A CHATTY ARTICLE

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1777, 1 July 1926, Page 6

A CHATTY ARTICLE

NEW CHUM IN NEW ZEALAND.

A London correspondent says that the Wide World Magazine publishes the first of a series of articles, written by Mr Jack E'lwyn, and illustrated hy Mr P. Gillett, R. 1., entitled, "A New. Chum in New Zealand." Mr Elwyn went to the Dominion not long ago, and he is sending home a breezy record of hi s experiences. "It is not an adventure story," he writes, "but merely a few random jottings of my impressions to, date. I thought it might amuse some of the people at Home who are wondering what it feels like to take the plunge. The editor fancies readers will agree that "amuse" is just the right word!

The first contribution consists chiefly of a brightly detailed account of the preliminaries to embarkation and of the happenings en voyage. "When a young fellow has been farming in England for five years and comes to the conclusion that he has as much chance of making money at the game as a boot-black in Borneo, it is time for him to take drastic steps. Having arrived at this decision a few years ago, I visited the New Zealand Government offices in the Strand and asked if they could help me to find 'fresh fields and pastures new.' They said they could. They handed me a lot of pretty booklets, explained that they were eager to encourage young people 'like myself who were obviously not afraid of work (whereat I blushed), and generally, gave me to understand that, as far as my personal ambitions were concerned, New Zealanders would regard immigration as the sincerest form of flattery.

"There followed" a hectic week of form-filling, signing on dotted lines, saying 99 to doctors and 'six and seven-eighths' to hatters, leave-taking, the accumulation of a vast and voidable mass of official documents, passports, and so on, a journey from Waterloo Station to Southampton Docks—and finally good,-bye to the, Old Country. At 12 noon on a day in January, two years ago, I together with a few hundred other venturesome souls, tripped up the gangway of the 1 s.s. Paparoa."

This young man knew something about a Maori haka, having been given its points by a New Zealander in London, and, in response to the request of cabin mates, he gave .them what was* to be a special private performance. "Clothed only in my pyjama trousers, with my face made up. with daubs of Bovril, I was springing from one end of the cabin to the other shouting 'Komati! Komati Har-r-r' and making all kinds of uncanny noises, when suddenly the door was opened and the head steward looked in to see what all the row was about. It so happened that I jumped clean into his arms. His face was a study of bewildered consternation. Withoiit a word, but with a glance that spoke volumes, he turned and went quietly away. I half expected him to return with a pair of handcuffs or a doctor—or both—but no; he left me severely alone. Thereafter, whenever we met, he gave me a strange, sickly smile, but whether it was engendered by fear or friendship I never discovered."

In due course came the landing at Wellington and its various formalities including the exchange of New Zealand notes—as big as handkerchiefs—for British 'Fishers.'

"Several of my fellow-immigrants, tipon being asked where they were going, were told that if they cared to call at the Immigration Offices on the morrow they would probably be found employment. To my own knowledge six out of nine who accepted this invitation were immediately given good jobs on farms—two pounds a week and keep—'and I have no doubt that the remaining three would also have had offers if they had been going in for farming. Incidentally, two of my friends on the Paparoa had. jobs given them by passengers whom they met on board, and I was offered two different berths but had to refuse owing to the fact that I bad already received three other offers before leaving England. So, you see, there is plenty of work in New Zealand for those who care to take it. ... ' After 'high tea' a visit to the movies, and a night's rest in a comfortable little 'hotel', run by the Salvation Army, three of us boarded the main trunk for Auckland. .Now, indeed,, I was fairly launched on the Great Adventure!"

Readers will await with interest Mr Elwyn's experiences as a farmer.