British Visitor Gains Favourable Impression Of Dominion’s Loyalty

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27082, 17 May 1949, Page 5

British Visitor Gains Favourable Impression Of Dominion’s Loyalty

NZPA—Special Correspondent Rec 9 p.m. LONDON, May 16. The opinion that the people of New Zealand were the most hospitable and most loyal ir. the world —“ more loyal even than the people of Britain’ was expressed by Dr E. W. Maples, 0.8. E., president of the County Councils’ Association of England, in an interview in the Hereford Times after his return from a recent visit to New Zealand. Dr Maples said he was very impressed by the high level of prosperity in the dominion—there were no poor —and when he was taken to see what New Zealanders described as a slum area he found it up to the standard of the average council housing area in England. The amount of meat served in an ordinary restaurant meal in New Zealand was equal to one week’s ration in England. The State undertook so many public services in the Dominion that local bodies had comparatively little to do and rates were so low that the people scarcely thought about them. In view of the country’s small population the standard of the roads was extremely good. Dr Maples’s impressions were not all favourable, however. He described the consternation of the 500 passengers on the Dominion Monarch when they arrived early in the morning off Wellington heads only to be told that a

public holiday was being celebrated and that the pilot could not meet them until after he had had lunch. As a result the ship had to sail in circles until she could enter port, and then the passengers found that no labour was available to help them with their luggage. One of the consequences of the New Zealand 40-hour week, which closed all shops at the week-ends, was that women, particularly country women, worked much harder than in any other country in the world. Farm labourers stopped work on Friday evenings but the farmer’s wife had to carry on all the week-end. Dr Maples described New Zealand drinking hours as “ curious,” and said he saw more drunkeness in the Dominion in one hour than he had seen in one year in Britain. People seemed to rush out at 5 p.m. and drink for an hour on an empty stomach. % Dr Maples described the New Zealand Railways as “prehistoric.” The Auckland-Wellington express was supposed to cover 420 miles in 14 and a-quarter hours, but invariably took 17 hours. The sleeping cars were “ unsleepable,” and there were no restaurant cars. Asked whether he thought Britain had anything to learn from New Zealand about public services, Dr Maples said he did not think so. He would, however, like to see the British authorities adopt the New Zealand school dental system which appeared to be of the utmost value.