The Great Popularity Of Mr. Eden

Chronicle (Levin), 5 February 1949, Page 6

The Great Popularity Of Mr. Eden

' AUCKLAND, Feb. 4. Judging By the liuinber of tolephoiie calls for him aud the amount of mail he has reecived in the two days he has been in Auckland, Mr. Anthony Eden is one of the most popular men who has been to the city for many years. Inquiries for him, written, telephoned and personai, reaehed a peak at the Crand Hotel today and covered a variety of subjects. Autograph hiinters iigured largely in the correspondence, but interest did not stop at visiting and the statesman's signature. . There were mahy offers of hospitality in private liomes.and scores of requests ,for intcrviews. The granting of those requests would have kept him in Auckland for a • considerable time. Otlier persons'hoped that. Mr. Eden would be able to give them- advice on a variety of matters. Telephone calls, which wero hanclled mainly by officers of the Internal Affairs Department, totalled many hundreds and they also covered a wide field, j Although Mr. Eden is partly on holiday the two days he has already spent in New Zealand have been more fully occupied than those of most business ( men. This morning he saw New Zeai'land butter being loaded for Britain. From there Mr. Eden went to the AuckI land Lily Society 's show and there as a keen horticulturist he found particular pleasure. When he went to the top of , Mount Eden, a visit he had dccided on even before he reaehed Auckland, he gazed on many points of interest to him and expressed as'tonish^ient at the progress that had been made since he saw the city 24' years ago. fiAn inspection of' several State liousing areas was taken in before he went to Piha for a bathe. - After dinner tonight Mr. Eden and his two conipanions strolled down Queen Street to see the shops and to make a few purchases. Before long autograph hunters in the Street were approacliing him. In a bookshop he bougnt several books and a numbcr ot postcards to be sent to England. .Oue of tliem, he said, was to go to Mr. Churchill from whom he reeeived a cablegram of good wishes. | ' ' The thing that has- impressed me most has been the private gardens, ' ' he said in an intcryiew tonight. ".ThCy ' make your city very pleasant and the general effect is. more English than anything else I have ever seeu outside England. The liedges, flowering shrubs and roses are charming. Ne^er let your trees go froin Auckland, and wherever you Mve rOom plant some more, vfbr they arC beautiful. '

■''"I' was 'aiSb impressed by 'the way in which your industrial arcas are segfegated from the- residential areas. That • 1ms .been aeliie ved feniarkably 1 well. ' ' • L,eaving .Auckland tonrorrow mornihg Mr. Eden will visit the Puakura Animal lteseareh .Station, • aud in the afternoon he will attend the girls' marching display in HamiltoiH .Later he will go to Rotorua, stopping, op the way at Leamington to deliver,a message of goodwill from Leamington, England, which is part of his constitutency. On Sunday he will be given a Maori welcome at Dotorua and will lcave for Christchurch oii Monday morning by a'ir. (