“DREAMERS ALL.”

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

“DREAMERS ALL.”

A STRIKING PARALLEL

(By

“Michael.”}

Pioneers from the British Isles stocked in the first place the colonies of the Empire and guided their young steps towards ideals which closely resembled those of the Mother country. These pioneers were men and women of good family and education, the men in many cases .being younger sons cast out by the law of prinio-geniture to seek fortune and happiness elsewhere than on their ancestral estates. Sometimes members of the same family migrated to different colonies and strived in shaping the destinies of their adopted lands, which thus had in common with one another ideals and history, literature and language. ' Even knowing all this, it still comes as a surprise to pick up a South African paper and find in it the expression of problems which “must be faced” and difficulties “to be overcome” which bear a" very remarkable resemblance to the present troubles of our own country. But not only in trouble do we find similarity; in sport and other pleasure it is even more marked. The same things interest us; eyen after the passing of sufficient years to have allowed development in other directions. The issue of the Cape Times for May 24 of this year, for instance,- contains an artielb contemplating the chances of the Australian cricket team on its British tour, which was then about to begin. It is most enlightening, the benign self-complacency typical of the British race being the most striking and .true feature. Pride in one’s own country and its achievements, another British trait, is l also portrayed. This is what the Cape Times says:

The trouble with the average Australian cricketer of the present day is lack of practice. against really good spin bowling. There are few bowlers at the moment in Australia who can compel the ball ,to break back or away on Australian turf. There are indeed few good bowlers of any kind in contemporary Australian cricket. All in all, concluded the writer, the Australians now on tour do not strike me as being quite so promising a lot of young cricketers as the South African XI. which delighted the cricket fields last year. And then, how often have we in New Zealand heard this? Tlieir school days behind them and the larger school of life before them, fifty students listened to a parting homily on their obligations to tho country and their school. -—And, it might almost be added, how often have those obligations been carried out either in South Africa or New Zealand? In yet another place we find in the Cape Times: South African novels are like South African politics. Almost invariably they suffer from a lack of clear definition. Authors, like political leaders leave people in doubt what they are really after, mixing the motives of their tales and trying to course, sb to speak, too many “hares” at once. —Only a few evenings ago, at a regimental dinner in New Plymouth, a guest, in response to the usual toast, said he could not understand why the recent political developments in military matters had been- taken so seri-j ously by the officers, as it was obviously just part of the political game and matters would later on be readjusted more satisfactorily. The mention of politics brings to mind our “sore pressing” problems of to-day, taxation and unemployment. In South Africa what do we find?—

The Minister of Labour received a deputation from the Unemployed Association of Johannesburg this morning. The deputation pointed out to’ the Minister that unemployment was becoming more and more acute and that they felt more should be done by the Government to alleviate the position. It was alleged that the Government had not done its duty towards the unemployed..

Again in the matter of local body administration of traffic, laws we find our South ’African relatives experiencing the same troubles as those which have for so long faced New Zealand.. Possibly even in South Africa there is some ardent advocate of the “left hand rule:

With Adderley Street yesterday looking like Aberdeen on. a flag-day the question is already being asked whether the Traffic Committee has not again made a blunder in drafting Cape Town’s new traffic

regulations? The discussion of the prospects for the second test, New Zealand v Britain, occupied a prominent place in the Cape Times’ sporting page, and the personnel of the teams were discussed at length with but few mis-spelt names. Contests with South’ African teams were recalled and eulogistic references were made to the performances of Mark Nicholls and others who took part m the last South African tour. Of most interest, however, was the fact that the football public of that part of the Empire had its interest concentrated on the Rugby tests in New Zealand just as our own cricket enthusiasts spent their time listening in to the British matches.

To-day’s Rugby Test match between Britain and New Zealand at Christchurch, the second of the present series, is a very vS.ta.l game for the tourists, for if they win they cannot lose the rubber. Indeed they would then—two up with two to play— stand a really good chance of winning it, though remembering the magnificent giit and will-to-win. of the New landers, the British team might well still be beaten in the ’ third and fourth tests.

A final paragraph smacks of erring fancy and, in spite of the fact that Africa is certainly a strange country, leads us, perhaps falsely, to believe that its journalists are not altogether free from a professional failing in.the matter of good ale and comfortable inns by the wayside. Blue crabs ]OOO miles from the sea and circular rainbow’s without rain sound rather Manderillean, but they are realities nevertheless, and are found where the “smoke ’ thunders on the Zambesi.