SIR JOHN MADDEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2813, 12 February 1908, Page 12

SIR JOHN MADDEN.

NEW' ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA.

IMPRESSIONS OF OTAGO.

THE CHIEF JUSTICE DELIGHTED. It didn't rain, but it poured, in the vicinity of the Railway* Station on Friday e\ening_ a-s Sir John Madden, accompanied by Miss Madden and Colonel Campbell, alighted from the north express. Rain, by electric light, fell in silvery sheets on the rails. The express glistened with it. Rain could be heard swishing from the puddle* in the street, and it descended with an incessant roar along the length of the station roof. It eeemed that Dunedin had accorded rather a moist welcome to her distinguished visitor from the Commonwealth : but Sir John seemed delighted. "Rain." he exclaimed, inhaling; "how delightfully fresh. Even the sound of it is refreshing. We've been having a .warm time of it up north : hot winds, dust storms, and all that sort of thing. Oh, yes, we escaped, or thought we had 1 escaped, the Australian heat wave, but we seem to have hail a taste of it here."

The Chief Justice then entered a cab, and was driven off in a perfect deluge.

OHKISTCHURCH AND DUNEDIN.

Interviewed later at the Grand Hotel, Sir John Madden, Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice of the Stale of Victoria, said he had just come from Christchurch, which had greatly impressed him with the beauties of >ts parks, public buifdings, and the Avon. He thought it the best New Zealand city ho had yet visited. " No, he had not seen Dunedin yet, but he had heard groat things of it. In fact, many Australian? wnpn thinking or speaking of New Zealand usually meant Dunedin, or perhaps Auckland. Many families had come from Victoria to settle in Otago, and so a very friendly feeling existed towards the old Scotch town that, he was glad to think, was reciprocated.

Sir John had always believed himself to be a bad sailor, so this was his first visit to the Dominion. His voyage to England in 1906 had showed him that he wasn't so bad after all, so on his return he decided to bpend hi 6 next vacation in New Zealand, and here he was.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS. Asked for those first impressions that always last the longest, Sir John said 1 that at first he had been frankly disappointed with the North Island. He had heard so much of its productiveness, but the soil certainly did not look it. The scenery was grand, but seemed barren, and the ea*th appeared good for nothing but docks, weeds, thistles, and " Prince of Wales' feathers," which flourished in abundanoe. "When, he saw the cocksfoot and clover growing liq. changed his, opinion- He had frequently heard the late Mr Seddon refer to New Zealand as "God's Own Uountry," and when he- firet saw it he marvelled how such an emineptly sensible man could ever have made such a statement. "However," said SJr John, " since then I have discovered that the South Island is New Zealand, and I am inclined to agree wjth Mr Seddon'e dictum." Sir John professed himself greatly

struck with the farming and grazing lands of Canterbury, where they had improved on English methods. He was delighted' with the superb fertility and refreshing greenness of Otago; such a change after the north. They in Australia thought themselves lucky if they got 26 bushels to the acre. » They averaged about 11. Here in Otago the crops must be enormous. He was in no way surprised at the high price of land when he got south of Cook Strait. Canterbury la<mb had an assured market in England for the next hundred years. He acquired that information at Home. New. Zealand wool was, of course, very good, but not of the quality of Australian wool. New Zealand, however, again balanced matters with her water supply. " Those beautifully clear streams, runnels with flat banks, gradually falling to the sea from th« perennial snows."