MAPS IN DEMAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24277, 19 May 1942, Page 4

MAPS IN DEMAND

AMERICAN PEOPLE IGNORANCE OF ANZAC ZONE WHAT LANGUAGE IS SPOKEN? BY LON JOXES LOS ANGELES. Mar. SO When word was flashed to the United States that General Douglas Mac Arthur had arrived in Australia, the entire American nation suddenly became Australia-minded. Americans scurried to geography books and atlases to locate this country that had become the focal point of the world, and skimmed through history books and encyclopaedias in an effort to learn something about the land their kith and kin were now helping to defend. There is an appalling ignorance of Australia in the United States. To most Americans it is a land of mystery located somewhere "down under. They know little of the country, its customs, its traditions or its terrain. They know even less of the people. Most of them think of Australia in terms of wild jungle land, steaming with heat, over-run with wild animals of some kind or another, and full of dangerous head-hunters. Tasman Sea Unknown This applies also to New Zealand, which is just as much a land of mystery and imagination to Americans. In fact, many Americans are under the impression that the two countries are part of each other. They never have troubled to look them up on a map, and are amazed when you patiently explain that they are two different countries, separated by some 1300 miles of turbulent sea. Only a few days ago a man asked me what language was spoken in Australia and New Zealand. He was quite serious, too, and seemed surprised when 1 told him they were Englishspeaking countries. He admitted that he had never thought much about Australia before, but supposed that Australians spoke some foreign tongue. Fortunately, this ignorance is now fading. Australia and New Zealand loom large in the nation's press these, days, and many articles are appearing! in famous magazines, which are helping tear away the veil of ignorance that has surrounded both countries for so j long in America. Americans have become conscious of us in a big way, and if vou know the American you will ' realise that he will not be satisfied until he has learned everything possible about us. One Thing They Know About the only subject that doesn't have to be explained to Americans is the fighting qualities of Australians and New Zealanders. This is known from one end of the United States to the other. . But before this war is over America will learn a great deal about Australia and New Zealand. It seems a pity that it had to take a bloody war to make Americans fully aware of both countries, but providing we all emerge safelv from the holocaust I believe that' the three countries and their respective peoples will draw very close together to the mutual advantage 01 all. The more Americans learn about Australia and New Zealand, the more thev respect them. Out of this mingling of the soldiers of all three lands will 2row a bond of friendship and understanding that will last far beyond the war.

PLANNING NEED BUSINESS AND LABOUR HANDLING OF CARGOES (OC) DUNEDIN. Monday A vigorous plea for more efficiency in, business, as part of the basis on which a new order can be built, was made to-day by the Commissioner of Defence Construction, Mr. James Fletcher, in an address to the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce. He defended the proposal for bulk buying as one step in that direction. Mr. Fletcher declared that unless business leaders and executives were prepared to do some of the planning, to sit in with labour and give labour a place at the council tables, the fight for the 'retention of democratic control would be lost. Mr. Fletcher quoted two recent cases to illustrate these points. A consignment of potatoes was landed at Auckland from the South Island They were graded in the usual way, but there were the markings of 121 separate firms on the sacks. Another cargo included 4772 chests of tea. consigned to 365 different people. Many of the orders were for single chests of tea, or for a few sacks of potatoes. "f feel sure that there are many business men who do not realise just what this means," said Mr. Fletcher. "In the first place the multiplicity of marks makes for excessive sorting and an unnecessary number of disposal points for cargo. The small consignments have to be separated and placed in a readily-accessible position for delivery. This means that the cargo is spread in little heaps all over the floor of the sheds. There is immense wastage of floor space. "Anyone who has stood in the wharf sheds during unloading must be struck by the congestion and confusion. If cargo, especially such as tea and potatoes, were block-stacked in the shed according to type and grade, the quantity that could be stored away in any particular area could he enormously increased, with a resultant quicker despatch of shipping. The problem was now receiving serious consideration. At a meeting in Wellington, which was attended by the Dominion representatives of the principal business organisations and Government departments, there was a general desire to find a way out. A small committee was set up on a Dominion basis. The unions had had the position placed squarely before them. He was sure that in a very short time this problem would he overcome.

ARSON AND THEFT (0.C.) WELLINGTON, Monday A sentence of 18 months' imprisonment was passed by the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, in the Supreme Court, Wellington, on Robert William Bell Stiles, painter, aged 47, who had admitted arson, breaking and entering and theft. Mr. Stacey. on behalf of Stiles, said he had won the Military Medal on the Somme in 1916, and returned from the war a nervous wreck. A contributing factor in the crimes might have been his not having been successfully rehabilitated. He had tried to enlist in this war without success, but was in the Home Guard. Prisoner himself blamed drink and war service. His Honor remarked that it was painful to sentence a man who had certainly done his duty in the last war. This was not his first series of offences. Stiles' plea of guilty had been entered upon his indictment. He had been charged jointly with another man, who had denied the offences, and been acquitted.