“LAZY PEOPLE”

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 104, 15 February 1950, Page 6

“LAZY PEOPLE”

AMERICAN’S VIEW OF NEW ZEALANDERS ", BRIEF STOP IN ASHBURTON HC r- ' fW+ij Tlie sight of a 1949 Buick sedan limping' on a flat tyre into a motor garage in Ashburton at 111 o’clock last night proved too much for patrons at a nearby coffee’ stall. Meals were forgotten and a mass exodus of customers occurred. The occupants of the car, two American tourists and their wives, who are at present on a six-weeks’ tour of New Zealand, had left the Hermitage yesterday for Christchurch, but had experienced three punctures and blowouts tip to the time of arriving in Ashburton. The third mishap was a blowout which occurred near. Temuka. “We were cruising along comfortably when it happened,” said one of the party, “and I thought the end of the world had come. As we were already using our spare wheel and had no patching rubber, we could; do nothing about it, and had to continue to Ashburton on a flat tyre. Although the tyre was completely ruined, the fact that annoyed them most was that they had to 'throttle down’ to a mere 25 miles per hour, and 40 miles in an hour and a half is an awfully long tihie,” he said. One of the party, Mr J. A. Michener. of Philadelphia, is a journalist employed by “Holiday,” a popular American monthly magazine, which has sent him to New Zealand for the express purpose of forming impressions of this country. On his return to the United States Mr Michener will write a lengthy feature article on New Zealand which will be published in “Holiday” later this year. The magazine has a wide circulation in the United. States, especially among the wealthier classes and. he expects that the publicity will make New Zealand look more attractive “as far as tourists are concerned.” “I was in New Zealand several year’s ago,” said Mr Michener, “and, in a nutshell, these are my impressions!—You have a. wonderful little country, both potentially and scenically, butWi a few short years, you have become a lazy people, and not many are really pulling their weight. Your 40-hour week is a big factor in this, and how on earth you can expect to trade with a country like America -fahich is producing on a 48-hour week basis, I don’t know. As a nation you have lost a lot of personal freedom, and have become, more or less, slaves to red tape and restrictions. Take this, for example,” he said, pressing a coin into the reluctant hand of a , garage attendant," — don’t forget to declare that in your income tax return!”