The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 25. TRAITOROUS NEW ZEALANDERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 117, 25 August 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 25. TRAITOROUS NEW ZEALANDERS.

When a pessimistic New Zealander set* about decrying his country he does it thoroughly. Recently a letter from a New Zealander to a Scottish newspaper was read in t)he House of Representatives and discussed with vigor. The whole letter was a diatribe of particular venom hurled at every phase of life and effort in this Dominion. It is not proposed to set out the twaddle written by an enemy of his country, for he jhas already had sufficient advertisement. Our view of the position is that almost invariably the unpatriotic and wholly obnoxious New Zealander who "slates" his country in oversea prints is a disappointed person who is unable to obtain what, in his opinion, should be the fruits of his genius. The small man always looks at matters national from a merely personal and selfish standpoint. If he cannot secure all he desires, he immediately rushes to 1 the conclusion that the laws of the coun- ! try are wrong, that the constitution is rotten, and that the shadow of ruin looms over the land. One of the most splendid arguments of the "stinking fish" New Zealander is that New Zealand is losing population. The real facts are that in boom times a greater number of people come to tliia country from AusI tralia and elsewhere intending to remain only as long as the boom continues. The recent gains of population in the. Australian States were mainly from New Zealand, but they merely represented Australians who were going to their own homes. Xo New Zealander who cannot find it in his heart to tell the truth about his own country has any right to cumber it. If this particular New Zea-

lander writes to a Scotch paper to show how bad a case we are in is dissatisfied with his land, he should take his residence up in the country which prints his letter. Allegations about general unemployment are nearly always the outcome of personal unemployment, and continued' personal unemployment in New Zealand is evidence-of unfitness. Although New Zealanders generally reject such allegations with scorn, the foreigner is unable to guage the truth or falseness of thorn, and as human nature is more prone toj believe evil than good, no doubt such diatribes do harm. The average go-ahead New Zealander believes in his country and stays in it, and if he is a decent man he does not invent untruths about it to make its name smell in the nostrils of Home Britishers. We want as many Britishers" as we can get, and we can get them by telling the unvarnished truth about this country.