Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. SATURDAY, OCT0BER 11. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10477, 12 October 1912, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11. EDITORIAL NOTES.

AS an American visitor recently adversely criticised New Zealand it is satisfactory to hud a Scotchman lauding these “Fortunate Isles.’’ In the Northern Chronicle, an Inverness paper, Mr William Campbell writes on “First Impressions of New Zealand, ’ ’ and .the following are extracts from his contribution: ‘How different from one’s orginal view! No cities crooked, unkempt. No pavements rushing up to kiss the housetops. No telegraph poles leaning' jauntily against a Corinthian pile. But broad, sweeping highways with budding trees, fascinating bungalows, great verdant parks, and over all a blue sky fringed or marked with racing clouds. Home from Home —home with a larger chance.” The number of people in the employ of the State causes him to remark in his reference to Wellington: “What an army of Civil servants! Every family appears to have a representative there. Tins, I suppose,, is the outcome of that pioneering legislation which is known from Iceland to the Southern Pole. Popular, too. A young Otago lad whispered the reason that it was better to dodge the chief dark from 9 to 4 than to milk the cows on a frosty morning. ’ ’ His

remarks on politics and. labour will commend themselves to the thoughtful. He says; “While the attitude of the few is that all men are liars — except Labour men, Trades Hall has

■uttered that these are the gods of Truth and Virtue. They who would doubt them shall be—the idea is taking root. Daily we hear the rasping, grating sound of a. Labour man’s saw. Cutting, ever-cutting, at the roots of commonsense government, foolishly opposing men of the late Sir John Logan Campbell’s stamp who see in the marvellous climate and soil of New Zealand room for millions wealth and happiness for those millions, too. Labour’s voice should over assist to hold the helm of State. But if New Zealand Labour seeks to become a tyrant, it must see the pendulum of progress quiver and stop, and the alarm bell of decay ring—ring more doleful Waihi throughout the land.” Writing of the New Zealand women, Mr Campbell says: ‘‘Her majesty is evident; charm as sweet as the English belle. Their dress is more staid, their manners more demure, than the ■jolly, boisterous girls of Sydney; and they have not quite the pink and milk skins of the European maids. Yet the brown-tinted features, sparkling eyes, and quick, athletic walk have compensations, if not added charms. Frank, unconventional. If they dislike they announce it boldly. If they admire it is at once evident. But, oh! why are they forsaking the dream of sweet bungalows, rosy-tinted babes, and the honest sire who mixes love with admonition due? This was the ideal of Jtheir parents. The cause of the Dominion’s fame. The only basis for the nation that is, to be. But, no. Someone has decreed that the Bluebird of Happiness will be found in boardinghouses. There they seek it; and in the pursuit ,the nobler task of motherhood is lost. It is not permanent, I am sure. But let me say that luxurious Carthage, childless, pleasure-loving Rome were called to the Bar of judgment. Will this fair New Zealand be?” The men, too, he finds strong, brave, resourceful and upright, with a freedom of action and will which is pleasing. Sportsmen in the full sense of the term. ‘‘Willing to die if need be for New Zealand or a greater Imperial cause. Kind to the ‘new chum.’ guiding him pleasantly through. Their one weakness is tiie use of the term ‘imported,’ as applied to many in the Public Service. Perhaps they have forgotten that their fathers hailed from the land of the ‘imported, ’ and that away on the dales of England Ireland, the wide lone hills of Scotland, lie the grave- ! stones of their ancestral lines. ’ ’ He concludes: ‘‘About the press! It is pleasing; with no plea. The King is King. The Empire’s hopes are for ever being hammered on; no inaudlin sentimentality no brutalising of God’s truth; vigorous, direct avoiding fulsome scraping of horrors, filthy convictions of shame ; dignified, yet alive ; with just the slightest Conservative tinge. The leaders, the articles, the news, reveal titanic energies in legislation, work and play. Reflection of a young, joyous, Hopeful nation. These, then, are the first—perhaps Jrude —impressions of a new chum. If I have erred, I have erred in good company. And I feel that it is worth'the sail of fourteen thousand miles. Peace reigueth there, and love is abundant. It is Home from Home. ’ ’