WEIRD NOTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15496, 1 January 1914, Page 9

WEIRD NOTIONS.

EMIGRANTS TO DOMINION. FEARS OF BEING SCALPED. [BT TELEGRAPH. —OWN COBBESPONDENT.] Wellington, Wednesday. Though New Zealand has for years been advertising the Dominion in the United Kingdom, many people in the Homeland yet have very mistaken ideas as to the state of civilisation that obtains in this country. Mr. T. E. Sedgwick, who has had much to do with the importation of boys from England for farm work, told a reporter th.t even among the educated classes there was great ignorance of the British Dominions Overseas. Boys whom Mr. Sedgwick has brought out to colonial farms have strange notions sometimes of the land for which they are bound. In one party of boys no fewer than seven had revolvers given them as parting gifts by relatives, who thought they were going to a country over-run with bushrangers and other outlaws, while even an adult immigrant was found who had a rifle and two revolvers as part of his outfit. Moving picture shows, with their dramas of alleged colonial life, did much to encourage these misconceptions, and Mr. Sedgwick remarked that some boys have been frightened to leave England because of the impressions in their minds that they ran the risk of being scalped by Indians or hugged by grizzly bears.

One of the best educators of the real colonial life, Mr. Sedgwick considered, was Nat Gould. His stories, which were widely read, generally pictured Australia as a civilised country with pleasant homes, prosperous farms, cities, and races. The fiction of New Zealand at the present day was practically non-existent, and the general public did not read official matter-of-fact publications. Moving pictures of real life in New Zealand had been shown recently, but not with great success, as they were not well advertised. To be attractive and useful such pictures should illustrate scenery, town life, rural industries, and sport with a feature which might be " starred" to draw the crowd.