NORTH AND SOUTH

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 6568, 20 September 1948, Page 6

NORTH AND SOUTH

TIME CHANGES RELATIONS ■ : I A,. t o ; TALK OF SEPARATION [By the Wellington Correspondent of the Taranaki Herald}' Some years ago there was a popular radio programme ■ regularly broadcast in New" Zealand, in which the central female character had the happy knack of twisting familiar phrases to get unusual comic effects. One of her efforts. is singularly appropriate to the disturbance, which has been created by the decision of the Olympic and Empire Games Association in Wellington to give the Empire Games to Auckland. She used th say “time heals or wounds)” In the South Island there has never before been quite such a display of feeling as has been evoked by the Empire Games decision. Ail the little differences between North and South of the past have been exacerbated and now are being piled—Pelion on Ossa—so that there is even an outcry in the correspondence columns. of the southern press for parliamentary separation.

Time has indeed worked to strange ends in this instance. There was a time when the South Island actually dominated the North. It had a majority of constituencies and its parliamentarians outnumbered those from the North. In those days the South Island had better roads and more of them. It had more population and more wealth and more industry. In fact; the South' Island, was the dominant portion of New Zealand. Gone Ahead Since then, however, the North Island gradually gone ahead. To. day the positions are reversed. The South Island is. short of population, it has fewer roads than the North Island, fewer industries and fewer M.P.’s. Now it is the North Island that dominates the South. All this has happened gradually during the past fifty years, happened almost imperceptibly, with the result that it has gone unnoticed in the South until comparatively recent times. Latterly, however, the South has been bestirring itself. There have been more and more frequent protests against the concentration of power in the North. South Islanders are becoming South Island-conscious and are arguing they are being ignored and the attributes of their island being side-tracked. It has long been the contention of South Islanders that they do not get a fair share of the tourist traffic and they point out that they have far more to show the visitor than can be found in the North. Of scenery this is undoubtedly true, for nowhere else in New Zealand is there such contrasting loveliness as is to be found there. In fairness, too, it can be said that the South Island has other justifiable claims which could be pushed with more vigour and honestly conceded by the Northerners. Not Realistic But when the South Islanders talk of separation, of going back to something like the old form of provincial government, they are not being realistic. “Nationism”—and that is what the present outcry really amounts to —is not enotagh. A South Island separated from the North in government would not be a good thing for New Zealand as a whole and for the South Island would be tragic. Most of the reasons for this asser-

tion become obvious on examination of the situation and it is reasonable to assume that even those who to-day advance the suggestion that separation should be considered do so with their tongues in their cheeks. Nevertheless from the point of view of the welfare of this country it is not good that .feeling should bearoused to the point where such a proposition should even be put forward. The Case for the South Examining the case of the South Island it is obvious that eventually the South Island’s many possibilites for development must be explored and taken advantage of. That is in New Zealand’s interests—not merely for the benefit of the South Island. It is to the advantage of all New Zealand that tourists should visit the South Island. Obviously the longer visitors stay in New Zealand the more money they leave behind them and the greater the advantage to the country. It is to the advantage of all New Zealand that the South Island should have an international airport. It is to the disadvantage of New Zealand and New Zealanders that people from the South Island should have to travel to the far north to obtain a plane that will take them overseas. It would be best for the country that all its resources, wherever they may be, should be developed and that all parts of the country should share in the profit. Any other viewpoint is narrow and parochial. So it is that the Pamir has proved a splendid advertisement not for the South Island or the North Island, but for New Zealand. So, too, Mary Wooton has achieved much for New Zealand, not because she came from Christchurch, but because she won the ttle of Miss New Zealand, and in her world tour has adequately upheld the honour and credit-of her country. National Lines

Inside New Zealand there is need for more thinking along national rather than parish-pump lines. It really matters not whether the Empire Games are held in Auckland or Christchurch. What is important is that the Empire Games are to be held in New Zealand. Whatever part of the country is the chosen spot in which the Games are staged 'will obviously gain advantages over all others, but the overall advantage is to the country as a whole. That is allimportant. Christchurch is disappointed that the Games will not coincide with its Centennial. That is understandable. From the point of view of the whole country it could be said that it is also regretable, that is if it militates against the success of Canterbury’s centennial celebrations. There is no certainty about this, however, and it can be said that even in Auckland there will be some regret that the advantage it has gained— and it is a purely local advantage^—should have caused ill-feeling or loss to Canterbury. New Zealand is a young nation with a great future. That future will be assured only if New Zealanders learn to think as New Zealanders and not as islanders. Once they begin thinking as New Zealanders, carrying forward the tjhinking that gathered the whole country behind the Anzacs and their exploits and behind the Kiwis and their valorous deeds there will be an end to squabbles such as have recently been developing to the detriment of the country as a whole between Auckland and Christchurch over the provision of an international airport or the location of the Empire Games.