The other day I came across the attached old National Film Unit film of life in New Zealand in 1959. Yes, it has a nostalgic music track and a smug promotional voice over; nevertheless, it does give a glimpse of the society my parents brought me to in the mid-1950s.
It was a very different country to that encountered by new arrivals today.
A land where:
· There were no food banks because everybody could afford healthy food.
· Wages were regulated and taxes organised so that we had a fair society.
· There was a free education system up to and including University
· There were no rich and poor public schools.
· There were more jobs than people to do them.
· There was an 8-hour working day with Saturday and Sunday off.
· A family could live on one income.
· The government controlled mortgages and developed new rent-to-own housing that could be paid off at 3% over 40 years.
· Medical care was free.
· Unionised workers benefited from their labours.