In a hurry

Margaret Thatcher, Britain's Minister of Education, a woman seemingly always in a hurry, crammed in visits to several secondary schools between her arrival here at lunchtime yesterday and a farewell dinner at the Inter-Continental given by British High Commissioner Sir Arthur Galsworthy.

Then she flew direct to London this morning (via Sydney and Hong Kong) because she had to be there at the weekend to open up the house.

Her husband is due home from Canada and her 19-year-old twins (boy and girl) from South Africa and Europe.

A grocer's daughter (proud of her working class background) who married a rich Conservative, Margaret Thatcher, apart from the odd mistake, is regarded as a good politician. “I’m trying to give people of very modest means their freedom so they can go to the best schools,” she says.

In Auckland she wanted to see our English-language education methods for Polynesians. Britain has similar problems with Asian immigrants.