EMPIRE’S YOUTH.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20649, 25 June 1935, Page 10

EMPIRE’S YOUTH.

Woman Visitor’s Frank Opinions. AUSTRALIANS CRITICISED. (Special to the “ Star.”) AUCKLAND. This Day. “South Africa, too much money; Australia, not enough breeding and inability to learn that fact; Canada, independent, admirable; New Zealand, the best of the lot.’* This is a thumbnail impression of the youth of the Empire, as seen by one who prefers to call herself “Tydfil Elliot,” the name under which Bhe has sung in many parts of the world. She is a journalist, a singer, a globe-trotter, but most of all the globe-trotter. She is at present in Auckland, how long she not know —as she says, “until the mood strikes her to go elsewhere.” In all the places she mentions she has been recently, so that her impressions are fresh, and clear-cut. “Yes,” she resumed, “as far as I could see South Africa has not been affected by the depression. The price of gold, and the fact that there is much gold in South Africa, has been the deciding factor in the prospqjity of that country. The result has been that the youth, or at least a large part of it, has never known the need' of money, has not known the need to work. When I last went there, going from England, there vvchq two brothers on the boat—going home to South Africa from Oxford and Cambridge for the vacation. They go home whenever they have the slightest excuse. They were fine young men, well-bred, gentlemen, good company. But they obviously had plenty of money, plenty. They had not had to work, and perhaps their breeding and the carefree demeanour was not a little influenced by that fact. “There were many young men like that in South Africa. They possessed a poise, a confidence which seemed to be the heritage of the Dominions, but added to that they had behind them — money, spelt with capital letters. “ Lack of Breeding.” She turned to Australia. *“Xow I had a very jolly time in Australia,” she said, “and I met some charming people, and some very nice young men.’ 1 But that did not alter her impression that there was a lack of breeding there. When there was an Australian in a party that fact was always obvious. She had met them in London, on ships going to and from London to Australia. They did not seem to know the meaning of the term “inferiority complex.” While that in itself was good, in the Australians, or at least some of them, it was selfconfidence gone awry. For example, at banquets or dinners, it was nothing for a young Australian to continue talking when someone was making a speech. More than that, young Australians did not seem to have the ability to learo that they lacked some of the features usually connected with breeding. They were supremely confident in themselves. That had been noticed in London, she said, and the Australians were not the more welcome because of it. Canadians and New Zealanders. She liked the Canadians. They were quieter, in that they were not so obvious. They were solid and dependable. independent and virile. “They are like you New Zealanders.” she said, and that led her to speak of New Zealand. “Your New Zealand youth,” she said, “is also independent. Your New Zealander can alsq be picked out in a company. But the reasons are different. He is not a self-evident proposition. He is independent, but there is with it a diffidence that does not own the earth. From what I can see. there is not a very wealthy class in New Zealand. There aie families with money; but not enough families to affect the general •youth. The New Zealand youth is well-bred. “Now you must* understand what I mean by ‘well-bred.’ I do not mean descended from a line whose blood is blue. J mean a behaviour that is in good taste, a demeanour that is quiet when a back seat is called for. New Zealanders are like that. I remember the war generation. The present one is not greatly different in essentials. It has advanced with the times; but it is broadly the same. It is adaptable. It can become one with any company. It can do more, it can stand on its own feet. While the ability to mix with any society :s the outward form of breeding. this real independence, this sense of worth which is not expressed in blatancy. this is the real breeding. I like the New Zealand youth.”