COLONIAL HOSPITALITY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11248, 11 April 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

COLONIAL HOSPITALITY.

A WORD ABOUT AUSTRALIA. Mr Carter Pick ford, who was for some time a leading member of thn Brough-Fiemming company, has written m. ther British Empire .Review, his impressions of Australia. On tlie relations of that country to Great ' Britain he says: — "It has been my lot to travel m many countries "and , to' know many peoples, but I .say emphatically that of all ' these Australians stand apart. They are hard-working,- sincere, kindly, and clean living, while their hospitality is almost a vice. A .stranger m the country meets every* possible kindness, simply for his own sake, whether he is rich or poor, and all they ask m return is common courtesy and a little interest m their country. Little enough, m all conscience, with such a country and such a people, and yet how seldom they get it ! 1 .have seen Englishmen behave out there m such a way , as to make one ashamed to call them countrymen. It seems the right thing to go and get all 'they kindness yoir can and then come home and abuse, them., They are not faultless, but because they, may lack the highest polish, because their pride m their country 'and^ themselves is almost an obsession, ~why throw stones at them? The polish will come, and surely the pride of a young country m. herself is a great deal better than the reverse. They realise bitterly how little interest people at Home take 'n them or their country; they are so far away ; and yet they speak of home with tho fierce tenderness of the wanderer andl the exile. We send them Governors; some are loved, and 'do a lot of good, but some do more harm and bring us into more discredit than anyone can guess. Tactless and iinsympathetie, they blunder through tjieir term of office; ipatently to air Australia, caring only for the salary. Oh! 'man m the street,' won't you .wake up and take some little j interest m your kinsfolk under the Southern Cross? They don't ask very much, but long neglect and misunderstanding may turn affection to disloyalty m these enlightened days of partial education !" .