Foreign students and foreign aid

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33355, 13 October 1973, Page 14

Foreign students and foreign aid

\ Sir,—Not all private students come here for selfish reasons. They are aware that their own countries are less well developed than the rest of the world. In achieving a higher form of education they hope to be able to contribute to the development of their own countries. The number of Colombo Plan Scholarships given is limited and is negligible compared to the thousands of school leavers each year. Therefore those who are less fortunate in not being selected for the scholarships have to come on their own. New Zealand taxpayers in extending their generosity to these private students are just right in doing their part in foreign aid. —Yours, etc., [ C. L. BONG. ! October 11, 1973. Sir,—Where in the world did you get the information that in general private students are from rich Asian

families? More than half of the Asian friends I have at university are from families which are large by anyone’s standard. In addition, I’ve known no Asian whose family income exceed even SNZ3OO a month. So please do not distort an already grey picture of the situation. You may not believe this because you have not gathered enough facts and probably never heard of such things as sacrifices by relatives and parents of these people. Do a few Seiko watches seen oh Asian students indicate wealth?— Yours, etc., VERY ANNOYED K.L.F. October 11, 1973. “In” or ’‘on” a ship Sir, — A report in “The Press” said that the Royal family will stay “on” Brittania. I appreciate this may be “Kiwi journalese.” Surely “in” is correct. I query this, and use the naval yardstick: one lives “in” a home, not “on” it. — Yours, etc., EX R.N.V.R. October 12, 1973.