The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1932. AS OTHERS SEE US.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 600, 2 November 1932, Page 6

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1932. AS OTHERS SEE US.

AMONG the things that impressed Dr Rushbrooke of the Baptist World Alliance during his visit to New Zealand was the Scottish stamp upon Dunedin and the Anglican stamp upon Christchurch, and he found the four cities of the Dominion as widely different as four English-speaking cities in the same Dominion could be. But the differences may be deceptive. Dr Rushbrooke, for instance, reflected that the founders of Christchurch must have turned in their graves during the six years’ Mayoralty of a Baptist pastor, and so indeed they might. But it is also interesting to remember that at the last Mayoral election the contest lay between two Roman Catholics, and in the past we have had Jews and German Protestants in the Mayoral chair. The fact is that New Zealanders are a British race in a sense unrivalled within the Empire. The sons and daughters of English, Scottish and Irish parents have intermarried to an extent that has blended and mingled the races, and has served in a very healthy degree to iron out racial differences and traditional grievances. Nearly 98 per cent of the population are British born, but those of Scandinavian blood, like the Jews in the community, are excellent citizens, charitable and public spirited, and often active in public life. There is a sufficient .variation in the lay-out of public buildings in the towns, as well as in the characteristics of the people, to provide a special interest to visitors, but at bottom New Zealanders are not aggressively nationalistic either in respect to the old countries or the new. THE COTTON PROBLEM. 'T'HE STOPPAGE in the British cotton industry occasioned by the refusal of the workers to accept the reduction of 7.67 per cent in wages agreed on by the executive will throw 200,000 operatives out of work, and in effect will totally paralyse the industry. Imports of cotton piece goods into Great Britain have been stationary in the last four years, but exports have 'declined by 55 per cent, and this loss of trade is undoubtedly traceable to the fact that Lancashire’s costs are too high. The hostility of the.Weavers’ Amalgamation to the introduction of the “ more looms ” system has been accompanied by a very half-hearted attitude towards rationalisation by the employers* but a move towards rationalisation is essential to recovery, and it has been suggested that the amount of labour costs saved in wages should be pooled as part of a fund, to which the employers would contribute equally, for the rationalisation of the industry. In the first seven months of this year cotton exports were close upon one-fifth of the total British exports and the dangers of a stoppage in relation to Britain’s balance' of foreign payments, even apart from the spread of destitution throughout Lancashire, are too serious to permit the Government to take a passive interest in the latest development. A PARLIAMENTARY CONVERT. '«7"HEN MR TAITE TE TOMO ' ’ made the House merry with his philosophic acknowledgment of Sir Apirana Ngata’s conquest, he gave the lead for a better spirit in Parliament to assist in the despatch of the business of the country. My people think Sir Apirana Ngata a good man; therefore, I will agree with them, says Mr Te Tomo wisely. The Minister has helped to lift the Maoris into a place in the sun. One of their worst grievances is that the young women of the race have no money to buy tennis shoes or balls, and the Minister may even overcome that difficulty. This is the gospel of faith preached by a shrewd man of sense, and the pakeha malcontents of the House might learn from him how hard it is to kick against the pricks when the majority of the people give their consent to the sharp edge of economy for the re-establishment of the country’s finances.