THEY LOST THEIR ENGLISH ACCENT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 323, 31 August 1945, Page 15

THEY LOST THEIR ENGLISH ACCENT

E had been chatting to a group of British children at the ship’s side. They were some of the evacuees who had come to New Zealand from England five years ago and were returning, many of them with reluctance. Some were from Yorkshire and some from. Lancashire, but where were the accents they had brought with them, the inflections so quaint, at first, to New Zealand ears? They had vanished. ‘Among those in the first batch to leave were Eileen Cusheon, Joyce and Rosaleen Groom, all of Sidcup, Kent, and Ada Bradley and Owen Laycock, of Yorkshire. Eileen worked while in New Zealand as a telephone operator, Joyce as a teacher, Rosaleen was at school, Ada had a job on a farm, and Owen was on the staff of a kindergarten. "When I arrived in New Zealand," said Ada, "nobody seemed able to under-

stand me. When I explained, on one occasion, that I was late for an appointment because I had lost ma bark-poomp, there was a roar of laughter. I didn’t mind a bit; we are ‘Pommies’ and proud of it. But before I knew where I was I found myself talking like a New Zealander." We suggested the possibility of a return to the "bark-poomp" manner of speech through the party being all together again and with an English crew on the ship. "Oh yes, that may happen," they said. "If we go back to the Yorkshire or Lancashire accent our parents will be none the wiser, and if we return talking like New Zealanders there will be just as big a laugh as you had at us." Their deepest general impression of life in New Zealand was its freedom. People here, they thought, were keener on games than they were anywhere else. Swimming, basketball, tennis and hockey

were here for the asking, with plenty of encouragement and facilities. Family life, too, they thought, was freer and easier than in England. They appreciated the New Zealander’s outdoor life in the weekends and the general sense of independence. But home was home. While they . did not look forward to queueing up for goods and food again, it would be just lovely to see their parents and friends. Won't Forget Their Foster-Parents To their hosts and hostesses — their foster-parents in New Zealand — they were warmly grateful. Throughout their stay they had been in touch with home through free cables and occasional broadcasts. Three girls have become engaged to marry New Zealanders, while some others have "permission from their parents to stay here. Of the boys, there was John Pye, aged 18, who worked for a short period with the NBS, in the programme department and assisting "Aunt Molly," and later in’ the Public Service Commissioner’s Office. He attended Victoria University, where he took the Arts course, which he expects to continue in England before entering the Church. He summed up his impressions of his stay here in this way: "People in New Zealand seem to me to be more broadminded in some ways than they are in England. Probably because the Dominion goes in for more outdoor activity, the general outlook is more practical. And that, perhaps, is why in mathematics and science New Zealand is ahead of England; but England greatly outstrips the Dominion in English and the classics." Sixteen-year-old Ian Graham, of Edinburgh, still a schoolboy, has been’ studying marine engineering. "I'll be coming back here all right," he said. "I’m burning with beans to get on with the job and I might return in the engine-room of a ship."