There And Here

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31755, 12 August 1968, Page 12

There And Here

Sir,—An Australian consultant surveying Canterbury in 1966, privately expressed the thought that possibly the best thing to do with New Zealand was “to pull the plug out and let it all go down the drain.” Now back in New Zealand after many years abroad, I can understand him, and also Professor Henderson. Your leader of Thursday, "The Pied Piper of Ham,” was all too smug, and your pet argument may deter the unadventurous, who like the unadventurous before them, will probably seek the safety of the Public Service. The adventurous will go. Yet we shall need them, and could keep them if only we would reward by world standards. You miss the point about university staffs. It is not what we are losing to Australia or elsewhere that matters, but what we are not getting in competition with Australia on the United Kingdom market.—Yours, etc., THIRD GENERATION N.Z. August 9, 1968. Sir,—D. G. Elms is wrong: the cost of living in Wellington is not “about 1} per cent higher” than in Sydney. On the basis of the figures quoted in your editorial, Australian prices are still 23 per cent higher than New Zealand prices. Ask any visiting Australian.—Yours, etc., STATIST. August 10, 1968.