New Zealand Way Of Life Compared With American

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27427, 13 August 1954, Page 2

New Zealand Way Of Life Compared With American

NEWS FOR WOMEN

Two songs, pleasingly sung by Miss Marjorie Rowley with Mrs M. L. Cllf-ton-Mogg as accompanist, opened the programme at a meeting of the Canterbury Travel Club yesterday morning. The president (Sir Joseph Ward) presided, and Mesdames C. Shaw and R. T. Tosswill were hostesses. The speaker was Mr Donald Q. Kaylor, of Maryland, United States, who has spent a year in Christchurch as an exchange teacher under the Fulbright scheme. He gave a lively account of some impressions he had gained during his stay in New Zealand, and an outline of the history and of the present-day life in his own State. Among things that had impressed him in New Zealand, Mr Kaylor men? tioned first the “superb scenery.” “But you must popularise it, and encourage visitors to come to your country,” he said. “It is selfish of you not to share with others the beauty of one of the most delightful places in the world.” Next Mr Kaylor mentioned as impressive the tidy homes, good gardens and flowers; the high standard of living, with no poverty of the depth found in big cities overseas; the wide streets and the large number of public domains, parks and playgrounds; the high standard of the transport system; and the attention to sport. “In my country, there are too many spectators and not enough participants in games,” said Mr Kaylor. “Here you seem to begin in childhood with marbles and end up with bowls.” Finally, Mr Kaylor mentioned the concern ip New Zealand for the web fare of infants and children—“even to the extent of having prams on buses.” In this, he considered that the Dominion was aiming in the right direction. Mr Kaylor said he did not think

New Zealand women would like the high cost of living ip the United States, nor the hustle and bustle even in comparatively small towns, nor the great emphasis placed on advertising. He felt they would find the houses and public buildings overheated, and they would not enjoy the extremes of heat and cold. In his own State, the temperature fgll to 7 degrees below zero m winter, and rose to 106 degrees in summer. “But,” he added, °we don’t have as many changes in one day as you have.” Certainly New Zealanders would not enjoy American tea and the way it was made, said Mr Kaylor. Mr Kaylor is a member of the staff of a junior college ar Hagerstown, which has a population of 45,000. Its industries-include the making of aeroplanes, pipe organs, and furniture. The State of Maryland, about the size of Canterbury, with a population of 2,000,000, was one of the 13 original States of the Union, he said. It was the first State to be created as a proprietary colony, given to George Calvert in 1634 by King Charles I of England for outstanding service to his country. All the place names given in the early days of settlement commemorated persons or places in England. The people of Maryland were proud that their State had been the first to Sass a Religious Toleration Act, said Ir Kaylor. George Calvert, later created Lord Baltimore, had been a Roman Catholic, and the Joyal subject of a Protestant King. He had been anxious that all persons should be free to worship as they pleased. The city of Baltimore, with its population of 1,000,000, had been named after George Calvert. Mr Kaylor will leave Christchurch next Wednesday for England, on his return journey to Maryland.