NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 27, 1 February 1934, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA.

The present visit of Ministers of the Crown from. Australia is being paid primarily for sentimental and historical reasons. The Waitangi celebrations will be the most important item in their programme. These will serve to remind the two nations, which have now grown to adulthood in the British Commonwealth, not only that New Zealand was originally governed from Australia, but that the two countries face the same problems and inherit the same traditions. Australians and New Zealanders, though good friends, are apt to be critical of one another, and to forget that they share the same destiny. In the circumstances it seems a little singular that so few official visits should have been interchanged in past years between the Commonwealth and the Dominion. The trade between the two countries, and their rivalry, because they both supply the same commodities to the same competitive markets, have increased "with the years, but seldom have Ministers of the different States, or of the Federal Government, come across the Tasman to discuss problems of competition or means of increasing intercolonial trade with our own Ministers, and visits by New Zealand representatives to Australia have been just as infrequent. The representative of the Commonwealth Government will take advantage of his presence here to discuss tariff questions, and the agenda should be made as wide as possible. The actual trade questions in dispute range from potatoes to oranges, and it is to be hoped that the stupid embargoes on trade that now obtain, which are mainly the result of pressure by vested interests, will be removed. The representative of the New South Wales Government will not have this responsibility thrust upon him to complicate his holiday; but, since New South Wales was the parent State of New Zealand, his presence at the Waitangi ceremonies has a special interest. Mr. Weaver will not object if this country makes an effort to obtain some of the many historical documents relating to early New Zealand days that have' found a home in Australia. Some of these have been brought across for the celebrations, and they should be obtained either for the Waitangi Treaty House or for the Auckland Museum. If they are not, thej. are bound to be secured permanently for Sydney. We cannot blame institutions like the Mitchell Library for snapping up any such relies as come upon the market, but we should be making our own collections. Hitherto we have been far too neglectful of such matters, and the Waitangi celebrations are a reminder that the practical interest now shown in our historical past will not be complete if we do not busy ourselves in acquiring and preserving early documents of jyhecever thej axe held. {