Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/43

 slothful, insolent, and dishonest, and incapable of any sustained exertion. I am sorry to see so fine a race deteriorate so rapidly.

I regret to say that I see, with reference to our own race, the same causes at work that are responsible for the deterioration of the Maori. Our young people are far too much pampered to give us any hope that they will grow up vigorous, brave, and self-reliant. Their wants are being anticipated and provided for by unwise legislation, whereas they should be taught to overcome their own difficulties and cut out their own paths. Such institutions as the Y.M.C.A. may be excellent in theory for the moral standard they set up, but in practice they engender discontent and grumbling, simply because they do too much, and deprive youth of its own initiative. I know of several instances of young men leaving because the cooking does not satisfy their fastidious tastes. This kind of training will produce the youth who is only fit to saunter down the street on a warm day with a great coat on, and a cigarette wobbling between his lips. It has already produced in alarming numbers the invertebrate creature who dreads service for the defence of his own