The Press SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1962. Colour Bar On Teachers

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29832, 26 May 1962, Page 10

The Press SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1962. Colour Bar On Teachers

New Zealanders will surely be shocked to learn that the Labour Department is imposing a colour bar on overseas school teachers and even more shocked to learn that this is apparently the basis of immigration policy generally. The Southland High Schools’ Board deserves the thanks of the country for drawing attention to this nasty little bit of racial discrimination Who is to blame for it? If this is a departmental bungle, the Government should lose no time in putting matters right. If it is the result of a Ministerial decision, the Government should try to hide its shame by the celerity with which it reverses the decision. No-one expects New Zealand to open its doors to an influx of any race that cannot be assimilated into the life of the community. But no individual should be shut out merely because of his colour when he can obviously fit very well into community life and has

special qualities that we badly need. New Zealanders, who like to think they have the most successful multi-racial community in the world, will find it hard to square the department’s ruling with the very real attempt of the Government to raise the status of our brown citizens, or with the fine sentiments we express to our Colombo Plan visitors. The department’s attitude to teachers illustrates both the mischief and the folly of a colour bar. First, coloured applicants are to be refused not because of any question of education, usefulness, or character, all of which would be tested in more rational ways. Second, we deny ourselves citizens able to relieve a distressing shortage of teachers in a particularly helpful way. They could widen the horizons of New Zealanders, who, through no fault of their own, are bound to be insular in outlook—though not, we hope, as pathetically insular as the Labour Department.