A VISITOR FROM RHODESIA

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25091, 24 January 1947, Page 2

A VISITOR FROM RHODESIA

NINE MONTHS’ TOUR OF N.Z. “I am a Rhodesian, and proud of it; Rhodesia is purely British; we have one flag and one language, while in the Union of South Africa they have two flags and two languages,” said Miss Joyce Newall, a visitor to Christchurch from Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, in an interview. this week. Miss Newall is making a nine months’ tour of New Zealand. She is travelling alone; but she says she has so far been shown so much kindness and friendliness in the Dominion that she has enjoyed every moment of her visit and is looking forward to many more happy experiences on her trip. Miss Newall is a shorthand-typist in the Department of Internal Affairs at Salisbury, and she says that there is a shortage of trained office girls in Rhodesia just as there appears to be in New Zealand. A first-class short-hand-typist would be paid as much as £3O a month, and in Government departments the hours are from 8.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on five days a week and until 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Much of the social life of the town, she says, centres on the sports club, and facilities for bathing and different games are provided in the public gardens.

Tobacco-growing, gold-mining in small workings, and cattle ranching are the industries that form the life blood of Salisbury. Many of the tobacco-growers are wealthy: they live in fine houses, keep high-powered cars, and, in some cases, have English governesses for their children. In most homes the housework is done by native men, who are always called “boys.” These receive from £2 10s to £3 a month in wages; they work well and are excellent ironers. “Rhodesia has its own Parliament and a native policy different from the native policy adopted in the Union,” explained Miss Newall. “We are often adversely criticised for aur policy, but in a country like Rhodesia, with an overwhelmingly native population, it is a problem that must be solved by Rhodesia itself.” Miss Newall will leave on Monday for Queenstown. She will visit places of interest in both the South Island and the North Island, and she thinks that at the end of her t®ur she may take a position in Auckland for a time. “After coming so far I would like to learn all I can about New Zealand before returning to South Africa,” she said.