THE SUPERMAN.

Observer, Volume XXXV, Issue 49, 14 August 1915, Page 2

THE SUPERMAN.

Cornstalk and Fernleaf

BERNARD SHAW imagined the superman and Ashmead Bartlett found him . killing Turks and smoking a pipe on the rolling downs of Gallipoli. Ashmead Bartlett's writing about the colonial troops is the only stuff up to the present (apart from the letters of soldiers) worth reading. He is worth reading, both as a serious contribution to history and as the richest thing in unconscious humour to<lay. Bartlett continues to be amazed, almost petrified, at the physique of the colonials, who are "great big-limb-ed athletes without a pound! of superfluous flesh among them." It's grand to know it. The humourist must have had his head turned the other way when the minimum height of five feet four for infantry recruits was lowered. It. never did matter a ha'porth what size an infanitry soldier was as long as he was strong and sound in wind: and limb. colonials .cheerfully__facesd.. the_ labour of bringing water arid ammunition up the cliffs.." Really? Imagine anyone wanting a drink or . ammunition to keep one from, be-

ing killed. ItVvamazing—almost superhuman. "They do not .march away smartly when ordered by a non-com. They saunter. Yet Mr Bartlett says nothing about noncoms, being "smashed" because of their inability to conrtol l their men,, although this would be inevitable. * * » Malcolm Ross could' do no better than this', sitting mi the HeliopolisHotel in Cairo with a bottle of Burgundy and his favourite fountain pen: "Probably- a millionaire boy, a doctor, or a clerk among "tWem. is the unofficial leader gang. Presently he rises slowly and says: 'Well, boys, to be done, the qujcker.the better.'''' Tlie humorist has got hi® countries mixed. He's obviously under the impression that Australia is a suburb. of Arizona and New Zealand the. paddock of Quaifrfdidii't kno r w, J abou Y t, these ''millionaire cowboys'' when,;they were here. He mentions -"four millionaires' r who were working in an.excavation shift who refused to knock off when four others (presumably millionairjestoo) strolled up to amuse themselves with ipick and shovel. These Pielrpont Morgans from Rangitikei aid the Andrew Carnegie© from tjieB iverina seem to be as common aisdaisies and bluebells in Gallipo!|i. When they are gathered up again to the bosoms of their respective countries may they be forced to liquidate the national debts of their respective States! One shrewdly suspects that the native humour of Messrs Tommy Cornstalk and Guihsucker, ._. Croweater, Bananalander., Tassy Devil and Fernleaf, has induced them to revel 1 in the infantile faith of Ashmead and that they may (perform .the exceedingly vulgar operation of \. "pulling his leg." j *••.-■* * Apparently Mr Bartlett is agrejeably astonished and filled with admiration at the; fact that when thei*©is Work to do""they slowly saunter, and sit down and light their pipes contemplating 'the work before them." Their physical superhumahity enables them to knock off work whenever a millionaire, or a doctojr r or a cowboy sings out to that effecjt. They have discarded clothes, supermen. Millionaire cowboys no longer drive to the scene in 100 h.p. automobiles. Few of them wear glbves and it is not true that a Palmerston North cowboy has a retinue of Basuto servants to carry his kit ; neither can it be substantiated that the wealthiest ranchman of Canterbury (a district in Southern Carolina) weans diamond buttons on his "shorts," or is more than seven feet high and) 96 inches round the chest. Ashmead Bartlett's work will possibly be used as the basis of a historically accurate record of the war in the field of Troy. One hopes that those Turks who are able to read our language will read Bartlett's panygyrics on the supermen from Oceana. Even to read about thosegigantic millionaire cowboys will put the fear of Allah into the enemy and make him think twice beforedrawing a bead on a colonial smokeoh.

Here are we worrying about sock* and singlets, drawers and Balaclavasfor supermen whom an ethnologist would decide were a survival of thered Indian; who wear no clothes except for "decency" and who despite' their enormous size and giganticwealth consent to do the work they went forth to dlo. What we aregrateful for to Ashmead Bartlett, however, is his assurance that our gallant soldiers, whether they are"millionaire cowboys" or not areholding on like grim death to the ground so hardly won and watered' with the blood of our rleations. When you cut out the "flam" and the-"leg-pulling" and the wildVeyed astonishment, of Bartlett you find that he has at least observed! the distin.guisihing trait of the colonials-; — dash and daring. You know that the gigantic cowboys and millionaires and supermen would be tliefirst to laugh indulgently at ttyeamazing pictur.es he ha&..d(r_ajKn r o£l a. "new race of fighting people. TheBritish public will gain its impression of the colonial troops from' •Bartlett's writings and will possibly

look up the geography of America to put their fingers on the countries that exude supermen. May other young New Zealand cowboy millionaires give up their live© of luxury on the great prairies of Whangarei, the alkali plains of Canterbury and) the blue-grass ridges of Hawke's Bay to help their countrymen saunter through the Turks 1