YUGOSLAV QUARTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20767, 9 January 1931, Page 13

YUGOSLAV QUARTER.

AUCKLAND DEVELOPMENT.

CLUB ROOM AND LIBRARY

ENTRY INTO BUSINESS. A correspondent, with some resentment, draws attention to the fact that Auckland has a foreign quarter in the Victoria Street -Hobson Street area. There is no doubt about it. Here the Yugoslavs concentrate, and particularly in the holidays, when many men of this race come to town, one may hear the foreign tongue spoken more commonly than English. By far the greater part of the Yugoslavs of New Zealand, win originally came here for work on the gumfields, still live in the northern districts, but there is evidence that there has been a drift to the city. In most cases, probably, they have not come looking for work within reach of the bright lights but to undertake business of some sort.

This really is a natural development. Foreign communities anywhere tend to "hive" and it is not surprising that Slavs have opened restaurants and clothing establishments, in the first instance to serve their countrymen. There is also the influence of race, and no doubt another factor is that the prejudice exhibited the world over by those in possession to a foreign element lends to create a "quarter."

The Yugoslavs have a library and club in an attractive room in the Oddfellows' Building, at the corner of Victoria and Hobson Streets, and the community spirit among them is further expressed by the holding of picnics in the approved manner of Auckland organisations. The Yugoslavs have been here in numbers long enough to enable some of them to have considerable business interests, but in the main they remain true to the soil and there is no question as to their capacity and industry, particularly on small holdings, where intensive methods are necessary. They are prominent as fruitgrowers and in many directions their energy has performed wonders with forbidding-looking soil.

A fine community spirit prevails among them and with frugal and industrious habits applied in this manner they have certainly found Now. Zealand a land of opportunity. The correspondent drew attention to a recent case of sly-grog selling in the quarter, but while, perhaps, these foreigners may be inclined to regard our licensing laws as absurd, it remains to be proved whether the proportion of them who flout the laws is greater than in the British community.

Their outlook on life may be different from that of the average New Zealander, but it cannot be said that they have brought some of the unpleasant habits displayed by communities of other foreigners in other countries. For instance, the Yugoslav does not have an instinct for argument with the knife. Physically they are excellent and although the natural desire of New Zealand is to maintain the purity of its British hjood, it has to be admitted that the Yugoslavs are generally good citizens and are rarely a charge on the country, even in times of depression. An Auckland business man says they never abuse credit.