NEW ZEALAND SPEECH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22859, 14 October 1937, Page 16

NEW ZEALAND SPEECH

Sir, —In Wednesday's Herald some criticism of English, as she is spoken at Home and in Australia, as against the perfect English spoken in New Zealand, or' at any rate in Christchureh, is published as emanating from a fel-low-countryman of my own, namely, ono "Peter Bousfield," described as a landscape painter. It is quite obvious that his knowledge of New Zealand is confined to the drawing rooms of Christchurch and where would he expect to find better English than there? He has certainly not moved about much among tho people of New Zealand or he would have certainly heard the same Cockney, Lancashire and other dialects at which ho seofFs and he has certainly not heard hundreds of our New Zealand folk with their odd twang and especially he must have missed meeting any of our kiddies as they rush home from schools. Every county at home has its dialect and so has Canada, Australia, South Africa, and so have we here, and after all comparisons are always odious. Having travelled about the Homeland and the Empire for 43 years and more, I do feel that visitors would show much better taste if they confined their criticisms to tho subjects'they at least know something about (in this case landscape painting apparently) before they start throwing bouquets to the place they are at the moment visiting and bricks at the place they have just left. Englishman.