“N.Z. Land Of Fabian Dreams Come True”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31168, 19 September 1966, Page 2

“N.Z. Land Of Fabian Dreams Come True”

New Zealand is a land of Fabian dreams come true for an American visitor who has spent three months in New Zealand with no particular business, but with her eyes wide open.

Unlike so many of her countrymen who have not heard of New Zealand, Mrs Robert Schuyler, of Palm Springs, California, has known the name from her earliest years. As the social laboratory of the world it was regarded as a centre of progressive ideas in her strongly socialist household.

She grew up in a liberal household, being the daughter of David Mikol who was an ardent disciple of the early Fabian socialists, George Bernard Shaw and Sidney and Beatrice Webb. “I was an early advocate of

the welfare state and as a child I knew that New Zealand women voted while American women were still denied the privilege. We looked to New Zealand for progressive ideas,” she said in Christchurch yesterday. New Zealand was not popu-

lar with the Goldwater element in the United States and was regarded as an example that should not be followed, said Mrs Schuyler, who hopes to live to see an American counterpart of the New Zealand system of race relations. Looking around New Zealand she has been puzzled—from the newspapers it would appear that New Zealand was a country of economic ferment, she said. “Everyone is terribly worried about the currency. People are restricted and they can’t travel here or there, but the people are all so happy and relaxed. “New Zealanders are fundamentally happy and they don’t want to change their way of living. Can you have a favourable balance of trade and still maintain your relaxed style of living? "If you want to be as free as the United States in buying. selling and travelling you would have to behave like the United States and I don’t think you would like that — working Saturdays and evenings, constantly trying to keen up.” said Mrs Schuyler. “People here get the fine things out of life without worrying much who is going to pay for them. I dread returning to a country where people are grubbing for money: I have found a land where there is peace of mind. “Race relations in New Zealand owe much to the Polynesian affability—and AngloSaxon common sense makes a nice combination,” she said. “Your Maoris make an important artistic and sociological contribution to your relaxed living. Maybe our American Negroes will do the same after their present terrible period of adjustment.” Happy Children Mrs Schuyler said she has seen more happiness here than anywhere else in the world. The children here are the happiest, the healthiest and the most beautiful she has encountered. “The beauty of your country and your healthy outdoor life must produce healthy and talented people,” she said. “I usually go to hotels where I know I won’t meet any Americans,” she admitted. “I enjoy simple food and whipped cream (we don’t often get that in the United States, only some awful substitute) and I don’t mind the quaint plumbing.” While travelling around Mrs Schuyler has time to indulge her passion for golf. “Just because I live in a plutocratic area and have

plutocratic hobbies I have not forsaken my ideals,” she laughed. Live theatre in Christchurch has been a pleasant surprise to Mrs Schuyler. She speaks with authority because she was a former talent scout for Columbia Pictures, helping with the research and casting. i “I saw a show the other night and 1 was impressed by the good-looking women and the handsome men. In spite of your critics’ scathing remarks, I must say I have seen shows in Hollywood with no more preparation and without as much talent. “I am convinced your contended country produces people with talent—the only trouble is it is not discovered as often as it should be,” said Mrs Schuyler. “Such shows should be reviewed by young people. I remember Paul Gallico who worked with me on the New York ‘Daily News’ as a film critic. He wrote such learned reviews that the shop girls who went to the pictures couldn’t understand them. “With a bit of clever casting by the new city editor, Paul Gallico was sent upstairs to sports, and a former stenographer aged about 18 moved in as film critic. She had none of his erudite background but she knew exactly what the people wanted. “If Paul Gallico had remained a film critic, he would have been a jaded old man by now.” In a life which has embraced several careers, Mrs Schuyler maintains that her main interest has always been political science. She often acted as her father’s campaign manager. “He ran for many offices, to which he was never elected, in the State of New York. I was very proud to be his campaign manager—l remember we used to spend about 20 dollars on the whole campaign,” she said with a laugh. “Firebrands of yesterday are in their element today,” she said whimsically. “It’s not what you say, it’s when you say it. My sister married the son of Upton Sinclair (an old friend of my father) but even he is respectable today. “I have lived to see the sons of my father’s friends become staid and solid members of the English Liberal Party. “I believe in revolution by peaceful means because that is the only revolution that will last. But I like the smell of brimstone, too.”