EMIGRATION TO N.Z.

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28518, 22 February 1958, Page 10

EMIGRATION TO N.Z.

Eager Response By Army

Men

[Specially written for “The Press" by M.T.I

A few weeks ago, in an excess of public-spirited zeal, I offered my services to my former lords and masters at the War Office in the capacity of a “pen pal” to any officers or others in the British Army who might be considering emigration to New Zealand on the completion of their service. I did not at the time expect any very significant response to my modest offer, though I thought that recent reductions in the Army establishment might have have added some stimulus to any latent thoughts of emigration.

The “usual channels,” flowing, it seems, with unwonted speed, apparently bore the glad tidings from Whitehall to the warriors of Britain’s still far-flung Army, in Malaya and Honk Kong, Germany, and Gibraltar—even to Aidershot, and to some embosomed in the many mansions of the War Office itself. In consequence, a steady stream of inquiries has poured in from gunners and sappers, tanks and R.E.M.E. parachutists, and provost corps, even one or two unpretentious infantrymen; all, or nearly all, it appears, imbued with a burning ambition to seek their fortunes in this country.-

New Zealanders themselves, bless their hearts, will, of course, see nothing remarkable in so conspicuous a tribute to the'attractions of their native land; and doubtless, were I a dyed-in-the-wooL honest-to-hogget “Kiwi,” I would reply to all these avid inquiries with a hearty “Good on you. Come along.” The Answers But when it is an Englishman who has to act the part of consultant the case is slightly different. Naturally one does not presume, after a mere four years’ residence in New Zealand, to know all the answers; though, judging by the number of folk who have no inhibitions about expatiating on this country alter a sojourn of a few days, one might almost pretend to something approaching omniscience. Still, to be able to represent certain aspects of the New Zealand way of life to Englishmen as one of their fellow-countrymen sees this way of life, may well afford a useful supplement—perhaps even in some ways, a salutary counter-blast—to whatever enlightenment they may obtain from other sources.

In doing so, moreover, there is no sense of disloyalty to the country of one’s adoption, because

one feels that if New Zealanders and Englishmen have not learnt by now to take mutual criticism in good part, all the triumphs and tribulations they have shared during the last 100 years will have been in vain.

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” does not necessarily imply that one should give up shaving before breakfast or ] changing one’s underwear just because one happens to be domiciled ; among a tribe of aborigines. The analogy is, of course, extravagant and far-fetched; but the principle applies, because there are certain aspects of life in this country that an immigrant may perhaps feel not only strange but uncongenial. It would be unfair, for example, not to point out that, value for value and bungalow for. house, the price of a' home here is a far more formidable consideration than it is in England; just as it would be injudicious not to call attention to the stringency of hotel accommodation, the shortage of restaurants, the almost total absence of the homely atmosphere of the English “pub,” the limitations of the 40-hour week, and the consequential moribundity of the urban week-end, and no TV—for which some of us are devoutly thankful. Contrasts For those (and there are some) who pine for a country life divorced from any primary activity such as farming, one feels bound to explain that the pattern is basically different, and that, despite all New Zealand can offer in the way of wide horizons and scenic grandeur, they may well miss the intimate and colourful vistas of the English countryside, with its wealth of hedge-rows and wild flowers, its tuneful and everchanging chorus of bird-song. And, as a word in the ear of the sportsman, one would make bold to suggest that there is more and more varied use for a 12-bore within 10 miles of any English country town than there is within 10 times that distance of any town in New Zealand. A perfervid absorption in Rugby, racing, and the beneficent potentialities of the T.A.8.; a vigorous nonconformity in the matter of answering letters, a dedicated habit in lawn-mowing, and a garden cult that is almost a religion, a predilection for Pavlovas, whitebait, pseudo-panamas with purple ribbon, blazers, an evening repast known as “tea”; screwed-up newspapers; innumerable progeny, and even more innumerable cigarettes—all these the migrant will probably accept as the inescapable phenomena of Antipodean singularity. And anyway the odds are that before Ipng he will be taking his Pavlova like a man. The Other Side In case, having read so far, any irate New Zealander is standing poised, so to speak, brickbat in hand, let me hasten to assure him that the other side of rhe medal is at least as fully inscribed. But New Zealanders are, by repute at any rate, modest people, and it would be unctuous in the extreme to dilate on all the attributes ascribed to them in letters to majors and captains in Ipoh and Singapore, warrant officers and less distinguished members of sergeants’ messes abroad and at home, with a lancecorporal (Tanks) and a full private (Parachutes) for good measure.

Suffice it to say that if any of these aspiring migrants decides to hazard his fortunes in these islands he will be under no delusions as to the degree of tolerance with which, for all their British obliquities, he will be regarded: the neighbourliness that will be his reward for a small measure of adaptability: the free and easy ways of a young and happy country, the abounding facilities for outdoor life; the good food for the body—and, in a surprising measure, for the mind, including—and what could be more blatantly tactful in any casual contributor?—some of the best newspapers in the Commonwealth. When they ask, as many do, “Which Island?” it is as difficult not to say “The South,” as it is simplicity itself to answer their “Which city?” with “Christchurch, of course.”