What The Americana Ara Saying

Horowhenua Chronicle, 17 October 1916, Page 2

What The Americana Ara Saying

ABOUT NEW ZEALAND. GREETINGS TO NEW ZEALAND. (From tli-j Panama Star and Herald)

The regular passage of the .splendid steamers of the New ' Zealand line through the Canal, ail event which we chronicled hi our news columns some time ago, naturally causes some interest in that remarkable colony of Great Britain in the Antipodes of the Orient.

The great off-shoot of the expanding Caucasian race which settled England and thence spread to the remote four corners of the globe never found a fairer land anywhere in their wanderings than that they inherited from their Dutch cousins when they fell heir to the noble island the Hollanders had called New Zealand.

The agent of the New Zealand line oil the Isthmus, Captain Fenton, has on his tables in bis office in the Masonic Temple in Colon, the files of the' Auckland Weekly News, a magnificent ■illustrated paper, whoso wonderful pictures of the scenery of the island are truly a revelation. It would seem as if that country must be bles-ed by Nature as few others on earth. Splendid fertile plains, noble snow-clad mountains, vast forests, a climate at once equable, varied and energizing— the wonder is that any man could leave it.

Of course it is known that progressive sociology has been enacted into organic law in New Zealand to an extent hardly equally anywhere. It is commonly called "the laud of equal opportunity." It will be interesting for us to learn from New Zealanders as they pass by more about what these laws are and how tlicy operate.

These f-teamcrs. pawing, one way and the other about every fortnight, make 11s realize how truly we are the meriting ground of the end of the earth. Our hills gladden the eyes of the mariners and passengers on their long voyage across more than half the earth. Here they sen the results of the energy of two colonizing races, one of thoni a branch of their own, the other the descendants of those who long disputed with them the dominion over land and sea, but who now welcomc them to the hemisphere of pec.'. Wa all in these regions have the sain© spirit of the bold pioneer that made New Zealand what it is. We a.lO brother fronti'elrsmen. We know how liberty feels. We welcome the link tliat the new steamer route affords us with that stout colony of the South Seas. We bid these liardy men hail in their great industrial progress, i j n their wonderful sociological development, in their having "a place in the sun." We are neighbours in a new sense now', and we are glad of it. As time goes 011, Panama hopes to make all these neighbours feel that they may enjoy "the freedom of the city," when they visit us. and make themselves at home.