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“ They have been so few, and the development of their own Colony has taxed their energies so fully, that they have had no time as yet to dream of Empire.
Yet—and here comes the seeming paradox—they are Imperialists; not Imperialists in the sense of men whose vision is to dominate inferior races, rule subject territory, and maintain powerful fleets and armies with which to assert mastery, nor is any very large share of their time and attention devoted to Imperial politics. ”

“ If a Colony is able to pay its way handsomely, while ministering to its own needs, and yet imposes no duties on the produce of its own industries, or on imports from this country or any British possession, it possesses certain attractions, and courts the sympathy of manufacturers in all parts of the Empire. If, again, the Colony bears a fair share in the cost of Imperial defence, it deserves the thanks of the British taxpayer. ”

“ It is probable that the developed characteristics of the successful sailor, coupled with a long experience in the management of people of divers races, begot the aptitude for administration which is now so marked a feature in their character that, in the art of government, Englishmen have little to learn from other nations. England has always had rivals on the sea, and we only keep our position there by great national sacrifices, by a splendid organization, by the most perfect system of training that we can devise, and by the prestige of many hard-fought battles. ”

“ The growth of population must not be any ugly rush that will lower the standard of comfort. The New Zealander is a worker—a hard and intelligent worker; but, whatever his class, he expects a liberal return for his labour. His ideal is the golden mean: a land without material misery, where there shall be something for everyone and not too much for anybody; a land where life shall not be a lottery with a few great prizes and a vast number of blanks. ”

“ To the European visitor a colonial city of fifty thousand inhabitants is just a third-rate town and nothing more. To the pioneer who has seen it grow from a handful of tents and shanties, the prosperous streets, roomy villas, and comfortable cottages represent victory—the triumph of his race in their battle with emptiness and desolation. ”

“ The New Zealander is not such a materialist as to fancy that a decent share of comfort all round—to be earned by hard work—will insure human happiness. But he is the reverse of an Oriental ascetic, and he does most steadfastly believe that healthful surroundings, good food, good pay, and a fair margin of leisure, give the best chance of happiness to the common workaday person. The notion that New Zealanders, as a people, have as an ideal some elaborate State Socialism may be dismissed. ”

“ The striking difference between the systems is really this: that whereas, under party government, each party, when in power, considers that it is entitled to advance the interests of its own adherents, the Crown Colony system aims at securing, and usually secures, the general welfare of the whole community. With parties, the one in power can do no wrong, in the eyes of its supporters, so long as it ministers to their demands. It follows that it can do nothing right in the opinion of the Opposition. ”

“ Nine-tenths of them know almost as little about ordinary Australian politics as do Englishmen. They have no animosity towards, or jealousy of, the big Island-Continent. But their interest, their pride, their hopes, are centred in their own islands. Within their boundaries there is ample scope and verge enough for the statesmanship and industry of the New Zealanders of to-day. Australia's future may be greater—so be it! New Zealand's, at any rate, will be bright and great enough for them, so they think. ”

“ When we try to forecast the future of the New Zealanders, and estimate the possible development in them of national ambitions and foreign policy, we are at once brought up sharply by the dominating geographical fact of their extraordinary isolation. ”

“ Sea-power alone will not preserve the Empire, and, considering the enormous interests which depend upon the successful maintenance of our position, it does seem passing strange that we have, hitherto, trusted to the genius of the race to acquire by experience a knowledge which it has never been thought necessary to teach.
We speak of men being born administrators, but it only means that, of the many who are set to the work of government, without any special training, some pick up the threads quickly and, with experience, become really efficient. ”

“ Started by the petite bourgeoisie, and heavily recruited from the work-people and smaller farmers, the temperance or prohibition agitation is the strongest united force at work in New Zealand politics to-day. Its strength, together with the devoted attachment of the people to their national system of education, and the practical daily interest they take in their schools, go to negative the suggestion that the New Zealander is a mere gloss materialist. ”

“ It must be obvious that, in a country without an aristocracy or House of Peers, without a State Church or denominational school system, without a standing army, a navy, a foreign policy, or a millionaire class, politics must concern themselves chiefly with economic questions, matters of administration, and reforms aiming at some improvement of public morals. ”

“ A new Fiscal Policy, which, by a system of Imperial preferences, is to tighten the bonds of Imperial union.
It seems to be admitted that all parts of the Empire are equally concerned in its defence, and that all are bound to share the cost of maintaining a Navy of sufficient strength, in the highest state of efficiency. It is probable that colonial statesmen would agree that, if any self-governing Colony were cut absolutely adrift from the Empire, it would not be allowed to work out its own salvation without interference from other nations. ”

“ THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CROWN COLONIES
By SIR FRANK SWETTENHAM, K.C.M.G.
It has been said that comparatively few people think, really think, about subjects beyond the concerns of their daily life. That is possibly the principal reason why a nation which possesses the greatest Empire the world has ever known, an Empire with lands on every continent and islands in every sea, inhabited by four hundred millions of people of almost every race, colour, language, and religion, should never have provided any means for teaching the art of administration. ”

“ Nature has fitted New Zealand healthy and fertile, successful rather than for rapid occupation. Bad land laws, too, leading to monopoly, have been obstructive in the past, and have left a legacy of evil. And the fall of prices of raw products, felt so severely between 1820 and 1895, embarrassed New Zealand as it embarrassed other young countries. ”

“ But the New Zealand farmer is by no means a boor. He is educated, keen-witted, handy. Where capital and expensive machinery are wanted he and his neighbours will use cooperation, as in the case of dairy factories. Moreover, the Government Department of Agriculture is the farmers' friend—a powerful educating and stimulating force.
Next to the farmers in influence come the work-people. These, as a class, let the trade unions speak for them in politics, though most of them are not enrolled in unions. ”

“ This generation cannot bind its children, but this generation, at any rate, is quite unlikely to change its mind. The Australian had one—and only one—temptation to hold out: that—which was, indeed, a considerable inducement—was admission within the ring-fence of the Federal Customs tariff. So soon as it was plain that New Zealand was likely to stay outside, the Australians proceeded to aim specific duties at their neighbours' chief exports. But the neighbours, though no more indifferent than other people to bread-and-butter considerations, did not flinch. ”

“ When natural beauty stands in the way of settlement it has to go; and the artistic mind must comfort itself as best it can with the reflection that much of the peculiar beauty of New Zealand is indestructible, and that some more of it will be saved for the prosaic reason that it does not 'pay' to destroy it. ”

“ The average New Zealander thinks and asserts that his own manufacturers have a first claim, and British imports a second. If he patronizes German or American goods, he does not draw any unnecessary attention to the practice. This preference for British over foreign goods—which has always been something more than mere profession, and which has lately been emphasized by statute—is nothing extraordinary. The open ports of England are the Colony's one great market ”

“ The farmers, therefore, are their own masters, especially in these latter years in which State mortgage loans on easy terms, together with prosperous seasons, have loosened the once tight grip of money-lenders and financial institutions. The policy by which the New Zealanders endeavour to promote the subdivision of their soil has come in for some criticism among Utopians as well as Conservatives. Conservatives see the premature extinction of a class of wealthy country gentlemen whose homes might be a refining influence. ”

“ As a democracy their Colony is sometimes compared with democratic Switzerland. There is, however, this material social difference: the yearly sum which the average New Zealander is able to spend is more than twice the annual outlay of the Swiss; it is more than four times that of the average Russian. Yet scarcely 6 per cent. of the male bread-winners in New Zealand enjoy incomes exceeding £200 a year. And among this favoured 6 per cent. the average of income is barely £600. Such a handful are the very wealthy; indeed, the annuity does not claim to possess a single millionaire. ”

“ The cities, indeed, do not dictate to the Colony, though intellectually they may influence it For instance, no representative of any of the four centres sits in the Cabinet. The farmers are the most influential class. This is but natural in a country where there are no less than 48,000 freeholders, each occupying more than 5 acres of land, to say nothing of many thousands State tenants. Only one-tenth of the occupied soil is held by the tenants of private owners, so that rural landlordism has not yet made much headway. ”

“ Music, indeed, is the one art from which a resident in their islands need not be divorced.
At present New Zealand sport does not differ much from English. Apart from some wild-cattle shooting and from the rather adventurous pastime of hunting wild pigs on foot with dogs, there is little recreation in the islands which is not a fairly faithful copy of something in the Mother Country. ”

“ Experience has proved again and again that a man who has failed in one administrative post is not likely to succeed in a higher and more responsible appointment. Without pretending to any attempt at exhaustive criticism, one other point may be mentioned. The machinery of Crown Colony government is based upon a set of cut-and-dried rules, called the Colonial Office Regulations, which cover a wide field and are applied impartially to all Crown Colonies. ”

“ There is a legend that all New Zealand horses jump wire fences as though to the manner born. This is not the case; but some of them are trained to negotiate wire, and do so very cleverly. Moifaa is evidence that our horses can jump, and the many persons who think flat racing sport can enjoy abundance of it in the islands. Betting on horse racing is carried on through the 'totalizator,' and though there is a great deal too much of it, the amounts staked by individuals are seldom ruinous. ”

“ The New Zealand Parliament has, however, passed a Preferential Trade Act, which has increased many duties on non-British imports to an extent certain to handicap both American and German merchants. It must be added that the unfriendly navigation laws of the United States, which virtually shut out our steamers from Californian ports, have roused no small feeling in the Colony. Good and cheap steam and telegraphic communication with the outside world is a prime necessity of New Zealand. ”

“ We are said to be amateurs in everything except sport; but there we are counted professionals, and it is only people of the same origin who seriously dispute our claims to excel in what we regard as our national pastimes. ”