AUSTRALIA FURTHER AWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18703, 8 May 1924, Page 11

AUSTRALIA FURTHER AWAY.

+i < RELATIONS WITH DOMINION. POOR COMMUNICATIONS. : ■S '• '"4- ■ :/• . * A.• VJ yivv' • • "Australia to-day is further away • from New Zealand. in sympathy,, in sentiment and in. actual travelling time than she was 20 or' 30 years ago," stated Mr. A. G. Henderson, of y Christohurch, speaking yesterday on his return from a visit to ■' Sydney and Melbourne. : The decreasing community ; of interest : and outlook ' Mr. Henderson attributed ' to poor communications, both in the mat- , ter of shipping and news service. Thirtytwo years ago, he • said, he was able to make a return trip ,to Australia 'for less than' half the present single fare. The ; Monowai crossed .the Tasman then in 3£ days, while the i Maheno ?on its latest ' trip to ' Auckland occupied . 4£' days.. Such ; a ; service made I Australia : more distant 1 both in fact and in'sentiment.. He had ' been assured while rin Sydney that -if ' New Zealand could he reached in 2£ days, ' many more Australians would visit , the I' Dominion, t and" naturally the converso would be true of New Zealanders. ! The class ■of news ■ * service exchanged between Australia and ; New Zealand was ' the other reason postulated by;; Mr." Henderson 1 for. the loosening bonds of sym--1 pathy between the sister Dominions. He j said/ New * Zealand received ;i very little information of < the serious • movements in ; the Commonwealth and, on ; the ", other hand, , a great many stories of crime and sensations, in the largo cities. This, gave quite a wrong idea of; Australia and was * responsible for the' many ' misconceptions of her people held in New Zealand. The same class of news ' was sent •: to Australia -f om ' the Dominion with the ' same result. But of serious . issues,' the bread and butter of daily - life, there was very little. • vr.y; : ; ' For example, Mr. Henderson said New South Wales pastoralists were , anxious to be, informed of stock, market' movements in New Zealand, but of such,.news, there was never a line :in' the Sydney .newspapers.' v . The railway strike was in . progress while he .was {in V Australia, but the new supplied' from. New Zealand conveyed little of .the , actual issues arid the projrress 'of the strike. 1 . ' \ "These two sister Dominions of • the ■ South Seas," , said Mr. ' Henderson, ■ "should be growing more closely in touch with each ' other, • mores sympatheticin i outlook, instead i, of :. the reverse process beintc in operation. The .remedy, to my ' mind, lies in : improving communications." j -