PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 379 



And whether one is ethically an intuitionist, believing that the 

 knowledge of right or wrong depends on an innate faculty; or a 

 utilitarian, guided by the principle that the greatest happiness of 

 the greatest number should rule — remembering always that the 

 greatest number is not necessarily, not always, nor often, Number 

 One; or a positivist, holding the creed that our duties, like our 

 bodily structures, have, so to speak, been born out of the great 

 past for the purpose of the good of the race : whatever one's 

 ethical label may be, the outcome of all the theories amounts to 

 very much the same in practice, and no one can plead that he has 

 practical difficulty in knowing or discovering what his duties are in 

 any sphere of life. 



Dugald Stewart, the philosopher, and philosopher implies 

 Scotsman, and usually a Scot with a rather som.bre theology, says — 

 " The great secret of happiness is to study to accommodate our 

 minds to things external, rather than to acommodate things 

 external to ourselves." If this is so, and it seems sound sense, 

 then most people will allow that some Australian characteristics are 

 more useful, or more capable of being made useful, than critics 

 are apt to imagine; and, in any case, the task of accom.modating 

 will prove less arduous here than in some other countries. 



When I wrote first on the subject of the characteristics of the 

 white race in Australia there was just a note of apprehension, or 

 rather of suggestion, in respect to our youth. Since then I have 

 studied the characteristics of children here, and have compared 

 them carefully with what I have seen and have inquired about, 

 specially in towns and country districts in the "home country." 

 I am reassured regarding Australia — greatly reassured. Professor 

 Gregory lias recently given a careful estimate of Australian char- 

 acter. He is impressed with its solid qualities. I think his estim.ate 

 is moderate. True, I have noticed tiiat the veneer of artificial 

 civility, or servility, won't stick on the Australian youth ; but he 

 oozes admiration from every pore when he sees real grit or merit. 



After the stock and the individual, we consider the environ- 

 ment, which means everything that the individual is born into. 

 The task of good education is to make the environment the very 

 best possible from the point of view of the heredity of the indivi- 

 dual who is being educated. And the importance of education, 

 i.e., of supplying an environment, as determining character and 

 conduct, cannot be overrated. It is very much a matter of 

 circumstance and opportunity whether a boy with " the bump of 

 acquisitiveness " will become a prince of thieves or the curator of 

 a National Museum. 



How a man lives is nobody's concern but his own, provided 

 he does not interfere with the well-being of others, and provided 



