ENGLISH WRITER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23277, 21 February 1939, Page 3

ENGLISH WRITER

TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND VIEWS ON LEGISLATION NEED FOR ADEQUATE DEFENCE A visitor who has just completed a three months' tour of the Dominion, arid who will leave by the Aorangi today, is Mrs. Noel McGrigor Phillips, of Temple Sowerby Manor, Westmorland, better known as Dorothy Una Ratcliffe, authoress, poetess and dramatist. Mrs. Phillips is also president of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, and of the Westmerian Natural History Society. After touring the country by motorear, doing altogether 5000 miles, Mrs. Phillips lias been left with the impression that, of the four cities, Auckland is the finest, Wellington the friendliest, Christchurch the most dignified,

and Dunedin the most energetic. She considered it most unfair that the Government, with its enormous source of propaganda, should run hostels in competition with private enterprise, and that the privately run hotels were more comfortable and more pleasantly run. "The impression the average Englishman has of late New Zealand legislation is that it is going too fast," said Mrs. Phillips, "it is delightful to give high wages, but where is the money to come from? 1 do not know of any country that is not anxious for a higher standard of living for all its people." "The English farmer is furious at the preference that has been given to Dominion produce," she added. "He feels that he has been sacrificed to the colonials. So much is imported. I come from a farming county, and I know that we could grow much more food if only we could be sure that it would pay. It is only natural that the English farmer should seize his opportunity to capture more of the market when embargoes are put on his country's goods." "I am anxious to know if New Zealand is preparing to defend herself in the case of Britain being engaged elsewhere," continued Mrs. Phillips. "1 travelled through Czechoslovakia just before the crisis. It, too, is a beautiful little country, making interesting experiments in legislation. But this progressiveiiess did not prevent tragedy. A country can be progressive, do all'it can for its workers, but all this goes for nothing if it cannot hold its own against aggressors."