IS THERE JEALOUSY?

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 116, 14 May 1912, Page 2

IS THERE JEALOUSY?

NEW ZEALANDERS IN

AUSTRALIA

AN ALLEGED BOYCOTT.

Is the New Zealande-r disliked hi v Australia, and by employers? ( A New Zealander who h&s lately arrived in Sydney (says, the Sydiiey Morning Her rid of M?y 3), and- not met with the success he. had tuiti'Upated in securing a. position to his Uk ing, avers taht there is marked antipathy towards New Zealanders. Tlw assertion is, however, generally ridiculed by-others hailing from the Dominion who have made their honi^s .here. 'It may at the outset be pointed out that there-are',according to-tho loot census returns, something like- 1,3,----000 New Zmlajidersi in Sydney, «n'i about_ 1,000 in .Melbourne, and the majority of them a.re doing well; io well, indeed, that though thiey ne.'3r lose- an opportunity of '"boosting" their own country, that being■ characteristic of New Zealanders, they ra.»oly ever; return to it except for a. holiday trip. Far from there being feeling against New! Zealanders., they arc often sought after and' employed in preference to Australians, accor'Jisig to tho statement of- one business ni:m seen on the subject -yesterday. In • fact, some, establishments, in Sydtipy. contain-so many New Zealanders that they hr.ye been designated ' 'M-iori pan," " , ■ "NO NEW ZEALANDERS NEED. APPLY." Tho new .arrival who alleges that New Zealanders are boycotted, says: "t wns told' by- my friends on all sides, _ 'Go to Sydney, that's where there is. big money to be made, there is .plenty doing there!'' So I went. I found my ■friends were not altogether wrong. There is certainly plenty doing in Sydney, but I'm .afraid' they omitted to tell me rather :ar 'important factor in the case. If thor«» is plenty doing in Sydney there are also plenty doing it. Now, I'm n->t one to squeal at my failure to Jisrht on a, billet in open competitio-n,' b<it the conviction is forcing itself upon me tliat in the clerical line," r.t any rate, sdl the positions vacant' which arc so. regulariy and methodically fld ycrtis-ed are labelledl with' invisibl-3 .ink, 'No New Zealanders need apply.' T say this in no idle spirit of disgust that.repeated applications, well within the scope of my attainments, Iw.ve failed to produce the required result.-. A friend whispered in my eir t^.a insidious' suggestion that possibly uiy .failure to 'make good' was to.be j.".;t down to the country I came from. And really,' I begin to think it looks as 'if my friend was right. I li.ive applied quite recently for positions where applicants were invited to st.vto salary required, a.ncl, without the least intention of taking the .-position, were it offered, I have named a ng;it'o, that would hardly . satisfy the . Vv-;r-agc Chimiman^ still without haA'lnj.; tho desired (?) effect. Now, from my ■own personal knowledge, ,1' ep,n ",si»y that the average Australian who.

tempts fate in New Zealand ejets <i good: hearing, too good, I have oft-m thought, considering the relation or realisation to expectation from t.V-o employers' point of view. Why, then, should the poor emigrant from there be ranked! among the early Christians in the time of Nera? It is up to employers to give those who seek sir. ployment a hearing, tand not turn a Now Zealander's application down just because he is a. New Zea!:in*ler. 'Australia, for the Australians' is un admirable war-cry, but I'm*sure the inventor of the expression never meant it to attain so wide an application as the above state of affa'r.s would seem to indicate."

"UTTERLY ABSURD."

"Utterly absurd!" said Mr C. M. Montefiore, general manager of 'flit; Ocean Accident and Guarantee* Ci..pcration, who has lived for evir twelve years in New Zealand, when the above was read to him. "Why,, it has been said," he continued, "-fuat you couldn't throw a atone anywh-iie in the streets of Sydney or Melbourne without hitting some New .Zealand-;r' occupying a prominent position in those cities. I say this, that .a Now Zealandef gets on better here than an Australian does in, New Zealand. There is some feeling against Australians in the Dominion. I once read a, paragraph in one of the papers there, stating: "Two AustralLuis passed through Ashburton yesterday, but up to the present nothing V.:;s been missed.' The papers usually wind up their reports of burglaries by aying that it is suspected that soii«e Australian criminals have been >:t work. New Zealanders get along very well here; in fact, I believe that they, get better chances than the Australians themselves. I am bound to say that they tare better disciplined, and they're keener about the little things. They are educated.differently,; they speak-differently,'they are mrv'o polite, and there is very little of the larrilchi element aniong them. .Outside the good men ,who come here, a great proportion 'of - ne'er-do-wells find their way across, a.nd. you. cfth understand an employer whose experience has been, confined: to this • l-asis saying: 'No more New Zealajiders loi me!' " ■■'■'■■'.' ■• '-■'■

MORE GRIT AND INITIATIVE

That New Zealanders find difficulty in securing employment in Sydney i'a also quote contrary to ,the experience of Mr E. H. Montgomery, the agent" for the New Zealand Government. He says: "I have never heard-of a single instance- where an .applicant has been 'turned down' by reason ot his New Zealand origin. In fact. I can point to scores who fill •responsible and. remunerative -positions* today with credit to themselves and satisfaction to their employers.- - Tho New ' Zealander is generally in Jr"mand by reason of his grit a-nd.init.»tv-;. ,tive, and this may be due in a mea sure to the fact that he is away from his base, and has to rely solely ui>on his ."own resources and capacity t< make good/. He is to be found in all walks of life, and I am daily brought into contact with prominent peopie who 'are proud to remind me that they hail from -'God's own eounti-v.' Of course, I f.m speaking in a geneenl way, and am fully prepared to ;_d'rpic that isolated cases may occur in which tho element of hard luok dominate.4" Mr Owen Cox, president of the New Zealand Association in Sydn?y, also declared that his experience w"'.s that Australians had a most cordial regard for their kith, and kin in the.Dominion. He had never heard a whisper of aoiy objection being made to a man simply because he was a rMew Zealander. On the other hand, many business men had spoken very highly of the New Zealanders in their employment. \He was convinced t-iiit the statement as, to the boycott was quite conti-ary to fact.