SINGAPORE GIRL TOURING N.Z.

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31307, 1 March 1967, Page 2

SINGAPORE GIRL TOURING N.Z.

Miss Lily Chia, or Chia Siew Keow—refined and beautiful, is touring New Zealand to gather first-hand impressions of the country. When she returns to her post in Air New Zealand s Singapore office she will undoubtedly leave behind some bewitched and bewildered “Kiwis”.

Extroverted and exuberant, with a fluent command of English, Miss Chia is tall for her race at sft 6in. She likes strenuous sports and meeting people.

"I like to be different At home I’m enormous, but I wear high heels and stand tall,” she said in Christchurch yesterday. Her waist-length hair, piled high on her head, adds several extra inches, but she seldom wears it down. ‘1 have to be careful what I say. In Auckland the reporter asked me why I went to Perth, where I took a secretarial course at the technical school. I said two of my brothers were there and my father said they would be good body-guards. “There it was in the paper next day—of course they weren’t body-guards, just brothers."

One brother was responsible for introducing her to horse-riding. After a week she became an expert. She would also like to take up squash again, but “people in Singapore are not very energetic.” However, tennis games several times a week, regular swimming, and "erratic” 10pin bowling fill much of her spare time.

Her present position with Air New Zealand is her first venture into the travel business. After her studies at the Perth Technical School, she worked for two years in Australia, then decided it was time to return home and settle down.

A "jack-of-all-trades” is the way she describes her position, which includes secretarial, receptionist, and public relations duties. Her mastery of English, Malay, and three dialects of Chinese is a considerable asset.

At home her family speak English, but practise their Chinese on their mother, who cannot speak English.

Her brothers and sisters have English Christian names, but Miss Chia, and her youngest brother, both born during the Japanese occupation, do not “The Japanese said we were Chinese, so no English names,” she said. Lily is the name by which Miss Chia is known to her European friends; to her family she is Siew Keow. A true cosmopolitan, “like all in Singapore” Miss Chia wears traditional Chinese, Malay, and Western dress. She likes suits for work, slacks for bowling, and elaborate Oriental styles for evening. Night-life in New Zealand she considers leaves much to be desired, as does the taxi service. "You have to ring, and wait and wait.” Hotel service is considerably less attentive than in most Singapore hotels. A housewife who wanted to be spoilt would be disappointed. “But you have no poor people. We have, so many want these jobs,” she said. Travel brochures and pamphlets, “propaganda” which had been her main source of information about New Zealand, had not exaggerated the scenic splendours. “New Zealand is a country for the sight-seer, the hunter, mountaineer, sportsman, and nature lover.”