The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1914. THE HIGH COMMISSIONER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 60, 2 July 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1914. THE HIGH COMMISSIONER.

New Zealand is being kept well-before the public at Home by our energetic | High Commissioner, the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie, and wo notice by “The Financier,” a leading London newspaper, which has just come to hand, that a useful and instructive article by Mr Mackenzie is published attractively in that journal. He describes how during the past year New Zealand, like other countries, has passed through successes and trials, but that the result of the year’s work is highly satisfactory. He describes how the country is essentially a pastoral and agricultural one and how products are yearly increasing and prices rising, so therefore it .follows that, given a wise government with a progressive policy, . this Dominion should be regarded as one of the safest from an investment point of, view as well as one of the

most desirable spots in tne wnoie world in which to dwell. Mr Mackenzie further states that there can he no doubt that it should he possible within a few years to double New Zealand’s export values. After giving interesting figures regarding our frozen meat industry and the dairy industry, lie refers to the attractions for tourists and sportsmen and the advantages which the country offers for immigrants. Of late there lias been a steady increase in the flow of goodtype, desirable people to the Dominion. Reliability of climate with no extremes of heat or cold, together with the fertility of the soil, its natural advantages, an abundance of running • waters and a copious rainfall, render the country eminently suitable for sot- : tlement. Other points Mr Mackenzie : makes are that the community justly : claims the lowest death-rate in the ; world, and that the wages paid i throughout New Zealand are on a fair <

scale, while employment is practically more certain than in any other country, so that it is pre-eminently a land adapted for settlement by men of small means, where every endeavor is made to enable them to select land and become producers under advantageous circumstances. Of course the High Commissioner could not close his article without some reference to military training and the “Little England” invertebrates who have written so much nonsense regarding military training in this Dominion in certain English newspapers. As he tells the people through the columns of “The Financier,” it is widely conceded that our system of military training has done much to improve the physique and still further to elevate the general tone of the young men of New Zealand. Mr Mackenzie’s picture is an attractive one but absolutely true in fact and detail. No man who has taken a prominent place in New Zealand’s politics is better acquainted with his country than the Hon. Mr Mackenzie, and he has always been a sincere worker for its welfare. Many of those who were present at the happy function at Whangamomona yesterday when the Hon. W. H. Herries opened the rail- ' way to the famous township, and was so warmly welcomed all along the line, would recall a gathering of a similar nature held four years ago at Te Wera, when Mr Mackenzie, the then Minister for Agriculture under the Government of that day, opened the Te Wera section, the furthest point then reached for general traffic. The Hon. T. Mackenzie, who was then a stranger to the district, made many warm friends on that visit, and avb are certain that a similar claim may noAv be made on behalf of the Hon. Mr Herries amongst the settlers out East.