Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1949 MORE NEW ZEALANDERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 41, 14 January 1949, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1949

MORE NEW ZEALANDERS

Due at Wellington today the Atlantis, from London, brings 762 British immigrants for this country. They will be welcome, if they decide to settle down and become New Zealanders. But there are still many in this country who remember with resentment the “know-all” attitude of some of the assisted immigrants who came here to show us how to run our country after the 1914-18 war. They found nothing good here, and wondered bitterly why their welcome was not as warm as it might have been. Fortunately, those were only a small percentage, but because they lost no opportunity to impress us with our ignorance and' inferiority, -the memory rankles yet. Let us hope there will be better understanding on both sides this time. Let us hope that New Zealanders in the mass will realise that every nation has its malcontents, its “know-alls” and its whiners..We have them too. But let us realise that, in any British people, those are but a small minority. And let us welcome these new citizens of our country with open minds and open hearts, realising that they spring from the same stock from which we came and have allegiance to the same Crown and nation. However, it will be wrong to expect them to be exactly like ourselves, to see things quite the same way. They will bring much valuable knowledge to our trades and callings, having had a background of larger enterprises. We will have much to learn from them. They, on the other hand, if they are wise, will realise that, to fit into the pattern of aur lif Lhey, too, must learn. They will , find customs and attitudes of ' mind here they will not under- ■ stand at first. They will find a : certain intolerance that is common to most small communities. But they will also find an ir.de- ; pendence of spirit, a decisiveness and initiative with which they might not always have been familiar. Whatever the difficulties of ad- 3 justment to life here, however, ] these newcomers can be assur- < ed that almost every New Zea- 1 lander is convinced in his heart

cf hearts that there is no one with whom we would rather share this country of ours than our own kith and kin from the British Isles. For share it with someone we undoubtedly must. And though the newcomer might hear some harsh, unkind and unjust things said he can be comforted with the thought that no foreigner could say ihose tilings in a New presence without starting real trouble. We have our peculiarities. Our British cousins have theirs, but the bond between us is none the less strong for that. And, when the first strangeness wears off, our new citizens- should be able to do much to strengthen and perpetuate that tie.