THE TRUTH ABOUT NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 155, 1 July 1913, Page 4

THE TRUTH ABOUT NEW ZEALAND.

Our attention has been drawn to some extraordinary statements about New Zealand and Australia that have appeared recently in the '"Nottingham Guardian," one of the leading Midland newspapers at Home. A correspondent of this journal, who professes to have spent three or four years "down under." writes describing Australia as the "workman's paradise" "Labour and Socialism." he says, "reign supreme. There are daily strikes, an employer here cannot call his soul his own. The work people, down to the office-boy. dictate to him what they want and what they will do." We must leave to some patriotic Australian the task of defending .the Commonwealth against this absurd tirade: for what fol-

lows more directly concerns ourselves. | "Women's votes have killed New Zealand" j laments the Nottingham oracle. "Fancy 'a girl of 16 having a vote! Yes, New Zealand ha* gone to the. dogs through a lot of brainless giggling girls and hypocritical -women." It is easy to "place" politically the writer of this childish twaddle; and we know quite enough about the arguments employed by the opponents of Women's Suffrage at Home to understand how a man, otherwise rational, might have induced himself to -write the last sentence we have quoted. But what we do not understand is how the editor of a newspaper of decent standing in England could allow tsueh rubbish to appear in hie columns. Even in Nottingham it ought to be possible tn discover by investigation that girls of ](> .in New Zealand have no votes. But these extracts are worth placing nn record, to illustrate mil only the utterly unscrupulous taction pursued by the enemies of Women's Franchise a-t Homo, hut .also the extreme ignorance that even newspapers which might be supposed to have some sm-e of their responsibilities, constantly display when they attempt to discuss Colonial affairs. After this, when our readers learn from an English newspaper that "No-w Zealand is going to the dor*," they may not be inclined to attach so much importance to these ominous words as heretofore.