The Wanganui Chronicle. TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1948 THE CASUAL AUSTRALIAN

Wanganui Chronicle, 25 May 1948, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1948 THE CASUAL AUSTRALIAN

' I ‘HE Australians have been regarded as the most casual of the British peoples. This is due to their being the world’s worst self-advisers. They select their least attractive qualities for self advertisement purposes. Whether this is a perverted sense of independence or the working of an inferiority complex may be left to psychologists to discover. Lieutenant-General Robertson, Commander-in-Chief of the 8.C.0.F., found the Australian troops in Japan the most conscientious. This surprised him because his preconception of them was that they were casual. The Australian garrison in Japan is by no means the only evidence available of the Australian capacity for doing a thorough job of work. The outstanding achievement of the Australian people is provided by the Broken Hill Proprietary Company which, against world competition and against al! the varying rates of wages, produces iron and steel at the lowest unit cost in the world notwithstanding- the high level of wages paid. Another illustration of Australian efficiency is to be found in the Davis Gelatin Company! This is an Australian concern launched by the late Sir George Davis and his brother, two Auckland boys, who commenced early in life to make glue in Auckland. Today this company is the largest producer in the world of gelatin and the Botany Bay factory is the largest production unit in the world. It is under’the direction of Mr. Varcoe, an Australian chemist, who qualified at Sydney University, assisted solely by Australian chemists. In the world of sport the Australians have lifted cricket to a higher level than it ever attained. While cricket is their national pastime it cannot be said that they specialise to a degree that prevents them excelling in other directions. In athletics, swimming, lawn tennis, and in boxing, Australians have been among the world’s best. In art, music and education, and in literature, their work bespeaks again the strenuous self discipline of their best men and women workers. The “Sydney Bulletin” has longbeen claimed to be the best edited journal in the British language, while the “Sydney Morning Herald” is accorded a place among the first few journals of the world. The New South Wales State Orchestra is probably today worthy of being included among the first six orchestras in the world. In farming, the finest breeds of sheep and horses and cattle have been developed, while ii; world economics, Mr. McDougal, the Commonwealth Representa tive on the United Nations Economic Committee, is a world personality for constructive planning against poverty. The Australian people have had a unique task to perform. They have achieved that task, the peopling and exploitation of an arid continent, with remarkable success. Impressive cities have been built, large construction works have been carried out and a standard of living has been achieved which is a credit to the people on any system of accounting. The tradition of the Nineties, with its depression, has left behind a glorification of “Blokeism.” This has been adhered to overlong for Australia’s own good and it is also false of the present generation. Casualness is not the basis of Australian achievement; it is discipline self imposed, and severe. If more of this were emphasised it would improve Australia’s reputation : n the world and bring that reputation nearer to that country’s appropriate accrediting.