As Others See Us

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 37, 13 February 1937, Page 18 (Supplement)

As Others See Us

CANADIAN VISITORS VIEWS 1 ‘As partners in the British Commonwealth of Nations, New Zealand and Canada may be ‘sisters under the skin,’ but certainly in many respects they are far from being twins, and indeed on the surface they are very different. This difference is subtly shown in the maner in which you refer to Great Britain; here you speak of England and Scotland as ‘Home, ” whereas the average Canadian invariably speaks of the ‘Old Country/,” said Miss Kathleen Jones to a Southern News reporter. Miss Jones is a young Englishwoman who has spent several years in Canada, where she was engaged in journalistic work. She has completed a tour of the Dominion, and left by the Marama on Monday for Australia,

“And this attitude towards the old land is shown in many ways,” the visitor continued. “Your parks and gardens are laid out in typical English fashion even to the statues which brood

over your beautifully kept public lawns. The names of your streets and rivers read like a page from British geography, while even the flower beds have that demure English look which Canadian gardens so* seldom achieve, and your devotion to your teacups is as truly English as is your apparent inability to master the art of making good coffee.

“To a Canadian attuned to the rush and bustle of Canadian ways, your unhurried, tranquil methods of getting through the day's work are quite uuique, and probably might have converged me had it not been for one or two contacts with nonchalant signs reading ‘Out for tea. Back in ten minutes,’ which ten minutes measured nearer thirty by my watch. “Yet it is not in these superficial details that the two countries are most dissimilar, it is most marked in your attitude towards international affairs and [particularly in relation to Pacific problems. In Canadian papers the international news is the first item of importance, and Herr Hitler’s latest gesture or the trend of British foreign policy ! is given far more promiueneo than the [town council’s decision to ban Sunday sports or raise the local rates. Com'parativclv remote from the centre of Pacific affairs, Canada yet considers herself vitally interested in developments in that area, and while the country has little trade with Southern Pacific countries and certainly cannot bo considered a near neighbour to any foreign empire outside of the United States, yet there is much interest in developments in the Far East and South 1 Pacific by both individual citizens and organised groups in Canada. On the other hand, any discussion of these problems in New Zealand seems most unwelcome, and save for the editorial columns of the newspapers, there appears to be much indifference in this country towards this very vital subject. With the emergence of a great military and naval power in Japan during the last few decades, and the recent agitation by dictators for re-distribution of the world’s natural resources, it is difficult to account for tho apparent lack of interest in this angle of international affairs. “But in the underlying principles of national life and in their respective destinies, New Zealand and Canada are closely allied. In Canada our proximity to tho United States has undoubtedly given an Anglo-American tinge to Canadian life, yet at the same time it has endowed Canadians with a close understanding of American ways and policies, and superbly equipped them to act as interpreters between the two great branches of the English-speaking world. In New Zealand, isolated from immediate neighbours', the British influence has enjoyed full sway, yet as partners with Australia your responsibilities as Southern Pacific representatives of the Empire are equally great, particularly in view of the unsettled state of world affairs. Increased travel between the two countries and improved for tho exchange of New Zealand and Canadian news would be of mutual value for in both respects they have much to offer one another,” Miss Jones concluded.