Mr Froude on New Zealand.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1666, 24 March 1886, Page 2

Mr Froude on New Zealand.

, of N"ew Zealand, Mr Froiide says •:—'•''"■ Australia,' ; . too, has bills and 'fivers^ woods' aud fertilelands, but- unless jiitbe heated plains of the r interi;or,j r which are sublime m their desolation] it has nothing to excite the imagination, nothing to develop, . varieties of character In ttowf Zealand there are mountain range's .grander than, the giant, bergs |of Norway ;- : there pre glaciers and waterfalls for the hardy -'hi&m'en ; there are isheep walks for th^ future Me libfflus or shepherd . of [ Salis~ bury Plain ; there, are rich farm lands r f orfltho . .p.eas.ant-.yeqraen , ; , and the .coasts, with their inlets and infinite varieties, are a.nurser^for r |oa;men, carry torw'ard 'itie traditi6hs ? of Ihe^old laud. i No Arden ever, saw such forests, and no lover ever carved jhis; mistresss's nsjine l on such trees as are .scattered over ithe'' Northern Island ; while the dullest jin^; tellcct kindles into awe and reverence'; amidst voluano.es and boiling' sprMgs,j and the mighty forces of wljich seem iis if any day they ;■ might br<eak their chain*. Even the Maoris, a mere Acolohy of ttia Polynesian "garages/, grew to a staturo of mind and body m NeM£ Zealand which no branch of that racia. has approached elsewhere. If it lies written m the book of destiny that ithe English nation has still, within it great men who will take a place among Ithe : demigods, I can well believe thatit will be in' the unexhausted soil and spiritual capabilities of New Zealand < that' th'e; great English poets, artists; philosophers} statesmen,, soldiers, of the tuture: will b<rborn and nurtured." , '