"CAUSED AN AWFUL FUSS"

Chronicle (Levin), 25 September 1947, Page 6

"CAUSED AN AWFUL FUSS"

1 f ASTONISHING STORY OF REV. CLOUGH LONDON, Sept. 22. "The Clough family caused an awful i'uss" is the headline in the People to a feaufe article recounting "the , _ astonisfaing story oi the Keverend Rieh- • l ard Ci'ough, who spent over £1500 to emigrate 'by air with his family to New Zealand, ancL has now come back fcecause he didn't like it out* there." The article' says Mr. Clough decided that England was good euough for him, and that he did not find the earthly paradise he ejcpected out in the Pacific, Mr. Clough desci'ibed as "absurd'* the demand that he should pay £5*50 tax on a £1100 ear, and resented being allowed only £300 worth of his £700U vvorth of furniture to enter the country free of tax. 1 He told the People that he decided to go to Kew Zealand purely for the sake of his children. But all the land ax^peared to be taken up. The price of house property was terriiic, too. Houses rarely came on the market at all. Wages were high, but the cost of living was eveu highcr. "1 came back because of the cost of living and the lack of accommodation. " Other reasons included the "abominable" hotel serviee. The cities were dingy, the streets were dirty, the shojjs closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Drimring and gambling were rife. Fpod, ciothes and eggs were almost as difficult to get there as in England; and everything was much dearer, except tobacco. Kew Zealand, he added, was just 100 years behind the times. Mr, Clough claims that he was niisled about the conditions. "But I have come back a wiser man. I know that England will be a far better place to live in than Kew Zealand in a few years' time. " The article savs Mr. Clough has been welcoined back to Yarcombe, in Devon, wkere "he is much niore like a squire than a parson," and where it is commented "Parson never minced his words. If lie has anytliing to say he says it. We cannot understand wliy they didn't like him out in Kew Zealand." The article comments: "Well, perliaps it was because the little Dominion has had no experience before of a wealthy migrant with a car and.a valutible cargo of furniture, demanding cups of tea at awkward times of the day, Perhaps Kew Zealand tliinks its emigrants should come out ready to take their coats off and help to produce butter and, cheese for starving Britain. L'erhaps Kew Zealand tliinks that par-sons-cum-country squires are a bit out of date in 1947. "