Australian Visitors' Opinion Of N.Z. Women

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 6, 8 January 1936, Page 11

Australian Visitors' Opinion Of N.Z. Women

LACK OF CO-OPERATION Intent on disproving some of the not altogether favourable impressions which Australians have of New Zealanders, Mrs. I. Waliace-Turner, organising secretary of the English-speaking Union in Sydney, arrived at Auckland this week by the Aorangi (states the Star). Mrs. Wallacc-Turner, who is a Justice of the Peace and a Quotarian —a women’s organisation which encourages ideals similar to those of Rotary among men—proposes to spend several weeks in the Dominion, during which time she will spend some days on a sheep station in Canterbury and visit timber lands in Rotorua. She has been associated with the English-speaking Union for 13 years and was the first honorary woman secretary of the organisation in the world.

Mrs. Waliace-Turner said that an impression held by Australians was that they were not as well received in New Zealand as people who came from Great Britain. It was also said that New Zealanders regarded themselves as the Imperialists of the British Empire and if they found among them anyone who did not Speak good Englisn no was immediately believed to be an Australian. “I am going right through New Zealand and I hope to bo able to disprove such statements as those,” said the visitor. “When I return to Australia I propose to givo a series of lectures on the Dominion and I will give my frank opinion of this country. We in Australia always feel that New Zealand women do not co-operate with our organisations. They always seem to be isolated. Whether they do it deliberately or not I don’t know, but we always feel that we are not in touch with Now Zealand women.”

In discussing the work of the Eng-lish-speaking Union, Mrs. Wallaee-Tur-ner said that the work was international in character, and her branch was in touch with every part of the Englishspeaking world. There wore over <SOO members of the organisation in Sydney and the union was an influential body with ample funds. Its principal wori was to see that overseas visitors, par ticularly Americans, saw something of Australia’s primary and secondary industries, so that they might get a favourable impression of tho Commonwealth. Mrs. Waliace-Turner observed that Australians were becoming intensely interested in New Zealand and tourists were turning their attention more and moro to this country. Tho shipping strike had incidentally encouraged people to comb to the Dominion. Generally at Christmas there was an exodus to Tasmania, but both this month and next she knew hundreds of Australians were coming to New Zealand instead of going to tho former country. She thought one of the reasons she had been asked to give a frank opinion of Now Zealand was because of the increasing interest that was being shown in the Dominion.