HOPES DASHED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26541, 16 August 1947, Page 8

HOPES DASHED

DISAPPOINTED WITH DOMINION “TERRIFIC” COST OF LIVING Daily Times Special Service AUCKLAND, Aug. 15. Over 30 men, women and children who arrived as hopeful immigrants in the liner Rangitiki on June 16 left New Zealand for Britain in the same ship last night. They were dissatisfied and disappointed. A few admitted that home-sickness had encouraged them to go back to their old homes, but a majority were outspoken in declaring that New Zealand conditions, about which they “had' heard so much, were far from being what, they had expected. The returning immigrants were bitter critics of New Zealanders who in letters to Britain-: had suggested that ' there was accommpdation for, new arrivals. They had found that-’the Dominion could not" possibly • provide enough homes for her own people. Government’s Rosy Picture They also criticised the Government for painting too rosy : a picturd’df high wages, short working hours and wellstocked shops. They had found the wages high and the food plentiful, but the of living was “terrific” and in clothing and manufactured goods quality was generally low by European standards. - • “■I would rather go home and starve in England—indeed, I would sooner go through another blitz—than stay here and live on our relatives or in boarding houses," said one of the party, Mrs V Gardner.' of London. “It is wrong

to make promises of a land to make a home in when there are not enough homes for New Zealanders.” iWhen Mrs Gardner, remarked that she'had hated the-New Zealand' weekends, her daughter, Mrs D. E. C. Bailey, interjected: “You might as well be dead over the week-end; the, i place is like a grave.” Other passengers expressed a similar: opinion, one . man stating that the 40-hour..}yeek ;; seemed to benefit nobody, as the hou’sewife had to work harder and others Could’ do nothing with their-; leisure except stay -in their homes, if ■ they ,wefe lucky enough to, possess ;o any. ,'' • Some of the passengers haa been living with‘relatives who had originally encouraged .them: to emigrate. 1 Now : they, believe-that no matter how wellmeaning relatives'.! inay be 'when thousands of-miles' away, discomfort and f crowding cap speedily cause a change of heart. - , , High Charge ior- Room *and Tray, v-

Regret that" some jpf'thg. \ should have encountered n-niorial pr£judices’between people‘of' the-saTpe ■ British stock was expressed;by Mr.*.. L. C. Bye, a .transport -instructor,, of • Wimbledon. When be aclded that omy j a few New Zealanders seemed to'take J this attitude another-'passenger .said that in his experience the people were ; not native-born. - Mrs Bye said she and her husband , had been'paying-four guineas for a room with, only a provided; Her husband’s ■ wages had \j been only £5 : 16s. Few "immigrants had a chance of appreciating;the ;Dp-“: minion’s plentiful food; as they . were forced to live in boarding houses and the only good, meals they secured were: in restaurants. Accountant’s Comment

“In Britain my profession opens ,; endless avenues,” a chartered account- , ant stated. “In New .Zealand "an ac- : countant is nothing ■ but a .glorified y office boy. You do not seem to pay , for brains. Most of the best are ex- , ported.” . . .. : Another professional' man m * the j party described New- Zealand., as, a country run by the workers. 'That j was a good thing, he considered, but it was not godd when they did not run it well.’ There; were : strikes for no cause.- / There was little, co-opera-tion with employers, or even with : other workers at their jobs. - . A general feeling among the emigrants was sorrow at leaving-a land where they had hoped for so much.. However, they were convinced that they could not make a success of their lives under such conditions and in-the face of “ impossible ” prices. The housing shortage was considered to be even more, acute than in Britain.