JUST POISONOUS BALDERDASH, SAYS MR. SEMPLE CRITICISM OF NZ REPLIED TO

Wanganui Chronicle, 5 October 1946, Page 5

JUST POISONOUS BALDERDASH, SAYS MR. SEMPLE CRITICISM OF NZ REPLIED TO

(P.A.) Parliament Bldgs., Oct. 4. “Poisonous balderdash and an outburst written for monetary gain, based on a jaundiced view of New Zealand, as seen through confused spectacles of a politically biassed mind.”

This was the description applied by the Minister of Works, Mr. Semple, to-day to an article written by Sidney Greenbie entitled “New Zealand’s Uneasy Utopia.” The Minister said he was not concerned so much with Mr. Greenbie’s description of our faces. The observation that they were “essentially plain” was a matter for argument, but that we all had “blue eyes and brown hair” was so obviously inaccurate that he could not believe American readers would place any more confidence in it than they would in his other equally ill-informed statements.

“As an individual, I treat his diatribe with contempt,” said Mr. Semple. “If that is a fair example of the reporting of a member of the United States Information Service, then one may be excused from expressing a hope that the United States Information Service requires better instructed and more intelligent observations from other spheres than it would receive from Mr. Greenbie in this case. “As Minister of Housing, I take note of his unfavourable comparison of our housing with the housing in America,” continued Mr. Semple. “I can only assume that Mr. Greenbie has not travelled very extensively in his own country. He portrays the average American family as living in well-designed, comfortable and convenient homes, in quiet and healthy environments green lawns, treeshaded paths, the occupants unflurried and undisturbed by the continuing menace of a soul-destroying Government such as we have in New Zealand. But let us look at another picture arising out of the general survey of housing in the United States made under the auspices of the Housing Committee of the 20th Century Fund in 1944. The factual findings of this research committee include the statement: ‘The housing stock, as a whole, is in an extremely deteriorated condition. In urban areas more than 23 per cent, of all the dwellings had no private bath in 1940. and more than 10 per cent, were in need of major repairs. In rural communities these percentages were considerably higher, and on farms higher still. Of the houses either needing major repairs or without a private bath. 6 2 million were in urban areas, constituting almost 29 per cent, of the urban supply. Disregarding the lack of private baths in rural areas, 4.3 million houses, representing more than 27 per cent, of the rural supply, were in need of major repairs. These deteriorated, under-equipped, out-of-jdate houses represent a demand for replacement and repairs that might •become effective if the price structure and efficiency of the house-building industry w’ere geared to realities.*”

Mr. Semple said that leading American visitors, without an axe to grind, had heen generous in praise of New Zealand conditions, and particularly of Government houses, which had been truly described as the “be'' 4 working men’s homes in the world •’ At. least New Zealand families had a place in which to bath and wash their necks, which was more than could be said for 16 000,060 American families, living in American homes without private baths. “I do not intend to convey the imnression that housing conditions in New Zealand cannot be improved,” said the Minister. “No one recognised the need for improvement better than I—as witness the Housir. Improvement and Slum Clearance which has been made law by this Government. Wo are a young country by comparison with America. We are following an energetic tree and shrub planting campaign, and the tree-shaded paths and lawns will come in time. Mv advice to this selfappointed critic, who has chosen to speak in insulting terms of some of the aspects of New Zealand life, is that, he should devote his energies and time tn clearing the slums in his own country.”