 The Columbia Broadcasting System presents Norman Corwin's One World Flight. You are listening to an authentic Maori chant sung by a chorus of Maori schoolgirls in the town hall of Auckland, New Zealand. This is one of many sounds and voices recorded inside New Zealand. Be heard tonight on this 12th of a series of 13 broadcasts based upon Norman Corwin's recent global tour as first winner of the One World Flight Award established in memory of Wendell Wilkie. The dominion of New Zealand was the last country visited in the course of the One World Flight and in many ways it was the most remarkable. Just how remarkable and in what ways you may judge for yourself. As for me, I must confess that when I boarded a flying boat in Sydney bound for New Zealand, I knew only that I shared the average American's lack of information about that country. I had always thought Australia and New Zealand were close together actually as far apart as Providence, Rhode Island and Havana, Cuba and the distance on this particular day was filled with clouds that obscured the face of the sea. An overcast makes monotonous scenery in any part of the world so I thought to improve the hours by whittling away at my ignorance on the subject of our next stop. I looked at a map and realized New Zealand was no mere speck out in the Pacific but a crescent of two islands whose length north to south is equal to the distance between Seattle and Los Angeles. Also, I'd had an idea that New Zealand was at least as old a country as we but a fellow passenger set me right. The United States was already fighting a territorial war against Mexico before the first white settlers really took hold in New Zealand but these were the least of my misconceptions. Others were to be corrected in the country itself the rocky coast of which now appeared through the windows. We flew in over rich green hilly farmland and in minutes were circling the city of Auckland. From the air we could take in the full magnificence of its setting on a narrow isthmus between two great harbors and our clipper with barely a ruffle set us down in choppy green water across the harbour from a dead volcano known by the native Maori name of Rangitoto. Our first day in Auckland was a Saturday and all the stores were closed. They stay open late on Fridays and then everybody takes a long weekend. The city with a population of quarter of a million looked to me like a cross between Seattle and Portsmouth, New Hampshire except that small extinct volcanoes dot the landscape. It has a main thoroughfare Queen Street with noisy trams on it. Its business district has an Anglo-American quality. Its waterfront apart from the shipping docks resembles the happy yachting grounds on Long Island Sound. The very appearance of the city and its people gave an impression whose accuracy was later borne out in many ways an impression of a modest prosperity in no case extreme but certainly widespread and designed for the greatest security of the greatest number. In few countries of the world today can you stop a person at random on the street and get from him an admission that he has no worries about economics. Yet the first three people we stopped said that very thing. This young newspaper man for example. Have you any worries? No, no worries at all. Family? No. Economic? No. You're a happy citizen. That's quite right here. The second was a girl who worked as a draftsman in a civil engineering office and who was so shy and soft spoken that you can't make her out on the recording. But she did say that she had no worries, was perfectly solvent, owed nobody any money and enjoyed plenty of leisure time. The third person was a retired grocer. Also soft spoken but not acutely so and he had no complaints except that conditions were fine but could be improved and that the way to improve them would be to defeat the labor government in the November elections. And from the standpoint of the businessman are things as good for businesses they could be here in New Zealand? Yes, I think they are considering the conditions under which they exist today. Well you're not worried about the labor government's economic policies, are you? No, whatever. I think that'll end very shortly. You think that the labor government will be turned out in November? I do so. Well when they are turned out do you think there's going to be a radical change in the... No, I think that things will be just carry on as they are and a little more improvement on some of the things that can be done? You think that the parties are Tweedledome and Tweedledee? I do indeed. The gentleman was wrong about the elections in November which did return the labor government by a small margin. The campaigning which was then in progress was quiet and dignified compared to our own and although the issues were not crucial the turnout at the polls was 90%. Partly due perhaps to the fact that registration is compulsory in New Zealand. The women who voted in this election were exercising a right they had had for more than half a century for New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant equal suffrage. It is also the first in many other directions. First to give old age pensions to her citizens. First to introduce industrial arbitration, unemployment insurance, social security, benefits for widows, orphans and the sick. We learned also that it had a model housing program and a health plan whereby all citizens regardless of means were entitled to free hospital service, free medical attention and even free medicines. The retired grocer who didn't like the labor government was also reserved about the health system on the grounds that although it was very good indeed perhaps private enterprise could run it as well. When I asked him whether he thought the same of the housing program he said I think if the other man returns I think he can do just a good job. He'd have individuality with it. I say you believe strongly in individuality. Yes I do. This man was in a hurry to end the interview because he was on his way to a weekend of fishing. The long weekend is a good idea New Zealand for its highly attractive outdoors country and the worst that can happen to you was getting caught in a rainstorm. It never snows except in the higher mountains. You don't have to worry about snake bites when picnicking either because there are no snakes on the islands. As for motoring there are good roads everywhere. A fact reflected in the proportion of automobiles per capita next to the United States the highest of any country in the world. One day we flew down to Wellington the capital 400 miles further south. The city is situated in an almost perfect amphitheater of thousand foot hills with a deeply indented and very blue harbor. Though Wellington architecturally is unimpressive the setting is so beautiful that it more than makes up for the shortcomings of its man-made scenery. One of the first places we visited there was an average public school named Rongatai a Maori word meaning sound of the sea. It was a secondary school for boys in what was described to me as a lower middle class section of the city. The boys here were healthy, bright and well informed as you can gather from some of these recordings. We picked at random 14-year-old Norman Major and I asked him questions while his schoolmates crowded about. He said he read the newspapers every day and was interested in world affairs. To test this I asked What happened at Nuremberg last week? Trials, the final of the Nuremberg Trials. What was the decision in those trials? Several of the leading Germans were hanged. Three were quitted. The others got buried in terms of imprisonment. Did you agree with the sentence? Well, I don't know. The leading Germans were very clever to be able to twist out of it but I'm not sure about it. I wouldn't pass anything. As in most countries of the world the United States is known in New Zealand mostly by its movies. This is especially true of the youth and the boys of Rongatai are a case in point. In the following recording you'll hear the phrase haven't got one several times. Some of the voices sound alike but they're actually different boys speaking. Who is your favorite actress? I wouldn't have a name. Now that's got a big laugh here and I wonder why. We're going to go around and ask some of your schoolmates there who their favorites are. Veronica Lin. Oh, and Veronica Lake. Veronica Lake. Green gas. Oh no. I don't know. I don't know. Betty Gravel. Betty Gravel. Haven't got one. Who? Haven't got one. You haven't got one? Haven't got one. Haven't got one. Joan Leesley. Haven't got one. Oh, I don't know. It's not... She's a temple. Right, Rita Hayward. She only tells us getting a little old for you now. We had interrupted a rugby game when Lee Bland and I arrived with our recording equipment and it was obvious from the hail condition of these boys and the fervor with which they played sports are as much inbred in the New Zealander as in the Australian or American. I asked the boys what they used as a school cheer and the rugby team went into a huddle to perform a haka, spelled H-A-K-A, a Maori war cry. I can't put the attack... I can't put the attack... Teams and whose hakas, the white New Zealander honors by wired usage, has a position of respect and equality enjoyed by few colored minorities anywhere in the English-speaking world. We wouldn't always have it and for the better part of a century there was bitter fighting between them and the settlers. The Maori is a blood brother to the Hawaiian and his art, culture and music are strikingly similar. This song by the same chorus of school girls you heard at the opening of the program is an example of the relationship of Maori to other Polynesian music. For the Maori is carried well beyond lip service in New Zealand life. There is no discrimination against him. My authority for this was the Maori himself, men such as Fred Ruhi, a veteran of the war who had fought with distinction in the North African campaign. I interviewed him in his hometown of Rotorua, a thermal area famous for its geysers, hot springs and mud pools. Ruhi, a carpenter, said that the government had offered each veteran the opportunity to learn a trade and I asked what the rehabilitation program had done especially for him. It's given me a trade that I wanted to learn before the war. Now they gave you free tuition then in commentary? Yes, they gave us free tuition and they paid us on top of that. What about housing? Do they help you get located? No, yes, they grant us loans. The Maori in New Zealand is a minority, isn't it? Ah, yes. And as a Maori you find that being a minority places you at a disadvantage? Well, actually, no. You have full rights socially and in every other way with the New Zealand? Ah, yes. There is no discrimination against Maori in the schools, is there? No, no. You have mixed classes? Ah, yes, we have mixed classes. And there is no discrimination against you in matters of hotel accommodations or travelling or anything of that order? No, no. Mr. Ruhi belongs to a race famous for its courage and chivalry. One of the greatest stories in the history of any warfare concerns a Maori tribe which surrounded a British regiment in a battle of the last century. The Maori chief learned that his enemy was running short of food and ammunition so he sent a message that his men preferred not to fight on inferior terms. He then sent the British food and ammunition and both sides took up the fight where they had left off. But this kind of chivalry was not rewarding and life became very difficult for Mr. Ruhi's fathers. At one time, 50 years ago, the race was dying. Wars, the diseases of the white man and broken spirits had reduced the people from a quarter of a million to a mere 40,000. But when New Zealand's governments became increasingly progressive the status of the Maori as well as of the white man improved. Today, with equal rights including no discrimination against mixed marriage, he numbers almost 100,000. He holds property. He is represented in the government. Back in Wellington, we looked up the Maori member of the cabinet, big white-haired handsome E.T. Terracotney, minister of native affairs. I asked him whether Maori's had full educational rights. Very much. The right to receive the same standard of education in our schools such as attending university with a view of the opportunities that have been afforded him. From the standpoint of absolute racial harmony it would be overstating the case to say that New Zealand was perfect in this respect. There was a certain amount of patronising that I was aware of as typified by this fragment from a street interview in Wellington. We have a high type of man in the Maori. He is perhaps the most wonderful gentleman left to himself that I've ever seen. The phrase left to himself was only a slight modification of this man's genuine esteem for the Maori yet it perhaps was representative of a section of New Zealand society. I asked another man, a foreign observer like myself, who had been in the country for some time Is there any racial prejudice here in New Zealand? Only with the small strata of certain people I should say who call themselves society and snobs. There are other countries in the world where racial discrimination is not practiced. In some of them there are laws to this effect. The remarkable thing about New Zealand that seemed to me was that she required no laws to practice such equality and that she alone among the vast colonial and territorial possessions of English-speaking peoples could claim this distinction. But there were other distinctions just as dramatic and far-reaching. For one thing, New Zealand is the healthiest country in the world. It has the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy. The latter takes tangible form even for the casual visitor. For example, we were met at the plane in Wellington with an active member of the Prime Minister's staff, Owen Gillespie, aged 70 plus. He ran us ragged showing us the town and the splendid state housing projects in the nearby suburb of Hutt and his program included having tea with an uncle of his who had just passed his 91st birthday. The uncle spoke of taking a trip to New York some one of these days. The mild climate of the islands has a good deal to do with the health of New Zealanders but certainly the elaborate program of the government is a small contribution. If a man is ill, he goes to his doctor, to any doctor of his choosing, and pays a standard fee of ten and a half shillings or about a dollar and a half. He can pay more if he wants, of course, no law against that. He signs a form, the doctor sends it to the government and the patient gets a refund of seven and a half shillings so that the visit costs him only three shillings or about 45 cents. If the physician prescribes medicine, he gets this prescription to any pharmacy and gets it filled free of charge, the drug is being reimbursed by the government. Any person is entitled to free hospitalization at any time. Mothers are paid a subsidy for each child under a certain age, not as an inducement to have children, New Zealand is a small country, but just so the family will be better off. I asked a housewife named Mrs. Jeffery's mother of five children how the government had looked after her. Well, the maternity benefits we get, you see, are so marvelous. Well, when my first children were born, we paid five or six guineas per week in an obstetric hospital and we paid the doctor five guineas a week for his attention. The New Zealand guinea came to about three and a half American dollars so that she was speaking of expenses totaling about 40 dollars a week. And when my last children were born, well, the social security benefits you see covered all that expense and that took away all the anxiety that parents might have in looking forward to what should be the happiest event in one's life. Now, this care and the benefits from the government begin prenatally and go right through the arrival of the child. Yes, they do. You go to your doctor, immediately you know that a babe is to arrive and you visit your doctor regularly every month until the last of the period and then you visit him weekly. My doctor visited me every day while I was in hospital and all that didn't cost me anything at all. That was all covered by social security. The health regime of the government had the support of a wide majority of the people but among physicians it was a subject for debate. Some doctors, mainly those hostile to the principle of socialized medicine were strongly opposed to it. Others just astoutly defended it. We recorded both sides and in the following sequence the views of two doctors, one in Wellington and the other in Auckland, are alternated. The interviews were recorded separately and not as a debate. First, Dr H.B. Ewan of Wellington who objected to the amount of red tape involved in the various methods of submitting data to the government. You know the case there is the performed affiliate which takes up a lot of time, both the doctor's time and the patient's time and when one's busy as one has been, especially during the war years, it became a very, very urgent to have to put up with all this business, you see. On the other hand, Dr Jack of Auckland felt that the filling in of forms was not particularly irksome. And I find it a very simple matter to obtain your signature on a form and once every two weeks to submit those to the health department. It's very little red tape. There's much less red tape than there was previously on trying to recover fees. In that connection, what of the economy of the doctor has that improved because of the health plan? Is he now better off? He's undoubtedly better off under the present circumstances. Dr Ewan felt that the government was attempting to regiment doctors. And of course the whole thing really boils down to this, that the government wanted to dictate to the doctors and bring them under their thumb. But Dr Jack felt that there was no suggestion of compulsion in the matter. The other thing is this, that no man under our present scheme of immuneration there's no compulsion on the doctor. I'm not working for the state. I can see whom I like and I can refuse to see whom I like. The patient can go to me or he can go to Dr Brown down the street. Whatever the merits of its health program, New Zealand last October was busy with problems of housing and rehabilitation, problems of too much soil erosion and too little water power. And it was taking steps to cope with these. But it also had its eye on bigger problems. The problems of a world which twice in 50 years got itself into a mess, ultimately costing the lives of New Zealanders. Incidentally their casualties in the last war were proportionately four times greater than our own. The world and its affairs were not new to these people. Twelve years ago the government of New Zealand was alone among the English-speaking nations and taking a positive stand for collective security and in calling for aid to the victims of fascist aggression. In 1935, six years before Pearl Harbor, New Zealand banned the export of scrap iron to Japan. At Geneva, its spokesmen urged the League of Nations to unite against the Axis in Ethiopia, Spain and China before it was too late. Today they are just as internationally minded as ever and on the strength of their knowledge and experience they were inclined to share the Australian view that war scares and talk of inevitable conflict were unjustified and inflammatory. In a veteran's training centre in Wellington, for example, Ken Gimpty, who fought in the Middle East, said he had no ambition to reform any country by force of arms and that no country worried him. On Mercer Street, an ex-sailor named John Sharpe said... Well, I think that there's not much to worry about the present time. I think that we're the same old propaganda being spread around the Bolshevik Bogey I think it's still propaganda I don't think we have anything to be worried from from the Russians at all or any other nation in the world. I think we can get along peacefully. Young Sharpe's optimism was shared by the Prime Minister of New Zealand Peter Fraser, whom we interviewed one night at his office in the Parliament building. He was working late, it was past midnight and he told us that the entire Parliament and Cabinet very often put in such hours. Fraser, a Scotsman, has an appealing homeliness about him a big nose and small friendly eyes. His speech bears little trace of Scottish accent except in such words as doing in the first sentence of the recording. I think that those who talk about the inevitability of war I did a great deal of harm but I believe it would be possible to have a peace pact for 50 or 100 years with all the countries of the world if the proper spirit was shown. I don't think that any responsible person in the world wants war. There are different opinions in New Zealand as in other countries but those of us who belong to the progressive what we call the progressive side in politics and in outlook on international affairs certainly look at matters as I see it more clearly and with more single-mindedness. The Prime Minister said that in spite of its distance from world centres, New Zealand takes an interest in all matters which affect its future welfare and the lives of its people and he added hence the support for the United Nations to decide to make the United Nations organization a success equipped to deal with world affairs as distinct from the League of Nations which had not that power but which would have succeeded if the component members the nations who formed its membership would have carried out their ideals and adhere to their principles. That sound was the ringing of a bell outside the Prime Minister's office indicating that the House was ready to put an issue to vote. Mr Fraser responded with the alertness of a fireman answering an alarm. We left the Parliament House at 1 in the morning and the government was still at work symbolically perhaps in view of the fact that all New Zealand seemed to be gainfully employed the week we were there official figures showed that out of a population of 1,600,000 only 138 people were without jobs. Minister of Internal Affairs Parry explained to me almost apologetically that some of the 138 were in regions remote from employment opportunities and others were physically handicapped. He told me a lot more things I never knew about his country that all cabinet ministers for example are elected by the people, not appointed politically and then, though I was about to leave the country he handed me a government book entitled Introduction to New Zealand Its foreword seemed to me to sum up the character of the Dominion. New Zealand is a democracy, it said, with all the question marks of democracy. It is independent. It has party conflicts. It assails itself. It admires itself. It tries to learn through experience. It is the usual bundle of contradictions that make up a democratic society. It has a certain unity. We don't want to seem conceited but we don't want to be too absurdly humble either. We think our country is beautiful and interesting. Well, I thought so too. And I thought moreover that the experiment of this beautiful and interesting little democracy is one which the world might well watch and study. For New Zealand is boldly attempting to reconcile the best features of private enterprise and socialism and to eliminate the worst of each. From the standpoint of a traveler looking for signs of harmony between these two great poles of world economy this was a country important out of all proportion to its size. I had not seen many places where people were free, busy, healthy, unworried and at one with their minorities. I had not seen many places where children were strong, well-fed, well-clothed, well-housed, well-educated and happy. And in the laughter of the schoolboys of Rongetai in the exuberant good spirits of young New Zealand there seemed to me a sound of hope and a promise for the inheritors of tomorrow. I have been listening to the CBS playwright producer Norman Corwin, first winner of the One World Flight Award in the 12th of the series of 13 broadcasts based on his recent 37,000 mile global tour. Next week at this time Norman Corwin will conclude the series with a summary of his observations in the 17 countries visited. Tonight's music, composed and conducted by Alexander Semler, Guy Delchapa, Associate Director. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.