AS OTHERS SEE US.

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18703, 1 August 1932, Page 9

AS OTHERS SEE US.

« “WORE ENGLISH THAN ENGLAND.” ; 1 PEN-PICTURE OP NEW ZEALAND. “Because of its remoteness from | ■ ‘civilisation’ I expected, in spite of j the Britishness of New Zealanders, to I see 'something quite exotic; also decidedly modern. Ever since my col- | lege days when we heard it had the i most advanced legislation in the world, I I had associated New Zealand with up-fo-'thc-minute ’things. So you , can 'imagine the surprise it was to find ourselves in a small edition of | England, Victorian England, too —j same homes, habits, activities and | architecture as 50 or 75 years ago. ’ And not merely outwardly or super- j llcially eilher. The oftenest quoted; phrase here is, ‘New Zealand is more j English Allan England.’’ | The above is an extract from an article contributed to the Santa Barbara “Daily News” by Air Ralph Benedict, an American who with his wife recently spent some time in New Zealand, during which lime Mrs Bene- ; diet gave a number of lectures. , “For instance," continues Air Benedict, “Sunday is the same day of rest, ( repression and church-going it was in j, •our 'grandfather’s time in America, j j Not a single ‘wordly’ thing is indulged [ in, nor a penny's worth of onylhing sold. As for shows, motion pic lures! •or anything charging admission, they arc absolutely against the law. But 1 <

to me there was something appealing and peaceful about it. it took me back to my cihldhood, which remark ’dates’ me, I suppose, but that can’t be helped. Form and Convention. "New Zealanders -have much less fire and ‘go’ than Americans, but pay more attention to form and convention. The Governor-General is always a Lord “Someone” who is sent j out from England. lie -lives in-h'-uge town homes, city homes and sumI m-er homes which are owned by the I Government, like our White House. Each -one is called ‘Government House.’ They are dark, signified mani sions, all gabled, bay-windowed and I turroted in 'the style that was fashionable in Queen Victoria’s day, set i/i I the midst of enormous grounds full ! of lovely -old trees, velvety lawns and - flower beds. A high stone wall, mossI grown and ivy-covered, always sur- | rounds it, and a guard stands at the j big iron entrance gates day and night when Iho Governor is there -to keep everybody our who doesn’t carry an invitation card. “Tho ‘vice-regal evenings' are echoes of fashionable England in the 'eighties. The debutantes are brought by their •old-fashioned-dressed mothers and their -side-burned fathers to ho presented to the Governor and his -wife, with all the formality of th-o Royal Court at Buckingham Palace. Business and Tea. “You will also have a literal taste of typical English conventionality if

l you drop into anybody’s office around 3 H o’clock In the nfornlng or 4 in c j the afternoon. You will be rushing, t in your typically American hurry, to keep the next appointment, but no matter how important It is, you will never make it, for the man you are calling on doesn’t consider anything i important at this hour except tea. "But the people mako up for the out-of-datness that first strikes your eye. They are. charming and admirable, universally educated, cduiTSous ' and kindly. ; “Alongside the old buildings, furnishings, garden arid traditional things you see in New Zealand, as everywhere else, the influence of American progressiveness. Some do not admit it, but everyone looks with great interest toward the U.S.A., and knows it to he the most glorious place on earth. They love England, hut they admire America, and watch what wo read, wear, write, invent, sent and think. Most of those who are not too antiquated to change take up American wares and ways as fast as they can."