IMPRESSIONS OF N.Z.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4417, 22 May 1922, Page 2

IMPRESSIONS OF N.Z.

BY OBSERVANT AUSTRALIAN. An observant Australian, Mr R. H. S. Abbott, is reported .as follows in the "Bendigo Advertiser.” His “bank manager” informant has gone clean astray in regard to the solvency of the Dominion’s land-holders in general, 'but on the other topics we will leave the readers pf the "Hauraki Plains Gazette” to judge for themselves : .FARMERS AND FINANCE. Although it was. the end of summer, the .abundance and greenness pf tuegrass everywhere in, New Zealand, and the varying shades of' ferns, birch, ricun, and. the ever-present manuka, made a striking contrast to the monotony of the sylvan uplands of the Blue Mountains in New South Wiles, He said he found New Zealand struggling to get its head once more above the troublous waters, and the conditions brought about by the slump in the price of all its primary products —wool, meat, butter, and cheese. The reduction from 2s 6d per lb to'Bd for butter-fat hit the dairying industries of the North Island very hard, and the general manager of one- of the largest banks told him that as a result of land booming half the farmers and nearly all the returned soldiers who had been placed on the land would be insolvent. The banks, he said, would do what they could to help by giving extended time, but land in specially favoured spots had been rushed up to £7O, £lOO, and even £l5O per acre, and was now unsaleable at half those prices. Quarter 'margins had disappeared, and similar deficiencies on all realisations were inevitable. ARTISTRY OF NATIVES. Taxation was extremely heavy. The railways were running at increasingly heavy losses. Trains were being cut out, and travelling facilities so curtailed that, the tourist traffic was one continual anathema of complaint, and the statement that N.Z. railways were rhe worst managed in the Southern Seas was freely asserted... The only feature in that was permanent and unchanged was the thermal activity. The geysers spurted with mathematical accuracy. The H2 3. permeated the atmosphere as it has done for aeons of ages, but the native charm of the Maoris has departed, never to return. The Government has regulated them and educated them . until they are now slovenlydressed dark European-looking men and women, idling -about, and are uapidly increasing in numbers, and will prove one of the problems of the future. All their picturesqueness has departed. Only in their shows, when they do poi and canoe dances and hal-as in European showman style, in halls in Rotorua, singing with that melodious cadence, characteristic, too, of the children as well as the men and women, can a glimpse of their past be obtained. He heard a male quartette of Maori men render “Annie Laurie” with correct Scotch pronunciation in a way superior to anything he ever heard from any ■combination of Scotlands’ own sons and daughters. THE POLITICAL WHIRLIGIG.

N.Z. is on the verge pf a general election, and Ministers were touring the. constituencies with indifferent success, it seemed to him, as to creating any interest in a situation that was 100 depressing to- be talked into vitality. The Massey Government appeared. to be as unsatisfactory as the Hughes Government in Australia. No one he me.t had a good word for it. It'was put up with for want of a be-> ter. The only vitalising force was the sectarian' issue, raised by the P.P. combinations, who -outed Ward, and nearly every Catholic at- the last, general election. Massey’s followers had to a large extent been elected on a minority vote, there being no prefer r ential voting, and . the split between the Labour and Democrat Parties was likely to continue. The Labour Party never at any time got any substantia’ holds in N.Z.., and the faddists and extremists doin’, atmg the Party at present left them without a hope. The usual reply do inquiries was, “Oh, Massey can do w.h.at he likes." “RED TAPE” STRANGULATION. Every department‘of the Government is strangling itself with red tape. When the Ulimaroa tied up at the wiharf at Auckland at 8 p.m. it was nearly 11.30 before all the forma’ities of health inspection, and internal affairs examination were at an end, Pnd after that the Customs had to be satisfied. Lengthy schedules containing most minute information as to the personal aistory <’f each arrival, his father, mother, age, '.bl 0 -intentions; had to be filled In and checked/ An oath o$ allegiance to the King had to be taken. A declaration that one would obey the laws of N.Z. while within its boundaries had to be signed before a prope” officer. Reasons for coming to N.Z. set out, and, if one were ingenious enough to casuallv mention that he was coming for business as well as health or pleasure purposes, a yellow paper was served on him the next morning ordering the tourist to make immediate income tax returns. Everyone’s temperature was taken and recorded. The test for bubonic was for every member of passengers and crew alike to walk past the health officer- with hands and arms raised over the head to the fullest extent, reminiscent of European measures in war time.