COUNTRY INTOLERANT

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1935, Page 9

COUNTRY INTOLERANT

PLAIN SPEAKING RESENTED. CRITICISM OF NEW ZEALAND. By Telegraph—Press xAssociation. Christchurch, Sept. 2. An assertion that New Zealanders resent plain speaking was made by Professor James Shelley, Professor of Education at Canterbury University College, in an address on culture on Saturday. Few people to-day, he said, dared to say outright what they thought and when they did their remarks would be answered by abuse. Sucti intolerance, he thought, promised badly for the development of the country and Its people. “You can't say anything nowadays,” he added. "I am beginning to understand from the abuse that has been directed at me why it is that our politicians never given an honest opinion. They know what to expect if they do. “How can we expect to evolve a decent, virile people if we cannot stand up to a’ little plain speaking? I cannot see how we are going to be worth anything if we are going to be timid. There are very few people to-day - who dare write what they think of things that are going on in the world to-day. We to pretend and that is not healthy.”