"THIS REALM"

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 747, 21 August 1929, Page 8

"THIS REALM"

■ Duc to yew Zealand's insularity remoteness, it is a little world of it own.” mjs a writer ,n an American paper, describing hts tmpressions and e periences in this country. “ft very men is a gentleman. When he meets with Ait fellows he is not noisy, he lights his pi,,,and speaks in natural, quiet tones Wild hilarity is unknown.. In the mid*business hours he may invite you to cup of tea. W'e came into daily contacwith many little acts of kindness—to a Scotsman on a stream, who gate us a dozen trout flies.” y TRUST that all New Zealanders who read the above will modestly turn away and, after blushing naturally and quietly to themselves, will light their pipes and murmur “K O , no —er —really. . . But apart from virtue being its own rewe.rd, it is undoubtedly a pleasant thing to be able to lie awake at night and reflect happily that someone at least, loves us for ourselves alone. Iu connection with this, I may say that I am in possession of advance proofs of a book ot travel by that eminent writer, Mr. K. Julius Podby (Gooble and Rickets, 6s net), which is shortly to be released on the market. Mr. Podby, a man of evident discernment and penetration, travelled extensively in New Zealand, and his observations of the country and its peoples coincide so nearly with the opinions expressed above that I offer no apology for reproducing his views here.

“New Zealand,” writes Mr. Podby, "is considerably newer than Old Zesland. I can offer no explanation of this as the average age of the peoples in both countries I found to be approximately the same. “The well-known insularity of the place I discovered was due to geographical reasons as also was the fact that it is some distance front America. The inhabitants, on the whole, have frank, open countenances, but here and there one comes across a close one, or at least, one about to close. On several occasions during my sojourn in these Islands I observed countenances opening and closing alternately. “It would, perhaps, be an exaggeration to say that every New Zealander is a gentleman. Indeed, lam almost sure that some of them are ladies. “When a New Zealand Gentleman meets another New Zealand Gentleman he does not, as you might think, scream loudly and dance, whooping round his fellow-creature. He quietly lights his pipe or hookah, or maybe chews betel nut or sucks an aspirin, as the case may be, and converses soberly in a modest whisper.

<<v<oC> Co-jV6BSCS Sooe.Rk'f --- “Unrestrained levity is almost unknown in New Zealand. The only people who are legally allowed to laugh are the politicians and even they are so polite that when they feel a guffaw coming on they tip-toe away and quietly giggle up their sleeves. “Tea is drunk quite openly by many people, but no one seems to think any the worse of them for it. Any stranger can enter one of the numerous tea ‘speakeasies’ and obtain a cup almost full for a small fee. A business man may invite you to have a cup of tea at any time of the day or night, just as the craving strikes him—in the middle of a board meeting, in the act of catching a train or making his will—it matters not to him. At any moment during the Criminal Sessions the Judge is liable to ask the prisoner if he’d care for a cup of tea. ‘Come and have a cup of tea,’ he’ll say, or perhaps ‘Cut yourself a piece of cake.’ Just like that. So friendly.

"The generosity and self-denial ot New Zealanders is proverbial. On one occasion when I was fishing in a qp' e ‘ trout stream, a Scotsman who had also been fishing approached o® and presented me with a <arg tin of hu-hus, modestly making off before I could properly thank him. A minute later the came up and asked for my nsm j and address. He said he wants to send me something. . . Kp Mr. Podby then goes on to descriD his further opinions of New Zealanders, but after the fishing inciae he seems to have become somewua soured. After all, perhaps I have •»* enough. ... I’d hate to spoil t effect.