South African View

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31383, 31 May 1967, Page 8

South African View

An “exchange” visit s of journalists between " South Africa and New w Zealand had not ma-. a terialised and that was s a pity, the South African “exchange” 1( journalist, Mr G. R. p Dewey, said in Christ- si church this week. d n Nearing the end of an tl eight-month visit to the Dominion, most of which has been a spent working on the “New f| Zealand Herald” in Auck- c land, Mr Dewey said he had a formed some impressions of [• New Zealand which he was & sure would interest South African readers. Had the “exchange” proposed taken place P he was sure that New Zea- ' land readers would have " gained a better view of South „ Africa. n There was much to criticise in South Africa, Mr Dewey, a journalist on the “Natal Mercury,” Durban, said, but equally there was much that could be written by a trained observer that would benefit the New Zealand reader. Mr Dewey is the first journalist to be sent abroad under a scheme of the National Press Union of

South Africa. He has had his wife and nine-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son with him in New Zealand, and said that all would be Sony to leave.

“If things get too bad in South Africa, then we will be looking to New Zealand as a place in which to settle,” he said. By “getting too bad” he did not mean any threat of native insurgence but of further restrictive measures by the Nationalist Government against the coloured people.

In New Zealand he had found complaints that the country was over-governed and that there was too much legislation, Mr Dewey said, but anyone thinking that should see South Africa. He would leave with an impression that in the tourist industry New Zealand had practically everything to offer, he added. With that, it must attract tourists.

His main complaint was the

“5 to 6 swill” in New Zealand hotels, but. he saw hope of some change with the referendum on drinking hours.