ENGLISH LITERATURE

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1934, Page 10

ENGLISH LITERATURE

BEAUTIES OF THE LANGUAGE. APPEAL BY LORD BLEDISLOE. The beauties of the English language—a favourite subject with the GovernorGeneral—was again touched upon by His Excellency in Iris address to the students on the occasion of his visit to Nelson College last Monday. Lord Bledisloe said that at Nelson College the students had the opportunity of studying English literature and listening to people like their principal and his staff who addressed them in cultured language. His hearers when they went out into the world were expected to set an example by the way they spoke the British tongue. But did they all do this? Lord Bledisloe asked that question because after the four and a-half years of his stay here he noted that the men of 36 years and upward spoke purer and better English than those who were younger. There was not part of Britaui that was. more English than New Zealand, and therefore the speaker said he liked to feel that the English language was being kept more pure in this part of the Empire than anywhere else. In certain parts of the Empire there was all too much Cockney accent and too much American twang: “Let us set ourselves a high standard in the utterance of our beautiful language,” he said, “and let New Zealand become pre-eminent in the British race in maintaining the language.”