The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1934. THE TRUE TRADITION.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20238, 23 February 1934, Page 6

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1934. THE TRUE TRADITION.

THE TENDENCY to deplore the mediocrity of New Zealanders and to attribute it to the fact that so many graduates and enterprising young men go abroad and stay abroad gives prominence to only one side of the question. Instead of indulging in a sort of self pity at the loss, the people of this comparatively new country might consider the honourable contribution that New Zealanders are making to the world in every department of afTairs. Where the general level of intelligence is high, ordinary intelligence and common sense may seem to be mediocre. It is true that the average New Zealander plods along at his work without much hope of very high monetary rewards—and this is particularly so in the academic world—but give that same man the stimulus of foreign contacts and he at once develops the colonial’s natural initiative through the stimulus of the new environment and new opportunities, and goes on frequently to remarkable success. This has happened so often that it is astonishing that New Zealanders have not realised the significance of it. It does not mean, of course, that New Zealanders as a race are endowed with any special brilliance or genius, but it does mean that the homely virtues of perseverance and adaptability that converted pioneering men of the peasant stock into landed owners or small industrialists, and lifted the sons of tradesmen to the professions, still make the New Zealander sufficiently above the average when he goes abroad and bring him greater credit for success than he might perhaps gain in his own country. The New Zealander at home may be lacking in the Old World sophistication, but it is time that he rid himself of feelings of inferiority. New Zealand will never have any national art or culture till her people place confidence in their own judgments. A self deprecating attitude makes imitators. It was not the tradition of the pioneers, and if this generation is dispirited it is less a question of money than of character.

WHY INDUSTRY LAGS.

' I ''HE New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation, in a statement yesterday, emphasised the need for industrial expansion in the Dominion so that new industries could be established, more men employed and spending power increased. A similar problem is being grappled with in England at the present time, and it is noteworthy that a famous ex-New Zealander, Lord Rutherford, is at the head of the movement. Speaking as chairman of the Advisory Council of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Lord Rutherford recently made a striking plea for greater efficiency in British industry so that new and more up-to-date manufacturing processes could be adopted. Some of Lord Rutherford’s remarks were sharply critical. A grave obstacle in Great Britain, he said, was that, despite fifteen years of financial assistance from the Government, industrial research associations were still not on a self-supporting basis, and industry as a whole was not contributing its full quota to industrial research. Commenting on that statement a leading London newspaper made two observations, which if they are not directly applicable to a number of New Zealand industries, can at least be read here with a good deal of profit. Certain industries, it was pointed out, remained sluggish because they continued to cling to rule-of-thumb methods in the teeth of all evidence. Secondly, too many large firms held the antiquated view that industrial research was outside, their province and a matter solelj- for the Government. Indifference of this kind is not confined to Great Britain. The remedy for the British Government, as well as for other Governments, is to make it quite clear that there will be no help, by tariffs or otherwise, for industries that refuse to help themselves.