A Maori BeautyA Maori Beauty.
A Maori Beauty.
“No people,” Mr. Oseba argued, “ever yet revolted against a despot who ruled with smiling diplomacy, but having learned in the old home the power of the world owners, and knowing that the liberties of none are securewhere a few are vested with the instruments of oppression, people in this new and strange country felt the weight of the lordly hand possibly before it was ungloved for action.
“The land barons, with their sheep, inhabited the fertile valleys, while the people with their children, roamed over the sterile hills. But with the squeezing of the people into the bush there was a rush of brains to the head, and the chosen guardians of the public weal said: ‘Zaccheus, come down.’
“Though New Zealand mutton was of good quality and wool bore a good price, some healthy gentlemen concluded that men and women and children were about as good as sheep, especially when the sheep belonged to the other fellow, and as the barons had no blunderbusses and the people had votes, the world-owners were called down to pay a little more of the taxes, and the people were called up to earn a square meal.
“Then the show was opened—without a prayer or a corkscrew—and some very sensible men who stood on firm ground suggested that any man who had muscle and a mouth should have an opportunity to exercise the one for the satisfaction of the other, and when the world-owners declined to ‘set a price,’ the agents of this brave democracy came with a persuader, and the revolution was begun.[B]
“The land barons were treated honorably. The values created by the coming of a progressive population, by the settlement on Crown lands, and by the construction of thehighways, were generously allowed them; but when asked to move off the grass and make room for closer settlement, they learned to accept the situation, and the laws had a soothing influence.
“The graduated land tax is a powerful persuader, and already there have been about seventy of the great estates resumed and divided into small allotments among an intelligent, industrious and progressive people. And still the work goes on with success, and even profit in nearly every case.
“In Zelania has been demonstrated, not only the possibility but the wisdom of State landlordism. To-day the State is a landlord to the extent of over 15,000,000 acres, it has 16,000 tenants, and in all these resumptions, divisions, settlements, rent collections and management, there has been no loss, few grievances and fewer scandals.
“Then, too, when the estates are cut up and divided among settlers, schools are established, post offices are opened, roads are made, and—when needed by the settlers—money is loaned to them by the State at a reasonably low interest; and, so far, these laws have been to the infinite advantage of the people, and a profit to the State—the ‘profits’ used to further the general scheme.
“With this policy of graduated land tax and discretionary resumptions, exorbitant rents and land speculations are inconvenient, and with the ‘loan to the settler policy’ the money sharks can’t squeeze the people, ‘they can’t.’
“In Zelania, the State, or the people in their organised capacity, aids from the general store the people in their individual capacity—to help themselves.
“The State gives nothing. There is humiliating charity nowhere, but elevating justice everywhere. The State puts a man on a farm, loans him money, helps him up hill, and then demands that he play the Hercules. It will loan him a spade—not to lean upon or to pawn, but to dig with—and he must keep it bright and pay for its use.
“The idea in Zelania, my children, is to have no lords and no paupers—that all men shall be producers, and not vagrants; tax-payers, and not tax-eaters—and that every citizen shall become a sturdy democrat, who will honorably strive as a stock-holder in a paying concern.
“Joint encouragement is given,” said he, “and that may be called socialistic; but individual action is demanded, and that is democratic.
“Many persons in Zelania think that the government train is rushing ahead too rapidly, but these should observe the tendencies of the times, and realise the advantages of the general prosperity. Many others think the train moves too slowly, but these should realise the conservatism of wealth, the dangers of exploring uncharted seas, and they should remember that to-day, in all the essentials of human progress, they are by far the most advanced of all peoples.
“Of course, there are occasional failures in Zelania, enough to furnish healthy examples; for while any man who will hustle may thrive, the Almighty does not line up the jerseys for every lout that likes cream in his chocolate. Even in Zelania, the man who claims that this world owes him a living must make some effort to collect that little bill.
“As a fact, in Zelania they furnish a fellow with about everything but brains. This, doubtless, they would willingly do, but as there are a few things in which Nature seems to practice economy, so far there has appeared no surplus of brains—no, not even in Zelania.”
Here I cluster some of Mr. Oseba’s graphic conclusions into my own “chaste” language:—
Having become familiar with the serene security of the man of acres in other lands, it is curiously interesting to observe that people in Zelania—common and no account as they are in most countries—are held in considerable respect, regardless of their bank accounts, or the social position of their father-in-law.
In most countries, on Oliffa, the people are “moved on” to make room for animals, and, in most countries on Oliffa, the larger the “estate,” the more easily can it be made larger; but in Zelania, when too many people are “out in the cold,” some fellow with a big paddock is requested to “set a price,” and the stray “sheep” are soon comfortably quartered and employed.
Under the old system such “estates” were always held “sacred,” but in Zelania, among themost “sacred” of all recognised rights is the “sacred right” of “man to live”; and it has been discovered that to talk of the “sacred right” of a man to live, without an opportunity to earn something upon which to live, is an insult to God’s noblest creatures; and the graduated land tax has so conciliated the lordly inheritors, that the “blessed” who “hunger and thirst” are not asked to wait for the platter of “charity,” but they are “filled” from the products of their own strong hands.
Here I quote:—
“The Christian Outeroos, my children, all think they are in the world by the special desire and fiat of God, and yet of all the civilised Outeroos, the Zelanians alone have had courage enough to demand standing room on a world where God had placed them.
“They assume to think their deity made the world and then made them to people it, yet most of them have been persuaded that ‘He made the world’ for just a few of them, who are privileged to put up the notice ‘Keep off the grass.’ The Zelanians alone have removed the ‘notice.’
“While to us, my children, so far away, with so long a history behind us, even these measures seem but the cautious experiments of amateurs, they are the most advanced known to the Outeroos; and the Zelanians, in their numerical ‘fewness,’ their national youth, and their splendid isolation, are more courageously grappling with the difficulties that have baffledthe noblest statesmanship of all the ages, than any other social group in the world’s progressive history.
“Zelania, my children, is the most unmitigated democracy ever known to the outer world of this planet, yet her people have just gained a glimpse, not a realisation, of human liberty. But the divine flame from the sacred torch is spreading, the public conscience is aroused, the public intellect is alert, and the social train is moving rapidly.
“What the dreamers, the poets, and the academicians of other lands laud as social ideals, the tradesmen, the farmers, and the mechanics of Zelania discuss as every-day matters of practical politics.
“‘Touch not the Lord’s anointed’ hath saved the head of many a despot, and touching appeals for the observance of the ‘sacred rights’—in hoary wrongs—hath larded the ribs of idleness for a very protracted season, but the Zelanians, in the exuberance of a novel situation, are indulging in mental gymnastics, and putting on grey matter—with results.
“A shipwrecked mariner, tossed on a lone island, rich with food, and shelter, and material for raiment, may ‘own’ that little world—for a time. His rights are supreme. He has a ‘vested interest.’ He ‘discovered’ it. As a contribution to the world’s wealth he had practically created that patch of dirt. It is his. But suppose the next morning another fellow from the same or some other ship is tossed on the island. Well, number one must ‘divvy.’The social conditions have changed. ‘Right’ has a new definition—unless the first enslaves the other.
“Definitions change. Right and wrong as expressing the various social theories, are fictions established by society for its own use, and if a rule established by society for the benefit of itself cannot be modified by society for the benefit of a larger social self, one man might own all the people who might be cast on the island—even if the island became a continent.
“The Zelanians have discovered that despotism consists chiefly in a loyal observance of ancient customs, and they are giving new definitions to old terms—and then adjusting society upon the new definitions. In no country are human rights more respected, or vested interests more sacredly guarded, than in Zelania, but the outposts are extended, and no longer is the power of the few to legally wrong the many, sanctified as a sacred right.
“In Zelania it has been decreed,” said the sage Oseba, “that one man’s rights must stop where another’s begins—especially if there are several of the ‘others.’ In Zelania it has been decreed that the interests of ‘all of us’ are paramount to the interests of ‘a few of us,’ and, though the rights of no man must be infringed, the equal rights of the many must not be withheld.
“Man is a social being, and how much of his rights—as defined by himself—he may becalled upon to yield for the happiness of many—as defined by themselves—has nowhere been determined.
“In Zelania, my children, the people have ideas, and the people rule. In Zelania the people may ask the lucky fellow who first struck the lonely island to ‘set up a price.’ They may ask that he who toils shall enjoy, that the size of a paddock be decreased, that the distance between drinks be increased, and, in Zelania, the statesmen with fidelity carry out the will of the people as expressed under the rules prescribed.
“Now, my children, I have dwelt with some detail on the land system of Zelania, for of all nations on the surface of Oliffa, the Zelanians are gradually adjusting themselves most wisely to the permanent happiness of the people—and we may desire to send thither a ‘colony.’
“Zelania is a lovely land, my children, and, were there no principle involved, I would like to own it myself; but, alas! no ‘principle’ should be violated for so transient a pleasure.”
A Maori woman and childMaori Woman and Child. Fashionably tattooed lip.
Maori Woman and Child. Fashionably tattooed lip.
Herethe notes record that there had been a half-hour’s recess, during which Leo Bergin mentions that he enjoyed a pleasant chat with the poetess Vauline, that she was very charmingly inquisitive, and that while he confessed his lack of eloquence as compared with that of Oseba, he thought Zelania had lost nothing through his modesty.
Leo remarks that he showed the poetess many photos of the outer world, especially some fine ones of Zelania—among others, some of the leading statesmen and jurists—“all at the same sitting.”
But I will ring off Leo Bergin, and have Amoora Oseba continue his observations, as per Leo’s notes boiled down—by the fire of genius.
Mr. Oseba, on rising, is noted to have observed that men were human, to which I partially agree.
Taking from the immortal Robert as a text,
“Man’s inhumanity to manMakes countless thousands mourn,”
“Man’s inhumanity to manMakes countless thousands mourn,”
he delivered a long and eloquent oration on man’s relations to this world; how the earth is the storehouse of Nature; how all that we call wealth, and the things that contribute to our health, comfort, and well-beingare the products of the toil of men; and he then observed how few of us get much exercise out of this useful occupation.
As a fact, he conveyed the rather startling information that, as relating to actual production, fully nine-tenths of us were on vacation, or, to put a point on it, that every toiler was carrying about nine more easy-going souls on his back. These remarks applied to general productive industry.
Mr. Oseba explains “how in sparsely settled countries, where there are animals, primitive man lives by the chase, where there are tameable animals he becomes partially tamed and lives by his flocks, and where there is good soil—as population increased—the people turn to agriculture, and with more culture and more people industry becomes specialised, and commerce arises to put on the finishing touches.
“But,” he argued, “as man clings to the muscles with which his ancestors flapped their ears, so he clings to all the habits practised by man in the past. He lives by the chase as long as there is room, he reduces nomadic industry to a science, and by co-operation all contribute to the advancement of the higher ideal.
“In Zelania, save for sport, the chase has been abandoned, and the living and wealth come from herding on, delving into, or cultivating the soil.”
I gather from Leo’s notes, that of some 66,000,000 acres of land in Zelania, there are but 6,000,000 subdued by the plough, 1,400,000acres in crops, 4,600,000 acres in grass, and 7,000,000 unploughed—also in exotic grasses—and that chiefly from this source of wealth 800,000 of the best fed, best clothed, best housed, best educated and best satisfied, most progressive, healthy, happy and free people, that ever loafed about on the surface of this planet are quite alive, and satisfied to remain—sine die.
In grain and root crops, etc, the soil yields more abundantly than that of any other country. In pasture it carries more stock, in fruit it is promising, and as for the dairy, Denmark must fight to retain her laurels.
It will be seen that but a small portion of the land of Zelania is devoted to its “best use,” so there is room for many millions of people, whose lot there should be blessed indeed, for in no country is the fortune of the land dweller so happy a one. His soil is fertile, his climate is genial, his seasons are reliable, his health is perfect, he has the best implements in use, his taxes are light, and his prices are always good. Happy Zelania’s farmer!
“And God made the beasts of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and God saw that it was good.”
“And God made the beasts of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and God saw that it was good.”
But only a few miserable little “creeping things” got to Zelania, until the British brought others.
Oseba, in a review of the “animal business,” remarked, that as all animals—save the long-wooledgoat herded on the desert and mountain sides—had long retired from Cavitorus to make room for people, he would use the terms common among the Outeroos in his present statement, leaving the more minute explanation to be studied in his published report.
He claimed again that man had never been able to work out a civilisation without the use of tameable animals, and many of the Outeroos had been most fortunate in these aids of Nature.
Where man had the association, company and use of the camel, the horse, the ox, the sheep, and the dog, he had been able to keep up the march towards a higher goal. The animals became at once servants, beasts of burden, motive force, food and raiment.
The people about the Mediterranean, for many thousands of years, had all these amiable and useful animals. These animals carried civilisation to the remotest parts of the world, and from servants they became more a source of commerce, food and raiment, than of motive force.
Rearing these animals became the chief industry of Zelania early in her colonial days, for the fertility of the soil, the healthfulness of the country, the geniality of the climate, and the ever reliability of the seasons, made this—of all lands—the most suited for flocks and herds.
“Ah, my children,” said Oseba, with animation, “had the Maoris possessed the horse, the ox, and the sheep centuries ago, the dark republic of the South Seas might have sent the most eloquent diplomats to the opulent courts of the Old World—but the Maori was alone.”
But let us back to the animals—and “boil them down.” These 800,000 Zelanians have 20,250,000 sheep, 1,360,000 cattle, 280,000 horses, and 224,000 swine; and—well, there are a few thousand, more or less, dogs. These 20,000,000 sheep are of a fine breed, reared with the dual idea of good wool and good mutton; they belong to about 19,000 persons, and they yield, from export, an annual income of about £5,000,000. There are 11,700 flocks of less than 500 per flock, and 138 of over 20,000. The Zelanians confess to having the best mutton in the world.
I quote:—
“Zelania is a country of big things, only when taken on the average. She has no millionaires and no paupers. She has no sheep kings or sheep thieves. She has big geysers, and big Premiers, big yields, big people and big ideas, but few big fortunes. They have ‘trusts’ in Zelania, but they are in God and—the people.”
Among the most pleasant as well as most profitable industries anywhere, I conclude from the notes, are dairying and fruit-growing, and Mr. Oseba thinks that in no country or climate on the upper crust of our planet are these industries more promising or more profitable, especially the former. The absence of cold winters, the purity of the atmosphere, the nutritiousness of the grasses, and the frequency of rain, all “work together for good” to those who attend to business.
I quote:—
“The relative area of land in Zelania specially suitable for this purpose is enormous, and as the fertility of the soil is improved instead of being impoverished by this industry, the possibilities of its development are incalculable.
“For a person with moderate means this seems the most tempting industry in this charming land. Mining, too, with its variety of products, the generous laws, the healthful climate, the abundance of water, is a most interesting and remunerative industry.
“The mining laws and regulations are as generous as the land laws, and in every undertaking of this nature the policy of the Government is, ‘arm energy with the implements of industry that wealth may come in response to the kindly invitation.’
“As the Zelanians were among the most commercial people of the globe, considering population, they entered into the spirit of railway building in early times with great enthusiasm. The railway mania began during the reign of provincialism, and each province commenced its little system without regard to the plans of the others.”
Here a map was thrown on the wall, showing different railway systems, with their different routes and purposes. Considering the nearness of the sea to every populous centre, and the accessibility of these points for steamers, the construction of costly railways evidenced a commendable spirit of enterprise.
Doubtless, provincial pride and a willingness to bid high for population in former times, that rents on fine estates might be raised, had much to do in stimulating this enterprise.
The railway lines were expensive, but they have proved a good investment. I conclude that at present Zelania has 2,325 miles of railway. The road-bed is good, the rolling-stock fair; travelling is about as comfortable as in other countries, and the average passenger fare is lower than in America. For the benefit of the joint owners—the people—all “profits” go to the general lowering of rates.
The wisdom of the Australasian colonies in constructing, managing, and owning the transportation lines cannot be too much admired, Mr. Oseba thinks, especially as it was “contrary to the world’s experience.”
The orator argued logically, and in detail, the wisdom of the public ownership of public utilities, claiming that, as transportation was of so vital an importance to all commercial people, unless the Government owned and operated the railways, the railways would, by some means, own and operate the Government.
Hongi“Hongi,” Maori Salutation.
“Hongi,” Maori Salutation.
He proceeded:—
“The railways in Zelania are a valuable asset. Their construction has doubled the value of the public lands, and, as at cheap rates they are yielding a good per cent. on the total cost, they are worth to-day the full amount of the investment.
“The railways are being extended and improved as rapidly as the demands require,and the finances justify; and with the post offices, telegraphs and telephones, they are under the watchful eye and control of a Cabinet Minister—at present Sir Joseph Ward—the early evidence of whose sagacity was shown in his having selected these antipodean regions as a country in which to endure life’s fitful dream.
“Sir Joseph is an ornament too, as well as a pillar in, the political and social structure of Zelania. He is affable, polished, ambitious and patriotic. He is brilliant in his business conceptions, and, possessing a pleasing personality and persuasive speech, he rarely fails in the execution of his well organised designs. While he has hardly passed the noon of life, he has long been the skilful lieutenant of the sturdy Seddon, and if the chief, at whose side he has so unfalteringly stood, should weary under the burden of public cares, it would seem most fitting that the mantle of leadership should fall upon the trained shoulders of this able and versatile statesman.
“Then the construction of all the railways, with all theiret ceteras—the highways, bridges, and other public works—is also directed by a Cabinet Minister.
“Well, from all the ‘millions’ that have been spent under this tireless guardian in the promotion of these stupendous improvements, in a country, too, in which very many intelligent people would sit up ‘all hours’ to find something to criticise, there is probably not one person who could be persuaded that there wasever a sixpence coined in His Majesty’s Mint sufficiently nimble to find its way into the wrong pocket.
“This ‘Minister of Works’ works twice as many hours per day as any one of the thousands of men in his employ, and the thought of his being influenced by any consideration save that of the public good, could not be advanced to the debatable stage in any company in Zelania. These people trust their ‘servants,’ and rarely, indeed, is their trust betrayed. This is a Zelanian ‘trust.’
“Nearly all these great works are carried on under a co-operative policy, with a wage based on individual capacity to earn, the work being usually given to the ‘unemployed’ nearest the productive operations. It is claimed that this policy has been no more costly than the old contract system. It is of the people, for the people, by the people.
‘Who will not sing “God Save the King”Shall hang as high’s the steeple.But while we sing “God Save the King,”We’ll ne’er forget the people.’”
‘Who will not sing “God Save the King”Shall hang as high’s the steeple.But while we sing “God Save the King,”We’ll ne’er forget the people.’”
Here, the notes record, the poetess Vauline suggested that the sage Oseba give the audience a little further information regarding Zelanian statesmen, their relation to the Motherland, and their hold upon the affections of the people.
In interesting detail, Mr. Oseba explained that while Zelania claimed allegiance to the British Crown, and that in defence of Britain’s honor she would pour out her blood andtreasure with Spartan valor, she was so proudly free that should the same “loved mother” demand a penny per pound tax on her tea, the next rising sun would kiss a thousand emblems of a new-born republic. For the Motherland, Zelania would sacrifice all—save honor—but it must be as a partner, and not as a vassal.
“I have no desire,” said the orator, “to applaud the star performers of this great social drama, for such leaders are but the chosen instruments of the people, and as no other power had conspicuously succeeded in establishing justice among men, the people have the innings, and may—yea, must—be trusted.
“But the chosen are not sure to enjoy the ‘affections of all,’ for as long as a man is alive and in business,” Mr. Oseba concludes, “there will be marked differences of opinion regarding his mental and moral worth.”
Mr. Oseba “caught on” alright, for he soon discovered that among the Outeroos the real live man is always in somebody’s way; that the fellow who reached the persimmons, or “got there”—at the top of the poll—was bad, and that if such a one ever did a proper thing it was through inadvertence, or from unholy motives.
While a man “is quite alive” and wants something, we scoff at his ability, we laugh at his language, we question his motives, and we wound him with our poisoned shafts. But let him die once, and what a wondrous change! As long as he is in our way, as long as his quivering heart can feel, we cannonade him; then, whenwe have wrapped him in the habiliments of eternal silence, we feel subdued, we magnify his virtues, and—canonisehim.
Among a free and educated people, on questions of domestic policy, there are always differences of opinion among men, and this is no imputation either on the intelligence or the patriotism of the disputants; but Mr. Oseba rather likes the man who gets there while the other fellow is holding his caucus.
From these opposing opinions arise party prejudices and factional strife, and earnestness should be reckoned a virtue, even should the reasoning finally prove faulty. Democracy, then, instead of raising men above the human, not infrequently reminds us how far men fall short of the divine.
But on this point Mr. Oseba closes thus:—
“While Zelania is a conspicuous jewel of the British Crown and very red on the map, and her government is of, for, and by the people, any praise of her statesmen is a compliment to the character and intelligence of the ‘ultimate power’—the people.”
Here, for the sake of brevity, I condense many eloquent pages, and for the sake of clearness I make Mr. Oseba’s story my own, quoting when we pass the general argument.
Commercially, I conclude, Zelania, on a population basis, is one of the leading countries on the upper crust, her annual exports and imports amounting to about £24,000,000.To furnish financial convenience for the great industrial and commercial enterprise of the country, there are provided excellent banking facilities. As a fact, the capital invested in banking, for so small a society, seems fabulous. The banking laws are explicit, and while the banks have provided for their own perfect safety, they cannot, if they should desire, oppress the people. But the fact that advances by these banks amount to about £20 per cap. of the whole people shows to what extent they are patronised.
Referring to a review of the political side of this country, it appears that the Zelanians, all in all, have the most rational system of taxation of any people anywhere. With a desire to encourage “home industry,” and also influenced by custom, the laws provide that the necessary revenue be raised by the usual methods, direct and indirect taxation, but it is of the former I shall chiefly speak. Of the total, say £3,113,000, about 74 per cent. is raised by indirect methods, or from taxes on imports and excises, while 26 per cent. is raised by a direct tax on land and income.
On land and income the taxes are graduated, the rates increasing with the increase of the income, or the value of the estate—those on land being on the unimproved value. This system of graduated taxation is a new departure, a reversal of the history of the ages. It is based upon the idea of social defence of personal rights. It is plain that the more property a person possesses the greater are his claims upon society for protection,and the graduated tax is simply demanding extra rent for extra room, or extra charge for the extra expense for the extra security given. In fact, it is extra insurance for extra risks.
The justice of the idea has been clear to thoughtful men—who had nothing to tax—for many years; but in Zelania—to discover a new truth means to occupy a new position. Zelania does not allow her intellectual jewels to rust in the brains of the academician.
Under Zelania’s novel policy the books show her to be carrying a public debt greater in proportion to population than any other country, but for every shilling of her debt she has more than two shillings in valuable assets, and for most of it she has a reproductive asset. So, as a fact, the burden helps to carry the people. Like other “heavily involved” Australasian States, if measured by the rule of other nations, she is among the least burdened of all people.
“And these people were cunning in handicraft.”
“And these people were cunning in handicraft.”
Oseba tells his audience at some length about the manufacturing industries of Zelania, but a small space will suffice, as it is better to remember the haste of the age. The pith is, that considering the newness of the country, and the narrow limits of the markets, there has been a laudable advance in manufacturing enterprise. The chief industries, of course, have developed from the most common and profitable material resources of the country.
“My children,” said Oseba, “we are never done with Zelania’s wonders. While she offersthe most tempting rewards for effort, she gives nothing ready-made. In all Zelania there was, and is, nothing of the ‘Arise, Peter, slay and eat’ to be found, but everywhere there is seen: ‘In my treasure-house there are many jewels, and he who cannot open my door and unlock my chest would be an unsafe custodian of my riches, an unworthy recipient of my favors.’ Or, like the gay and mischievous maiden who says, ‘Catch me, and you have a kiss,’ she keeps all her promises. Relying on Nature without effort, any man in Zelania might genteelly starve; but relying on effort with Nature’s aid, any man in Zelania may live like a prince.
“Zelania had no indigenous animals, and really no indigenous grasses, and her fruits were meagre, but she had the magic force of fecundity, and she said:—
‘I am the nourisher. Like the wise virginsI have long waited a worthy wooer.By action, arose I from the mad seas’ bosom.By action, arose my heaven-piercing mountains.By action, were my rivers dug, and plains fertilised.By action, created I and concealed my mineral wealth;And, loving “action,” to him who gives an ounce of sweat,I pledge a pound of glittering gold.’
‘I am the nourisher. Like the wise virginsI have long waited a worthy wooer.By action, arose I from the mad seas’ bosom.By action, arose my heaven-piercing mountains.By action, were my rivers dug, and plains fertilised.By action, created I and concealed my mineral wealth;And, loving “action,” to him who gives an ounce of sweat,I pledge a pound of glittering gold.’
“Yes, as Zelania’s laws give pound for pound of private contribution to worthy causes, so Zelania’s goddess of fortune gives to honest toil a reward of many fold.
“Zelania offers nothing for sloth, everything for industry. Her treasures are all hidden, but a plough reveals them. Tickle a field with a harrow, and it laughs with a crop ofa hundred bushels to the acre. Remove a fern, a sprig of clover comes. Bring a little rabbit to ‘amuse the boys,’ and, lo! Nature is so pleased that the ‘boys’ have to hustle to save the crops.
“Well, as Zelania, by every feature of her nature, suggests action, her people are exploring every field of industrial enterprise. Though wages are high and the market for most of the manufactured goods very limited, there has been reasonable success in many branches of the arts productive.
“Of course, the chief of these industries,” he says, “relate to what might be called raw pastoral products: meat, wool, butter, and cheese. The list of manufactures include some twenty general classes, covering over one hundred sub-classes.
“As a rule, the manufacturing plants are fairly well equipped—the machinery for the meat and dairy works being especially up to date. The wages of the 41,000 persons employed are, high. Nearly £8,000,000 are invested in plant, and the annual output amounts to £17,000,000. Certainly these facts speak strongly for the enterprise of so new a people.
“But, Zelania, ’twas not thy ‘riches’ nor thy trade,’Twas not thy fields, thy fruits, thy wool that madeThee loved of gods and men, nor gold; nor stately domes.’Twas ‘justice,’ inscribed on the portals of thy homes.For thou first learned that men and women must be great,Else folly only boasts the grandeur of a State.”
“But, Zelania, ’twas not thy ‘riches’ nor thy trade,’Twas not thy fields, thy fruits, thy wool that madeThee loved of gods and men, nor gold; nor stately domes.’Twas ‘justice,’ inscribed on the portals of thy homes.For thou first learned that men and women must be great,Else folly only boasts the grandeur of a State.”
Relatingto the moral side of Zelania’s progress, the notes were very full, but the story will be briefly and chiefly told in the less chaste style of Marmaduke:—
As a rule, the people of Zelania, if the great discoverer is correct, enjoy excellent health—or should enjoy it—though we rarely “enjoy” anything that is very common. Of course, Zelania has not yet evolved a type, though she has begun her task, for while the Zelanians are of excellent stock, the “born Zelanian” is said to be superior, both in physical fibre and mental perception, to the average person of the Motherland. Nature, Mr. Oseba thinks, will preserve the “sorrel hair,” the white skin, the florid complexion, the fine shoulders and the firm “understanding.”
The Zelanians are loyal to the Motherland. They speak of Britain as “Home,” and, as a compliment to her, the color with which she paints her dependencies is conspicuously present in the cheeks of Zelanian ladies.
Unless Zelania dilutes her blood by hurried accessions to her population, she will, in a few generations, furnish the finest type of mental and physical man and womanhood that ever kicked a football, or “did the block,” on the surface of Oliffa.
Maori WharepuniMaori Wharepuni.
Maori Wharepuni.
In the care of the unfortunate, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, and the lunatics, Zelania is already on the “fortunate” side, as Mr. Oseba abundantly testifies.
Oseba says:—
“As an evidence of the satisfaction of the people of Zelania with their present condition, it is only necessary to remark the low death rate among the people. This for the last eleven years has averaged less than ten persons per thousand. For the same period, the rates in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, were about sixteen per thousand; in the United Kingdom, over eighteen per thousand; in Germany and France, about twenty-two per thousand; in Italy, about twenty-five; and in Austria, over twenty-seven per thousand. Then it appears that of all people the Zelanians are best satisfied with their present situation.—Mayhap, some tarry even a little too long.
“While these people are all earnest, and want to go to heaven—afterwhile—they seem to be in no hurry about starting, and have little desire for risking climatic changes.
“With other matchless wonders, had Nature been attending properly to business, she would have placed the ‘Fountain of Youth’ in some of these charming spots, for the ‘untimely taking off’ of a person in Zelania seems quite unjustifiable. A person willingly leaving any other country might be justified in making the change, but when anyone permanently retires from Zelania it means there has been coercion, an exercise of some extraneous power.
“Strange, but the books show seventy-nine suicides to have been committed in one year in Zelania, though it seems incredible that any person in Zelania should voluntarily retire. Of course, they may have desired to get to heaven ahead of some of their neighbors, for in Zelania they like to be considered a little advanced.
“To insure or secure the public health, there are wise sanitary laws, charitable institutions and hospitals; the practice of medicine is wisely guarded, and carried on by able physicians. In all these public affairs, the Government—which means the people in their organised capacity—is most generous in its assistance.
“In local hospitals, or charitable enterprise, the Government usually gives pound for pound for all private contributions, and the many institutions of the kind in all Australasia furnish a pleasing surprise to observing travellers.”
Mr. Oseba was greatly interested in the “enterprise” of the Outeroos. I quote:—
“I have visited all the countries of the upper crust of Oliffa, and I have observed that the Outeroos are taking a lot of physical exercise. They are engaged in a mad scramble for dollars. Just why any man should want so many ‘dollars’ is not very clear, but it is very clear that they do want them. Men with very many dollars are, in most things, much like the men with very few dollars; they are alarmed at smallpox, the cold and the heat make themthirsty, and the shapely actress turns alike their shallow heads. Then, too, the grim chariot that carries waste from the ‘City of Confusion’ and deposits it in the ‘City of the Silent,’ calls about as promptly at the mansion of Lady Bountiful as at the hovel of the laundress.
“When the man of dollars dies, he is about as dead as his footman—under like circumstances. He’ll be dead about as long, and whatever his facilities for the transfer of wealth while in active business, he can take none of it with him. But, maybe, ’tis well, for if the old story be true, it would probably melt.
“The world has been aroused by the magic force of modern genius, and is being unified by Anglo-Saxon commercial enterprise. The nations are growing wealthy; gold is the sole object of ambition, of toil, of production, of trade. For gold the industrious strive, the duke marries, the boss robs, the politician ‘negotiates,’ the lawyer deceives, the judge decrees, the noble cheats, and the ‘parson’—takes up a collection. In this enormous confusion, a great many people get a lot of exercise—a few, ‘clip the coupons,’ and are happy.
“But the superior Outeroos are only veneered pagans, my children, and gold is the universal god. When Moses smashed the ‘golden calf’ the fragments must have been many, and each tiny piece must have multiplied into many full-grown bullocks.
“This deity, however, should never grow ‘jealous.’ His worshippers have at least one sturdy virtue, for among all the millions of them,there kneels not one hypocrite. While the other deities are occasionally scoffed and often neglected, the ‘golden calf’ is always in evidence. But he attends to business, and in all places he hath wonderful potency.
“Genius has quickened the hand of toil,” said Oseba, “but it has not removed the callous, and almost everywhere on the surface of Oliffa the opulence of the mansion tells the wretchedness of the hovel. The owner of the one schemes, the tenant of the other toils. The man who toils, toils for another; the man who ‘schemes’—well, the other fellow goes to him for a cheque at the end of the week. Until the great democracies of the Antipodes were established, every government of the world, regardless of title, style or form, conspired with cunning to rob credulity, with the schemer to rob the toiler.
“I have thus reasoned, my children, that you might realise by ‘looking upon this picture and then upon this,’ that Zelania has introduced to the world a social policy under which the people, in their organised capacity, have secured to the people, in their individual capacity, a fuller measure of the fruits of their mental and physical efforts than was ever enjoyed in any other country under the sun.
“It is not even a policy of the ‘greatest good to the greatest number,’ for, as the purest happiness consists in a participation of the general joy, it is a policy of the greatest good to all.
“Zelania’s motto is: ‘He who earns shall have, and he who strives shall enjoy.’ In this, the people builded better than they knew, and soon Zelania will be the most conspicuously conspicuous spot on Oliffa, and thousands of people will visit her marvellous shores, not more to enjoy the museums of the gods than to study the customs and the character of the first nation of emancipated men.
“Zelania, though she is now the foremost among the world’s social pioneers, was practically wrested from Nature by the present generation of men. The Zelanian Isles were Nature’s last best gift to the noblest race of her noblest creatures—the gods seeming to have waited for a proper tenantry for these more than Elysian fields.
“Zelania, my children, is the John in the Wilderness—the prophesied of old, the prophet of the new. She is the beacon of the present, the divine torch of the future.”
Oh, that is inspiring! Let’s take an amateur “soar.”