The Mail-Journal, Volume 10, Number 3, Milford, Kosciusko County, 14 February 1973 — Page 4

THE MAIL-JOURNAL —Wed., Feb. 14,1973

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SOUTH PACIFIC — Second In A Series New Zealand much like Ind., seasons reversed

By ARCH AND DELLA BAUMGARTNER WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Friday, Feb. 2 — Our party of 28, all members of the National Newspaper Association touring the South Pacific and the Orient, has just spent a comfortable night in the plush James Cook hotel in this capital city of New Zealand, following a busy two days since our arrival “down under.” ' Wellington is a bustling city located on the southern tip of the North Island with approximately 300,000 inhabitants. But first let me say something about our trip here. We reluctantly left the easy life in tropical Tahiti at 9:13 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30, and flew in a southwesterly direction in a Pan-Am clipper Tor “ "-fiVe hours and five minutes before landing in Auckland. During this trip we gained two hours and lost one day having crossed the International Date Line. Suddenly, we turned our watches back two hours (and now we were seven hours west of Indiana time), and the pilot announced it was Wednesday. Strange. The good humored pilot told us to all look out the window and see “the line on the water.” Os course there was no line, only a solid layer of foamy clouds beneath us. , Beautiful Auckland Everyone has heard of Auckland, but few of. our friends have seen it. We can assure you it is a beautiful city. One member of our party, Keith G. Harvey of the Bedford (Va.) Bulletin, took advantage of a brief respite to hail a cab to search out areas of the city he got • to know during a brief rest and recreation period when he visited Auckland during World War 11. He found little he could recognize, he told us later. Our group settled in at the fairly new Pan-Am Intercontinental Hotel, which we found heavily panneled in native New Zealand wood, and where our rooms were excellent and service incomparable. Then we went for a three-hour tour of the city during which our English-accented guide did a superb job of pointing out things of interest. She reminded us from time to time to “pick up our bits and pieces (bags, purses and the like) and pop out (to see points of interest)”. See First Kiwi Everyone has heard of the Kiwi bird, the national bird of New Zealand. It’s a small (five pound) fairly round bird with a long bill. It’s a nocturnal bird which only comes out at night. Sunlight will Mind it, and it is easy prey to dogs and other predators. While the Kiwi has become almost extinct, the New Zealand government has taken steps to protect the unusual'animal. In the end of its long beak are nostrels, the better to search for food. Well, we saw our first Kiwi bird in the city’s small but fine zoo. The two we saw were behind oneway glass and we were not allowed to photograph them. The Kiwi lays one, and sometimes two or three, eggs, of a pound and a quarter each, or one-fourth its own weight. It makes a crying sound “kiwi, kiwi” and thus got its name. Auckland is well toward the north of North Island. It should be said here, for geographic recognition, that New Zealand is two islands, North Island and South Island. In the North Island is Auckland to the north and the capital city of Wellington to the south. In the South Island are two major cities, Christchurch and Dunedin. We will not be visiting

SOUTH PACIFIC —Third In A Series McDonald hamburgers contain prime beef

By ARCH AND DELLA BAUMGARTNER WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Saturday, Feb. 3 — The next time you eat a McDonald hamburger or a TV dinner, you’ll probably be eating New Zealand beef, our group '’Of 28 traveling U.S. newsmen were told this morning by Carl Brower, economic affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy here. He said this byway of pointing out that the United States has become one of New Zealand’s best beef consuming customers. Mr. Brower met our group at the Embassy in the IBM building in downtown Wellington and apologized for having to sit in for the Ambassador who recently resigned and returned to his native Texas. With Mr. Brower in our 45 minute briefing on this

the South Island. Auckland is fairly hilly, reminding one very much of San Francisco, and the buildings are clean and attractive. Here again Della and I were taken by the neat, clean yards, and properties in general. We stopped atop Mount Eden where we could overlook the city and see the harbor area that surrounds Auckland. It’s a marine city in no small sense of the word, and has a population of approximately 700,000. We find the temperature in New Zealand much the same as in the midwest in the summertime. One must remember that the seasons are reversed. New Zealand lies half way between the Equator and the South Pole. In a real sense, New Zealand is a rural state, and the countryside is much like it is in Indiana, although there are mountain ranges through the interior of both North and South Islands, which rise in several places to peaks that are covered with snow. Cows, sheep and some horses dot the countryside and the presence of the farm industry is evident everywhere. Rainfall varies from 13 inches in the center of South Island to 250 inches in parts of the Southern Alps, but the average is 51 inches, good by any standard. The island country has less than three million inhabitants, and is about the size of California. It’s interesting that the further south one goes the colder it becomes. Visit Rotorua Our schedule yesterday (Thursday) included an early morning trip to Rotorua, a city to the south location nearly half way between Auckland and Wellington. We were up at 5 a.m. and assembled in the lobby of the Pan-Am International for coffee at 5:30 to take a bus to the airport for the 45 mile air trip to this unique city. Our guide who met us at the airport was a Maori with a great good sense of humor. The Maoris are dark complected, descendants of the Polynesian population from the islands around Tahiti, Bora Bora, and other islands in the Polynesian chain. No one knows for sure when they came to New Zealand, but they are very much a part of this country’s life. A Rotorua we were taken to a cultural art center where members of a number of Maori tribes come to learn the native arts of weaving and carving. After a three-year course, they return to their tribes to teach others. The weaving is of flax and the carvings are from native timbers and the California Redwood that has been introduced here. But perhaps the big point of interest in Rotorua is the thermal area where a geyser interrupts intermittently. The area - is considered the world’s most active thermal area, with its boiling mud pools. Our native guide told us people actually do some cooking, by placing vegetables and other eatables in the pools of boiling water. And of cdurse our. Maori guide had to take us to the Whakarewarwea model Maori fortified village to show us how her ancestors lived on the island years ago. The village was surrounded by a double high picket fence with ugly carved figures peering ominously above the fence to ward off intruders. They take great pride in these carvings which seem like an interminable task, but they chalk it all up to preserving their

country was Mike Hoolahan, U.S; information officer, a “native lowan” he pointed out to the delight of several in our group. The two men did a marvelous job of orienting our group on New Zealand, the nature of the country, its trade problems, and the country’s relations with our country. We found these two representatives of our country well versed and cooperative, particularly considering that we had just come from a press conference with Prime Minister Norman E. Kirk, who was mostly inaudible and did considerable rambling. U.S. Big Customer One should remember that New Zealand is a pastoral country where rainfall is abundant and where fields are

heritage. Included in our afternoon’s tour was a visit to the trout springs. Our guide at this point said the trout beds are state supported, and each year thousands of Rainbow trout are dropped into the center of the main lake in the area, Lake Rotorua. Taxes High Our tour guide, Walter Potto: of Culpeper, Va., of whom we spoke in our first such piece, and I were interviewed by a young reporter from Hie New Zealand Herald at our hotel on Wednesday night not long after our arrival in Auckland. The interview proved as productive to us as it did to the young chap interviewing us. He was just 25, a native of England who had been in New Zealand just a year. With him was a photographer who took our photo with our wives for the early morning edition of the 220,000circulation morning daily, (incidentally, we left Auckland early and never did see the interview or photo in the Herald.) But at any rate, the young reporter gave us some insight on wages and taxes. He said he was a starting journalist on the Herald and received $2 per hour for a 40-hour work week. A quick rule of thumb would be to add 25 per cent to this to make it a U.S. equivalent. He said any overtime would be taxed nearly 50 per cent. - Let me give this example of taxes as printed in a government handbook we were given: AMOUNT OF TAX Weekly Single. No Married With Married With Earnings Dependants No Children Two Children NZS NZS NZS NZS 30 3 90 2.67 1.47 40 6 28 4 98 3.78 60 12 43 10 65 9 04 On the other hand, this is a semi-socialist state where many services (medical, for example) are furnished free under their British-type socialized medicine. Well, at the risk of being boring, this tells a little something of the country. Our Maori guide returned us to the Rotorua airport at midafternoon (by now it seemed like bedtime, for we had had a long and busy day), and we boarded a National Airways Co. prop plane for Wellington, touching down at Palmerston briefly, en route. When we landed at Wellington we found an airstrip jutting out into the water, and an extremely high wind giving us some anxious moments as our small, twinengine plane slithered into the airport. We find our accommodations here at the famous James Cook hotel in Wellington much to our liking. Compared to what we found a year ago in our Israeli Kibbutz and the year previous to that in arid Mali in Africa and the Congo, this is a true paradise. We are located in central Wellington, and our schedule this morning calls for a visit with officials from the U.S. embassy and with Hon. Norman E. Kirk, Prime Minister of New Zealand. When we arrived at the James Cook last night all of our party were given rooms on the 11th floor, and our room, No. 1105, was just outside the elevator. For some reason, unique to the human creature, when such a group comes in from a long, arduous day, they form in groups to recount the day’s activities, and individuals become the more loquacious with a refreshing libation in hand. Such was the case last night, when a goodly group gathered in room 1105. And when we all went to the Whitby room on the second floor of the James Cook hotel for a late hour dinner, everyone in the convivial group was on a first name basis.

lush. The raising of beef, of the lean variety, and of its export is a chief industry here. Not to be overlooked, however, is the raising of sheep, for consumption and for wool. Butter and cheese are cheap and abundant. One thing we stumbled upon is their delicious, creamy ice cream. We have pever tasted any better, anywhere. Only recently Col. Saunders has introduced his famous Kentucky fried chicken into New Zealand, and this should create and-or stimulate the New Zealand poultry market. (Chore-Time overseas division, take note.) Until recently, Great Britain has been the biggest customer for New Zealand farm products, but with their joining the European Common Market, this is no

longer true. It was pointed out to us a number of times in interviews with officials hare that New Zealand is seeking a diversification in what it produces and markets overseas, with the United States becoming one of its biggest customers. The United States beef import from New Zealand amounts to only one per cent of our country’s consumption, it was pointed out to us. Other good New Zealand customers include Quli and Peru in South America, and of course Australia. This country is finding Australia one of its better markets. With 25 per cent of the New Zealand Gross National Product craning from exports, now as low as 35 per cent of this goes to what less and less New Zealanders refer to as “the mother country” — England. Preferential tariff agreements continue to favor Great Britain by 18 per cent, however. Our folks at the Embassy also pointed out that there are S2OO million in U.S. investmens in New Zealand, and they said it is a good country for U.S. investments from many points of view. War Played Down New Zealand is a member of SAETO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) and has been a participant in the Viet Nam Crisis, if only minimal. They had as high as 550 troops in Viet Nam (a tenth of its total manpower under arms), and lost 38 men in ' combat. They consider this significant. The newspapers, we found,

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play the Viet Nam conflict down. It’s difficult to find a news story on the war or the peace settlement in The New Zealand Herald at Auckland or in The Dominion or The Evening Post here at Wellington, all prestigious newspapers of large circulation. Mike Hoolahan pointed out to us that New Zealand has 38 daily and 30 weekly newspapers, all of considerable circulation and influence, but that they emphasize so-called “bad news” about America and little of constructive news. “It’s my job as information officer to counter this through information centers, exhibits, and the like,” he said. Time, Newsweek and Readers’ Digest are also circulated and widely read in New Zealand, he said. Eighty per cent ’of the homes have television sets, only black and white, with color to be introduced in October. The papers are full of stories right now about setting up three corporations for broadcasting, two for television and one for radio. Television is nothing like we know it in the United States. Broadcasting is limited to a few hours in the evening, no commercials, and most everything is American. News is local, and certain sports events like a cricket game we saw yesterday between a New Zealand and Pakistan team, but that’s about it. Meet Officials We had an hour-long meeting with three officials from the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Bryce Harland, head of the Asian Division; Ken Cunningham, head of the European and African Division; and Ted Farnon, head of die Economic Division. They, too, gave us excellent background information about their country’s relations with other countries of the world with whom they trade and have agreements. Mr. Harland spoke of the broad identity between New Zealand and the United States, stating they enjoyed a “rich association” with the United States. Hecalled the relationship “someffijeftlike sharing a bedroom- wffh an elephant.” Mr. Cunningham said New Zealand is not an Asian country, as many Americans seem to think, but that its trade and identity by language is with Great Britain and America. He expressed relief that the Viet Nam conflict is now over, and that all countries involved could get back to more urgent matters. Speaking on the country’s economy, Mr. Farnon reminded our group-that New Zealand is oriented toward agriculture, and that they find it hard to reorient to an industrial society. “We are introducing some industry, but it is slow in coming compared to your standards,” he said. Not Impressed With Kirk Our group had a mid-morning press conference with New Zealand’s new Prime Minister, Norman E. Kirk, as the first in our round of conferences with officials.

We wore ushered into the presence of the 51 —year—old „ Labour Prime Minister at 10:20, in his large paneled office. The room was conspicuous without chairs, and our group stood during the entire interview of about 45 minutes. The Prime Minister spoke for about 10 minutes, then attempted answers to questions fielded by members of our party. The rotund man of obvious good will spoke in a very low voice and was inaudible to most of us. I tried to make a tape recording of the press conference with my recorder, but most of it was not picked up. A New Zealander, like an Englishman, is hard to understand in the first place, (at least to a midwesterner) and for one to speak in a low voice, and ramble to an inconclusive point makes an interview almost useless. Kirk came up the hard way, obviously, having begun as an apprentice welder with the Railway Department, and joined the Labour Party at 20 years of age, and worked his way up through a series of minor posts until he became Prime Minister about a month ago. He told us he was relieved that the struggle in Viet Nam is now ended, but that the “real struggle,” that of rebuilding that war-tram country will now begin. He retraced his country’s participation in the Viet Nam conflict. He had high marks for the United Nations, stating he wanted the UN to return to a

HON. NORMAN E. KIRK New Zealand Prime Minister position of significance. He called the UN “our only real hope.” The Prime Minister said the UN has never failed in any undertaking, but that the participating nations have failed. “With all its (UN’s) faults, what else is there,” he said. He also said he sees a diminishing role fqjr SAETO in the South Pacific as the War cranes to an end, and added that there is no justification for killing dvilains as has been the case in Viet Nam. He also declined comments on the Christmas “carpet bombing” the U.S. did in North Viet Nam, Prime Minister Kirk said there is absolutely no \amwunerican sentiment in New Zealand, nor is (Continued On Page 9)