For a country with the population of Singapore Island, we have not
done badly.

cheers
Peter

Oh, by the way Bruce,

I simply cannot let the opportunity go by.

We were also the first country in the world to have real democracy in
that we were the first to have universal sufferage - men and women.

But then I suppose the term 'democracy' needs to be defined here.

Ours is mere electionaring and voting.

It does not include big business putting their man in and then
dictating foreign policy and thus reaping huge profits from their
initial investment from the war industries and oil.

You are right about NZer's migrating overseas. The 'brain drain' is
the reason why the New Zealand Government pushed for Australia to put
restrictions on NZ migration to Australia. Once we did not even need a
passport and could enjoy all the benefits of Australia such as instant
access to free Medicare, unemployment etc. Now we need a passport and
have to wait for the rest though the visa is still largely automatic.
One of the reasons why I took out Australian citizenship.

regards
Peter