OF NEW ZEALAND INTEREST

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 56, 3 September 1926, Page 2

OF NEW ZEALAND INTEREST

MIGRATION TOPICS ' YORKSHIRE DIALECT AS ASSET. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 15th July. Mr. E. W. Waite, a former curator of Leeds Museum, has been on a visit to this city, where he has been entertained after an absence of 33 years in New Zealand and Australia. He is referred to by the "Yorkshire Observer" as "one of the greatest living authorities on the science of ichthyology, the study of the habitats and life history of fishes. The other acknowledged authority on the subject is also a Leeds man, Professor Edward E. Prince, now of Toronto University. In the course of his luncheon address, Mr. Waite, after referring to his associations with the city and many of those present, said Yorkshire had contributed largely to the industrial population of Australia, and Yorkshire societies had been established in several of the cities, and on one occasion it was announced that, a Batley man, a frequent contributor to the programme, would, for a change, supply ah item in "ordinary English." "He gave it," commented Mr. Waite, "but I could detect little difference from his usual renderings—he was a hall-marked ' Yorkshireman." "To possess a Yorkshire dialect _is a great asset in the British Dominions," Mr. Waito concluded. "One of the main objects of the society is to extend a helping hand to newcomers from the Old Country, and to make them feel at home in their new surroundings." "HAPPY NEW ZEALAND." Throughout all the Dominions of late there has been a quickening of the dead bones as regards immigration. The importance of a population has been forced upon overseas statesmen in various aspects which need not be discussed; and thus has paved the way for freer and broader policies in all the Dominions, and almost all the provinces or States. This (according to the "J-orksliire Observer") is one of the general impressions which C.mmissioner Lamb, of the Salvation Army, has brought Home with him from his tour/ Reference is made to the Salvation Army hotels in New Zealand, which are the best of their kind in the Dominion, and he was glad to see the public school boys being entertained there before going on to their ultimate destinations. Of "Happy New Zealand," the .writer says, Commissioner Lamb has a big liking for -New Zealand, which he reports to be making steady progress. "My only wish is that they would move more quickly in the matter of immigration," he says, "but perhaps they are taking a wiser course in making haste slowly. There are abundant opportunities, and a system of nomination of settlers by which the nominator assumes some responsibility for the nominee makes for quick and happy assimilation. Farming, mining, and the closely-allied industries are the central interests. Iv New Zealand there seems to be a more equal distribution of the wealth of the community than in any other part of the Empire we visited, and the people -'are contented and happy." The traveller was greatly gratified at the results that came under the observation of General Booth's Empire settlement scheme for boys, by which thousands of boys have already been happily settled in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. DOMINION MARKETS FOR BRITISH CARS. The Earl of Cardigan contributes an article to the motor column of the "Sunday Express." He still deplores the fact that. British motor-cars make so little headway in the overseas motor trade. He says that in 1925 only a little over 10 per cent, of New Zealand motor imports was British made, and the proportion shows a considerable decrease in the first quarter of 1926. Among the twenty most popular cars on the Dominion market, British makes stand only sixth, twelfth, nineteenth, and twentieth. Only one of these had three-figure sales for the first quarter of this year. Statistics are an abomination to the average man, but one does not have to be a mathematician to see what these figures portend. There js also no reason to suppose that the position is more cheerful in Australia, South Africa, or elsewhere. All this is not due, apparently, to any prejudice,against the British car, nor to any lack of service organisation.' It is due mainly to the fact that the manufacturer does not supply the right car at a really popular price. Lord Cardigan quotes from a letter received by him from New Zealaud, whose writer remarked: — "We New Zealanders are loyal to the core, but we feel, and feel strongly, that the English manufacturer is not trying to meet us in the matter of loyalty. Our loyalty should not be made too costly for us. Conservatism is all very well in theory, but the American manufacturer is

"■———-_-_-■----■------_-—»_<_—« growing prosperous on your British conservatism." A QUERY. The British Empire Supplement of "The Outlook" has the following:— "Sir James Parr, the popular successor of Sir James Allen in the New Zealand High Commissionership, will have ■to be more on his guard -in expressing his opinions if he is to be popular with other Dominion and State representatives. A good deal of uncertainty exists as to where we have arrived in the matter of migration. Things have not moved as was hoped. But whatever else has failed to realise expectations, success is generally credited to the community settlement schemes. Sir James" Parr, however, is reported to have said that the West Australian community settlement policy had 'gone down with a dump.' "If true, that is in flat contradiction of the stories that reach one from Western Australia, and the statement was bound to be disturbing, if nothing more. Mr Colebateh, the Agent-General for the State, has told Sir James Parr quite bluntly that he spoke with insufficient knowledge. . . . What did Sir James Parr mean?" "INACCURATE INFORMATION." Mr. Horace Wyatt (managing director of the British Commercial News Association) writes to the "Manchester Guardian Commercial," relative to British cars overseas, dealing specially with New Zealand, where great importance-is attached to adequate ground clearance. In' this respect the great majority of British manufacturers interested in export offer models just as suitable as do the Americans. Mr. Wyatt suggests that a matter of equal importance is that of wheel track. Many of the unmade roads in the Dominions and colonies have been' formed by the passage of animal-drawn- vehicles having the standard wheel track of 4ft B_sin, which is, therefore, the distance between the centres of the two ruts which form the tracks on which cars run most conveniently. The general adoption of this standard wheel track is very noticeable to anyone who studies the specifications of new British models. Incidentally, a London daily paper recently published a very misleading statement to the effect that British cars were unsuitable for use in New Zealand because their yWheel track was round about 4ft B_>in, whereas 4ft 6in would be more desirable. It was wrongly suggested that this latter was the standard track of American vehicles. . "The fact that such inaccurate information is still being handed out to prospective writers in the British Press seems to show that we have not yet seen the last of deliberate anti-British propaganda in the Empire overseas. -The continuance of such propaganda, in my opinion, is due principally to the fact that many retailers in the motor trade are biased in favour of certain foreign productions by reason of the large commissions offered to them in respect of sales, and the subsequent remunerative business done in spare parts and repairs required for machines which are not, like the British, built to last." ANOTHER MILESTONE PASSED. "Syren and Shipping" congratulates all concerned upon the happy issue of the somewhat protracted negotiations regarding the agreement between England and Holland for the mutual exemption of shipping profits from income tax, and hopes that the "example set will be followed by other countries, and especially by' the Dominions. The practice adopted in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa of taxing shipping visiting their ports has long been condemned by shipowners, who have just cause of complaint of a system which takes i. for granted that a certain percentage of the gross earnings outwards is profit and therefore liable to income tax, whereas in many— we might say the majority of —cases losses have in fact been sustained. Nothing less in accord with the principles of equity could be conceived. Australia is a particularly bad offender in respect of the treatment it accords to shipping, which is mulcted to an almost incredible extent by the tax-gatherers, both Federal and State. Double taxation is altogether a misnomer in her case, for it may well turn out in certain circumstances to be treble or quadruple taxation. All that shipowners ask is that they shall be called upon to pay on profits earned on the high seas to the authorities of their own country—surely not an unreasonable request. But steady progress is being made towards the goal of universal reciprocity as between maritime States, and the arrangement between Great Britain and the Netherlands is another milestone passed." TRANSPORT ANOMALIES. From "John Bull":—"Sir Alfred Yarrow points out that meat can be bought from New Zealand at under a penny a pound—just about what it costs the local butcher to deliver it. Grain comes from Buenos Ayres at 12s a ton, yet the rail charge from London to Northampton is 14s. Aud we are supposed to be a business people!"