Candour from the Colonies.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 1, 4 January 1908, Page 51

Candour from the Colonies.

A NEW ZEALAND CRITIC OF BRITAIN AND THE BRITISH. (From the “London Daily Express.”) Burns longed for the power to see ourselves as others see us, but perhaps a more fascinating thing would be to sec ourselves as our children see us; and this we Englishmen can do in a delightfully candid book, “ Wake Up, England! ” (Skellington), written by Mr. P. A. Vaile, a New Zealand barrister, who is already known here ;>.s an authority cn tennis. As. befits a citizen of the youngest among the nations, Mr. Vaile is splendidly egotistic and cocksure. He loves England, but lx* sees her faults exceedingly dearly:— “ One of the things that struck me most forcibly soon after my arrival in England was the absence of national spirit. In its truest and best sense, patriotism is almost unknown in England. If we were to judge by the Japanese standard, I should perhaps be well within the truth if I said it is non-existent.” It is otherwise in the Colonies. “ The fact is that in the Colonies generally there is as much true national spirit to the square yard as there is to the mile in England. The reason, too, is plain. The Colonial looks on England always as * Home.’ His father and mother came from there. He is going there —at least for a trip—as soon as he can. The glamour of the unseen and the ancient is on England. He has read of her great deeds, and been told of her beauties. “ It is his parents’ and his own nation. His desire is always for her; his eyes always upon her, and he follows her fortunes through political or other strife with greater keenness than do many of her own sons, for the Colonial takes a keen and intelligent interest in politics, feeling, as he very frequently does, that probably later on he will be taking a hand in the moulding of his country’s destiny.” INSULAR IGNORANCE. How can they love England’who onlv England know? I have no "hesitation in repeating that the average Englishman doesn’t- know how to love his own country ; he doesn’t know anything of her beauty, her grandeur;.her strength, her history, and, worst of all, knows nothing and will believe nothing—of herweak‘ness.”->v, ’ ■' Mr. Vaile travels - about the country finding much to lament. He goes to Oxford to watch the New Zealanders thrash the University at football, and he is not surprised. “ After the Oxford match was over I stood and saw the crowd file by. I had seen the thousands of pink and white faced boys, with blue eyes and grey caps and overcoats, each trying his level best to be as like the other as he could, and succeeding too. well. I saw them go by me with their soft skins, their pretty mouths, and their round chins. I ran my eye over them, and I knew that man for man the Colonial youth is their master—and the knowledge gave me no pleasure.” SNOBS AND HYPOCRITES. We are snobs and hypocrites. Our theatres are bad; our sport is decadent; our aristocracy useless. There is much plain talking about prominent men, and praise only for Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Haldane, and, be it added proudly, the Press. The London Press is indeed “one of the greatest of earth’s many marvels.” Mr. Vaile has, among many other things, a capital plan for making the Old Country a nation of marksmen: — “My idea; js to. offer annually—or, if found convenient, quarterly—a certain number of rille scholarships. These could be of the value of, say, £25 each, and would be tenable for a year, and, in special; cases, perhaps, for two or three years, There, might also be oils special

scholarship of greater value, say, from £lOO to £250, to be competed for by all winners of ordinary scholarships during the year. The winner of this would release his minor scholarship. These scholarships would lie made available for technical or other instruction, and under special circumstances the money itself might lie paid monthly to the winner. This is a very brief and general outline of my proposal.” Mr. Haldane approved the idea. “Mr. R. B. Haldane, the Secretary Gt State for War, suggested to me that 1 should offer a scholarship, or scholarships, for each of the districts under his decentralisation scheme, and this, no doubt, will be done, for I consider it au excellent idea. “1 must confess that I was much amused by my conversation with the Secretary of State for War. He told me that my scheme was, in his opinion, all that was required to make his decentralisation scheme popular with the nation. I thought this sounded encouraging, but I was not there for fun, so I said: T take it that you absolutely mean what you say, Mr. Haldane’ (he had my scheme laid before him in writing), ‘and that you didn’t send for me merely to bandy compliments. Directly I am ready to proceed, will you state this in writing, and give it to the Press of England?’ And he promised to do so.” Mr. Vaile, by the way, considers that the range difficulty can be overcome by the extensive use of the sub-target. KINDLY OPTIMISM. On the whole, Mr. Vaile is optimistic about us if we only wake up. “In the first place we must give up being maudlin cosmopolitan sentimentalists who have always higher consideration for a foreigner than for our own people. We must cease posing as the beautiful, free England, where every one, including the Anarchist, the gipsy, the filthy scum of Europe, and the general criminal refuse of the world may come, without let or hindrance, and squeeze the sons of the soil out of their own country “We must put in power keen men of business, men who have been able to successfully manage their own business, and not titled muddlers who regard the House as a playground ,pr an advertising medium; and almost above everything we must so regulatp oqr education as(,to draw out and cultivate in out children that whiith is most.wqrl-liy of cultivation so that in the end we shall be found, rearing reasoning beings and not automata.” . A vigorous book, with many exaggerations, but full of patriotism and common sense.