IN CORNWALL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144778, 7 September 1915, Page 4

IN CORNWALL.

RECRUITING PROBLEMS. “I have spoken to audiences all over Great Britain, and without exception tho Cornish are the most difficult to move. They are not stolid; they. are stony. They will listen keenly, intelligently, critically, and show no sign.” - Thus Mr. Joseph Hocking, who, as an eminent Cornishman, sprung from the sod, has been trying to recruit his fellow people in Cornwall. The oldtime emotionalism of Cornwall seems ro have been covered with a modern veneer of cynicism and suspicion. But the ancient fires, below the surface are, Mr. Hocking declares, again working their way to the top.. Recruiting is improving. THE OLD CO-OPERATION. Modern materialism, combined with ignorance of international affairs, is a great stumbling-block. Three decades ago in Cornwall, says Mr. Hocking, money was a very scarce commodity. Labour was frequently paid in kind instead of in coin. A farm labourer, for example, would receive a great part of his wages in perquisites. The farmer would begin by giving him a cottage rout free. He would also give him a potato patch, and the loan of a horse and plough to till it. He would give him a farrow, or ‘fa year,”.as Cornish I people call a six-weeks-old pig, and a certain amount of barley to .feed it. That labourer would also have his fuel for tho cutting, and a horse and wagon to carry it—this not in the labourer’s spare time, but in the fariner’s time. Of money the labourer would have.very little, hut of tho necessities of life a great deal, A kind of free interchange also existed between the farmers and tho miners. I have known miners work in hayfields and in cornfields, evening after, evening, without ever thinking of receiving payment .in cash; that would he made, in the loan of a horse and cart to fetch coals or something of that sort. Whether the working man was better or worse off then than ho, is now, or whether a more neighbourly feeling obtains, I will not discuss; hut it is certain that what I have been describing is altogether of the past. The Cornishman demands money for everything now. Money has flowed into tho county, and with it a desire for more- Tho discovery of the beauties of Corn wall by the “up-country people,” and facilities for travel have revolutionised Cornwall in this respect. At present “Cousin Jack” is a keen, financier. The gospel of the Socialist, too, has fallen on fruitful ground, and everything is discussed from tho financial point of view; including the present war. THE POLITICIAN AND THE MINERS. All this may seem to have very little connection with our struggle with Germauy. but it has a very real and vital: connection. The Cornish man knows ■, nothing about German militarism, and ' it is very difficult to make him realise its deadly fruit. But ho docs understand the arguments of those politicians who have told, him that tho German working man is a groat deal better ( off than he Is. , , Tho following dialogue took place some time ago between an ex-lanff Reform candidate for Parliament and a group of Cornish miners—- “ Would you like to be under a German Government?” asked the “npcountry” gentleman. “Iss, we think wo shud? was the reply. “Why shudden us?” 1 ‘“Because you’d he under a great [ military machine —a machine that would destroy your liberty and crush all individuality out of you,” 1 “Look ’ere, maaster,” was the reply, "we doan’.kuaw nothin’ ’bout that, but I we do knaw that at the laast election I you told us that the Germans 1 was a 1 darned sight better off than we be. You told us that they had better food, worked shorter hours, and was better paid than Englishmen be. So of it do come to that, wo would as soon, ef not sooner, be under tho Kaiser than the King.” I give this for what it is worth, and while this sentiment is not often expressed, so blatantly it obtains widely. Only a few days ago, during a route i march, as reported in our Western newspapers, a worthy colonel was shocked by the retort of a man that he would as soon bo under • the Kaiser as the King! while I have been told more than once that people in meetings I have' addressed have advanced the same views; AT HEART A PATRIOT. Still, at heart the Cornishman is a loyal patriot,. and the signs of the times are favourable. The indifference which undoubtedly existed a few months ago is passing away. More and more the people are realising the tremendous war in which we are engaged, and’men are rallying to the colours. Cornish people have always supported the Navy. It is said that fifty.years ago more than two-thirds of our warships were manned by the men of Cornwall and Devon. In the little town of St. Ives, close to which I am living, a place of perhaps 2000 or 3000. people, no fewer than 200 Naval Reserve men went back to the Service when war was declared.. In addition to this, thousands of the finest young fellows in the county have eagerly volunteered _ for the Army, and while for a long time, largely because of the geographical position of the county, much pathy existed, the old Celtic fire is beginning to burn. A patriotic atmosphere is being created, and young men are beginning to feel that they are, by hanging back, proving themselves unworthy of the history of the land of, Tre, Pol, and Pen.