a way. Once again we are seeing things clearly. We realise that the great ideals of the League of Nations cannot be attained in our day and generation. If there is to be strife in the world it is good to note the consolidation of the national spirit in our peoples. The keen study of our Imperial history ; the steadiness and the noticeable respect of tlie great crowds when the band played “God Save the King” ; the solemn realisation that we are a people who have already achieved much—all these things were made signally evident (luring the past few months. We are. proud, and we are thankful.