NEW ZEALAND PRAISED

Shannon News, 27 July 1928, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND PRAISED

A VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS

"IN LOVE WITH THE PEOPLE."

LONDON, June 2,

Professor A. J. Grant,- of Leeds University, who spent a year at :Canterbury College, add/essed the member* )f the Leeds Rotary Club, his subject - being New Zealand. He said'he had fallen in love with the people of the Dominion and with the country itself. There was not a plant, a-fruity a bird, >r an aDimal beloriging to New Zea* ■wtid that could be identified, elsewhere, but. with all the differences there could be no question that' of all the 1 ' Dominions of ■. the British Empire no .other so closely resembled our own in it)s social, 1 oolitical and cultural charactcsstics. More than could' be expressed was this due to the work of that great col- ; mising founder, Edward Gibbq'h Wakefield, who had trie vision to .see that bri|ldiug up of a new part Em-pife'-'should not be left to the riffraff )r ; tne conv'.ct, but-called best material: that the Old Country could provide. The same foresight was shown 'bv the first Governor, Captain, Hobson, n the framing of the Treaty;of Wai;angi, under which the Maoris, while tcknowledging the--sovereignty of .the British Crown, were assured:; of their personal possession of the lanjds owned t by .them. . ■-■-■ .' •■ . ~;, •' The relationship of the "white people md the Maoris, continued Professor "irant, h,ad developed on remarkable lines, and : tlie spirit of the' 'great act of humanity and justice of 1840 had been carried on. TKe same spirit was also shown in the effort to settle .affairs between capital and labour The Vicar of Leeds, the ' BeY.pl. fhompson Elliott, proposing a votcjo* V thanks to Professor Grant, said' tjjat the whole" history of the relations between the civilised peoples and the backward races of the world are one full of warning for the present generation, as well as one that provided here and there a refreshing example. When people questioned, as they sometimes did, the ultimate value to backward peoples of their contact with civilised races, it was heartening to be able to' refer tp instanced where they were kappy relations between the two.