DOMINION STATUS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 November 1938, Page 8

DOMINION STATUS

ANNIVERSARY GATHERING IN MELBOURNE. It is 31 years since New Zealand attained Dominion status, and in honour of that anniversary the New Zealand Government representative in Victoria (Mr J. A. Malcolm) entertained a number of consular and commercial representatives. The toast of the Dominion was proposed by His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner in Melbourne (Mr H. F. Gurney), who pointed out that While New Zealand had become a Dominion in 1907 she was really celebrating her 98th birthday since her incorporation in the British Empire. Welcoming guests on behalf of his Government and on behalf of the New Zealand Trade and Tourist Commissioner for Australia (Mr W. Taylor), who was the host at a similar celebration in Sydney, Mr Malcolm said that he had frequently been asked why New Zealand did not belong to Australia. It was a matter of history that in about 1828 New Zealand belonged to New South Wales, but the Governor of New South Wales wrote a letter to the Colonial Treasurer complaining that .'t was terr'ble that New South Wales should be burdened by the. iniquitous cost of keeping up New Zealand, and as a result New Zealand was separated from New South Wales to save £6OO a year. The total export trade from New Zealand last year amounted to about £120,-: 000,000, so that the Government of New South Wales made a fairly bad bargain.”— Melbourne “Argus.”