Virginia to N.Z...

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32660, 16 July 1971, Page 3

Virginia to N.Z...

(N.Z. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, July 15. Fifteen-year-old Jonathan Maclnnes always took sandwiches to school. He was afraid that if he took lunch money the other boys would beat and rob him.

This frightening situation for both children and parents helped the Maclnnes family, of Richmond, Virginia, to decide to leave their home and friends in America to begin a new life in New Zealand.

“There is a complete lack of law and order,” said Mr D. Maclnnes, who, with seven other members of the family, arrived at Auckland Airport today. “In America justice seems to have been pulled down. Take the Chicago seven trial —a complete farce. In addition, my wife and I were afraid to go out for a walk in the evening in case we were hit over the head.”

But what finally decided them to abandon all they had gained in 20 years of living and working in Richmond, Virginia, was the threat to the welfare of their children. “Virginia was the subject of a Court ruling making it compulsory for racial integration to take place in schools,” said Mr Maclnnes. “We are not against Integra- 1

tipn, but we are opposed to parents not having the right to send their children to the schools of their choice.” Under the court ruling children were taken by bus across the city to schools outside their neighbourhood, in an attempt to speed up integration, he said.' “They have no regard for socio-economic backgrounds when allocating a school,” said Mr Maclnnes. “A child from a certain area and background can be taken across the city each day and placed in a school full of children who have an absolutely different upbringing.” He said his sons had heard of their friends being beaten up in the schools by other children.

“All my children would have had to go to an allocated school in September,” said Mr Maclnnes. “Jonathan was already having to go by bus to a school in another area, when there was a school for him within walking distance. “At his own request his mother packed him lunches, as he was worried that if he took money he would be beaten and robbed. We had to give him his bus money in a single coin as he did not want cash jingling in his pocket. “I decided America was not the place to raise kids in.”

Mr and Mrs Maclnnes brought five of their children

to New Zealand—David, aged 18, Jonathan, 15, Andrew, nine, Deidre, eight, and James, 21, who brought his wife, Debbie, 20, with him. The Maclnnes’s 22-year-old son, Roderick, will join the family in New Zealand next year after completing his senior year at university. “We chose to come to New Zealand by a process of elimination,” said Mr Maclnnes.

“Another country we had considered settling in was Australia. But from all accounts Australia now appears toi be an America of 10 years ago. New Zealand sounds much more comfortable and less pressured.” The family intend to spend two weeks looking round both islands before deciding in which area to settle. In America, Mr Maclnnes, who was general advertising manager for Richmond Newspapers, and his wife, a ceramist, earned $30,000 a year.

They went to America in 1951, "looking for a better way of life after Britain during rationing.” “We worked hard in those 20 years,’,’ said Mr Maclnnes. “Now there is another challenge, and I am looking forward to tackling it.”