up” on race - Sir Guy

New Zealanders "mixed up” on race - Sir Guy

An address which attracted widespread attention with its cri ticism of the racial attitudes of many New Zealanders was given by the country’s recently retired Chief Ombudsman, Sir Guy Powles, following the 1977 an nual general meeting of Volun teer Service Abroad.

Sir Guy, who was New Zea land’s High Commissioner in Western Samoa 1949-60, said New Zealanders had a mixed-up philosophy of race which allow ed many of them to adopt a set tler mentality. This gave a feeling of kinship with white settler minorities, and one heard

reference to “our Rhodesian cousins”.

He said New Zealanders had developed a blend of imperialism and paternalism towards the Pacific since the turn of the century, and this was still partly with us. But Sir Guy said New Zealand was not a welcome fairy godmother in any of the Islands she once ruled. He said Pacific people saw New Zealanders as obstinate, hard, insensifive and selfish people.

However, he said, there were “.Hashes of light given by such organisations as VSA ”. The better side of New Zealand had also been brought out by organisations like the Overseas Development Committee and the One per cent Aid Organisation.

These helped to bring to New Zealand a better understanding of Island consciousness and developed an interdependence with Island territories.

Referring to the overstayer issue of last year, Sir Guy said New Zealanders were led to believe, by a political party seek-

ing power, that it would be in their country’s national interests to send back to the Islands many thousands of people who had come here.

He said this policy, which was accepted by New Zealanders, and particularly the manner in which it was attempted to be put into effect, gave very great offence to the Island peoples.

Sir Guy said the friendship of the Island people in the past 25 years had not been won easily. and it was “bitter to see the laboriously created fruits of the lifework of some dedicated New Zealanders thrown away in a breath of anger and unthinking selfishness”.

He said great harm had been done by the over stayer issue and we should not be misled by as surances given with charac teristic magnaminity by the Is lands' political leaders. Sir Guy hoped that the future would show that New Zealand’s bark had been worse than its bite, but he asked: “ Why bite at all?”

Sir Guy Powles ... " a settler mentality"