A piece of modern social history from New Zealand's National Film Unit, shows what life was like in NZ during the 1950's and 60's. It's fairly accurate, and a lot of what is covered still holds true today.
However, what stands out for me is just how far NZ has fallen. It is now seemingly incapable of doing anything at all. In this film you can see ships loading at ports, and at the time NZ had the largest fleet of merchant ships in the Southern Hemisphere. You can see it had a military, but what is not mentioned is that NZ maintained a permanent presence in Singapore, defending the region from communist insurgency. Singapore and Malaysia are partly the creation of NZ, not only did they defend them, but NZ brought their brightest to NZ and educated them in its universities. They learnt well and went home to put those lessons into effect.
However, NZ lost its way. What went wrong? It became complacent and allowed weak people to take charge. From 1984 onward, NZ has been in gradual decline. There are signs of improvement, more so in the South Island, but overall things have gone backward. If you doubt this, consider some of the statements made in the commentary; unions were compulsory and workers experienced high rates of pay and low cost of living. Now, households on two incomes can barely manage. Homelessness was virtually unknown because anyone who lacked accommodation was given it, and often a complete house at that. They'd pay rent, but that was in proportion to how much they earned.
What happened to the National Film Unit? It was sold to Television New Zealand for a derisory sum. That tells the story of NZ right there.
Yes, I'm a stuck record on the subject, but the only way I see any semblance of NZ surviving is if the South Island goes it alone. The North Island in its madness will sink the whole ship otherwise.
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