WHEN IS A NEW ZEALANDER A NEW ZEALANDER?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 375, 30 August 1946, Page 17

WHEN IS A NEW ZEALANDER A NEW ZEALANDER?

(Written for "The Listener" by

NIL

ADMIRARI

S I have read and. listened during the war years, I have come to the conclusion that the question, "What, in the eyes of New Zealanders, is a New Zealander?" is a singularly involved and puzzling one. The recital oyer the past months of the deeds of "famous New Zealanders" in the radio session of that name has done little to clarify the situation. ‘(And before we really begin, surely’ the use of the word "famous" was in many of those cases rather exaggerated?) Now for our question. It seems thet he (or, of course, it may be she) may fdil into one of many categories, viz: (a) He may be born, live, and bas in New Zealand. (b) ‘He may. be born here, depart Nor ‘ other lands at a very early age. (c) He may be born and educated here, leave to try his luck in other climes, and may or may not come’ back. (d) He may be born elsewhere and come to live in this country for the rest of his life. (e) He may be born elsewhere, live here for a time and depart for his native or yet another country, never to re-appear here. A Now, we can’t have it all ways! Yet each species has appeared as a "famous New Zealander." (4) cannot be gainsaid. Nobody can take him from us. If (b) and (c) are New Zealanders, what are (d) and (e)? If (d) and (e) are New Zealanders, what of (b) and tc)? If we stake the claim in each case, the other country involved, under our rules of procedure, ,can also lay claim to the poor man. As for (e) he may even be torn three ways and who knows but that an international incident may arise! | v * * om (CAN we get order Sica this chaos? Is there some common factor? Yes, I think there is. If we look deeply enough

we finally Tealise that after all, it is really very, very simple. But first we must realise that, providing the hypo-

thetical gentlenran remeins in obscurity as plain John Smith or Bill Jones, his fellow New Zealanders generally won’t care a jot if he is claimed.as a Zulu, American, Australian or even an Eskimo. But just let him hit the headlines (in a nice, geritlemanly way of course) and there, right there, is the common factor, the infallible test, the-oh well, you see what I méan? Then, whichéver category he falls within, he immediately becomes a "famous New Zealander." There is really nothing complex about it after all: just become a celebrity for a while. * 2k % OF course, the bluff is sometimes called but we always come up «smiling. When Air Chief-Marshal Sir Arthur Conifgham first hit the public eye he (category "e") was instantly labelled by press and radio here as a New Zealander. Unfortunately for our morale the BBC announced, too often to be ignored, that he was Brisbane-born. (Incidentally, I believe his father left a test match in Sydney in which he was playing for Australia against England -in. order to be home for the great eventy. for a time, to dur press and radio he became "Australian-born, New Zealand educated." But did we,let a little thing like that keep us down? No; to my amazement he turned up the other night | in the "Famous New Zealanders" series. The pianist, Frank Hutchens, was for "so many years a part of ag hy musical life that he is looked on as one of themselves over there. New Zealand in general hardly knew his name; but when he appeared here a few months ago in the limelight, we woke up. Similarly with Jack Davey, the comedian. But if we claim them, then we can’t really also claim Sir Arthur Coningham, Sir Bernard Freyberg, Mr. Savage, or even Mr. Semple. Or again, can we? Several days ago I was able. to add (f) to my list of classifications. Below a picture of the actress Ann Richards arriving back in Sydney we read "really a New Zealander, but generally known as an Australian." It seems that Ann’s mother was a New Zealander! And so we accumulate our "national celebrities" and our morale is kept up to, the required level. A reporter told us recently that Peter Dawson has ideas of coming to live in the North Island when he retires. Well, by the sound of him, there seems to be plenty of life |} in hith yet for all his 65 years, but I am sure that if he should. spend the last of his declining years among us he | will go down to posterity as "Peter Dawson, famous New Zealahider."