THE NEWNESS OF NEW ZEALAND.

Shannon News, 9 March 1926, Page 2

THE NEWNESS OF NEW ZEALAND.

A shrewd Yorkshireman whom I met in Wellington gave me his view of the different cities in New Zealand. “Dunedin,” said, he. “is worth twenty-six shillings in the pound. Christchurch and Wellington are worth twenty shillings. Auckland is worth twelve and sixpence.—Henry Van Dyke. So writes the, well-known American author in the Christmas number of “Scribner’s, Magazine,” his piquant impressions of life and scenic charm in the Dominion being admirably illustrated. “This streak of land is comparatively thin,” observes Mr. Van Dyke. “It is a little continent by itself . . . not a part of Australia, not even an annex. Wellington is separated by 1200 miles of deep and rough sea from Sydney, the capital of New South Wales. The difference between the lands and the peoples is no less wide —and navigable. , The total area of New Zealand is about one hundred thousand square miles —more than Great Britain, less than . the State of California, of which, by the way, it reminds one strongly in many respects. Both began civic life in the eigtheen forties. Both were boosted by the discovery of gold. Both are fresh-air, outspoken countries, and peoples. “California has four million- inhabitants; New Zealand about one million three hundred thousand. Yet in that antipodal country, so remote arid so distinctly British, I never could get away from the home feeling of California—and I did not want to. “Now let us go out into the open air of New Zealand. “Christchurch, the northern city of the South Island, is an inland cathedral town. Lyttelton, the port, five miles away, has one of the most picturesque harbours in the world. Look down from the hill above Governor’s Bay and you will be entranced. The harbour of Auckland is less bold, but broader. You get a wonderful view of it from the hill behind the city. The Glory of the Plains.

“The plain of Canterbury, where the Anglican colony made its first settlements, is a broad, level, ! fertile region. Here they found In abundance the wild New Zealand flax, which was one of the first staples of export from the new colony. “Now the land has been transformed, transmogrified, ‘translated’ (as Bottom said). It is a beautiful picture Of- what human industry can do with natural resources. “Here are green pastures and still waters, wheat lands and turnip fields, little farm houses nestled among the trees, and placid villages clustered by the railway or at the junction of the highroads. Flocks of sheep wander in the pastures; herds of cattle graze through the meadows and wade across the valley streams. It is as fair a scene of rural prosperity as ever I saw in my life. Flowers everywhere; nobody in a hurry; all the faces tanned and healthy. "We went to Timaru, a typical British seaside resort —smoky, dusty, dull—-with well-tended ’ flower gardens and a fiat view of the sea; but nothing more except shops and factories. The principal hotel. ... is a monument of faded Victorian magnificence; food stolid, atmosphere torpid, except when disturbed by tho parrot and the three Jap dogs of the testy landlady. “From this ‘pleasure city’ we embarked in a stout motor bus for Mt Cook, the highest point in New Zealand. The drive runs through the heart of the South Island. ... We saw plenty of fine cattle in the meadows and along the streams, placidly and with apparent cheerfulness fulfilling the function of a good cow, as Stevenson' describes it; — The friendly cow all red and white, I love with all my heart; She gives me cream with all her might, To eat with apple tart.

“God must have had sheep in His mind when he made this (the Mackenzie) country, named after a hold Scottish ‘reiver’ of the olden time. Here in this lofty, secret native pasture he used to feed his abstracted flocks and herds., Man brought thrfn here, and they have multiplied and flourished abundantly. • • see these flocks of sheep and herds of cattle you understand that New

Zealand is still, like the old Land of Midian, a pastoral country. ' The Kea and Kiwi. "On the Mackenzie Plains we saw a Kea,. one of the most interesting and primitive of the native birds.- He is a parrot, but he looks like a degenerate hawk. In his hours of leisure he is said to be playful and amusing. But he has developed a habit of perching on the rumps of sheep, holding'on by their wool, tearing a hole in their backs with his sharp bill, devouring their kidneys and other savoury and essential organs, and then leaving his victims to die. Some people say this is a slander or an exaggeration. But at all events a price has been put on the kea’s head, except in the little Hermitage reservation, where he is protected as a curiosity. . There is another New Zealand bird, less harmful, but still more curious the Kiwi. He has no wings, an excessively long bill, and feathers which are like ancient lace. The Maoris use these feathers for cloaks of fashion, the anglers for the dressing of trout flies. We were sorry that we could not catch sight of a kiwi. His habits are nocturnal; ours, not. Politics and Parties. “It is very hard for a stranger, a brief visitor, to form an opinion of the political status of such a new country as this. Is it radical, communistic? Certainly not. Is it capitalistic? Certainly not, unless you recognise the fact that the State can only borrow money from the people who have saved it. Is‘it going to the bad because of its socialistic legislation? Certainly not, because it is guided by the hard-headed British common-sense and safeguarded by the British passion for finding fault. “The only dubious effects of all the new laws, sp far as I could see, were these: The Government has to pay a little over 5 per cent, for the money that it borrows in London and elsewhere; the individual man has a slight tendency to rely on the State for these things which he should, and in the end must, do for himself. I was told in Wellington that the trouble was this: ‘There are three parties: the Reform Party (now in office), which does not believe in reformation; the Liberal Party, which detests liberality; and the Labour Party who do not work.”