N.Z. immigrants of the 1870s

Press, 15 May 1981, Page 11

N.Z. immigrants of the 1870s

Listening

On Concert radio at 7.30 tonight Professor Rollo Arnold continues his series of talks about the New Zealand of the 1870 s. Free passages from Britain for working class immigrants brought a flow of settlers with a total of 30,000 sailing for New Zealand in 1874 alone. The settlers were largely inde-pendent-minded people, many with skills other than just those of farm labourers. Quoting from typical letters home that the settlers wrote, Professor Rollo notes the newcomers were impressed with such things as the easy access to cheap land, the freer social climate and educational opportunities. Repeatedly they wrote of the ample food — “I can tell you we don’t live out here on red herring diet, but mutton as much as you like to eat.” Although there were accommodation problems initially, the general message that came through was that New Zealand was seen as a "yeoman’s promised land.” Opera The ill-fated medieval lovers of Maeterlinck’s 1892 play, “Pelleas and Melisande” provided the source for much music. As well as incidental music to the play itself by Faure and Sibelius, there is a Shoenberg symphonic poem and the Debussy opera to be heard tonight on the Concert programme at 7.45. Afternoon play One of Hemingway’s classic stories is dramatised in “The Battler.” Hemingway wrote quite frequently about the world of prizefighters. In

this tale he tells us that "There’s no one so forgotten as a lightweight boxer. Heavyweights you remember. Lightweights, no.” Fergus Dick produced this small-cast half-hour play for Radio New Zealand. Concert 2 p.m. today. N.Z. actor David Weatherley is the New Zealand actor who recreates this week one of Christine Hunt’s stories based on the yarns told by Central Otago old time characters. In the story “He Didn’t Know How to Fiddle Those Up” the old timer recalls: “Some of the old cooks on the big sheep stations were meths men. They’d order a whole crate of lemon essence and it’d all disappear in a few days.” Concert, 2.44 p.m. Symphony Direct from Christchurch, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra can be heard in an early evening concert of popular classics. With the English conductor, Steuart Bedford, and the Australian pianist, Roger Woodward, as soloist, they present a programme of music by Mozart and Rachmaninov. The Mozart Overture to “The Magic Flute” is followed by the Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. Concert, 5.30 p.m. Drama This week “Speciality of the House” is a dramatised suspense tale adapted from the story by Stanley Elin. Shirro’s restaurant in New York is shabby

and dismal but rpnowned for its superb cooking. The special, Lamb Armistan. rarely appears on the menu and the regulars miss it. But why should the owners be so reluctant to allow visitors to the kitchen when it is being prepared? And why is one regular customer always missing when it is served? Vincent Price takes up this question tonight. National, 8.45 p.m.