NEW ZEALAND A WONDERFUL COUNTRY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 359, 13 April 1889, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND A WONDERFUL COUNTRY.

Auckland April 11. Mr J. Duckwokth, who was interviewed by a Star reporter on the subject of sanitary reform in Rochdale, England, and whose remarks on that subject appeared in our issue o£ Tuesday,' is on a visib to the colonies in company with Mrs Duckworth, for the benefit of his health. Mr Duckworth is a member of the Town Council of Rochdale, and is well acquainted wich the history of the Jate Mr John Bright, who was a native of that place. Rochdale was represented for many years by Mr Bright's bosom friend, Mr Cobden, and also by Mr. Edward Miall, the great champion of re ligious equality. The present M.P. is Mr T. B. Potter, Secretary of the Cobden Clnb. Mr Jacob Bright, brother of the late Mr John Bright, was the first Mayor of Rochdale. In course of the interview between Mr Duckworth and our representative, Mr Duckworth said : "We have been through Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand, having come to Auckland by way of the South. We intend to spend five weeks here, and leave by the Mariposa for San Francisco on the 22nd of this month. We expect to return to Rochdale about June." " Have you enjoyed your trip ?" " Very much indeed. I have been greatly benefited in health, and so far the change has done me a lot of good. We have been delighted with our visit, and especially delighted with New Zealand. Your climate, I think, is simply pex'fect, and the people here are exceedingly kind." " What do you think of the colonies ?*' "I think there is a splendid prospect before the colonies, and more especially for New Zealand. 1 much prefer it to either New South Wales or Victoria." " Do you refer to the climate or to general advantages ?" "The climate is so much better, and the resources of this colony seem to be greater than those of the sister colony." *' You have heard all about our deprea sion, I suppose?" " Ye?, I have noticed signs of depression, but I do not think it will prove a bad thing for the colony. Things seem to have been inflated, and there has been fictitious value attached to land and property. There are boo many professional men here — too many non-producers, and what you want is more people who are able to break up the land. The cost of transit here seems to me to be exorbitant, and should be made cheaper. People should be encouraged to move aboub more. Your railway tariff should be reduced both for passengers and for goods, and tint would be an important step in the right direction. Railways, I think, should be used for the benefit of the whole of the people, and not as a means for producing levenue." " Have you had any opportunities o judging of the condition of trade in the colonies ?" " Yes. I think you are no worse in this respect than they are in the other colonies. In Melbourne we found that tho reaction had fully set in against the land boom, and there was a great outcry, and dread of the consequences. 1 think New Zealand has now burned the corner and is likely to improve. The depression will have dono good by settling things on a right basis. I was surprised to see so many banks and bankers here, and I was also sorry to see that they were such money-lenders, and that they were rather productive of speculation than serviceable as banks are usually regarded." " What do the people at Home think of the colonies now ?" " New Zealand is not very well spoken of in the Old Country. Your depression has been very fully represented and exaggerated by the people here and by persons who have leturned Home. For my own part, I consider this to be a wonderful country, and I assure you that if I was a working man without anything to depend on, I should be only to pleased to be shipped off by a paternal Government and landed anywhere on your shores. My impressions of New Zealand are that it is a grand country, and its lesources seem to bo most prolific." " You have also taken some interest in church affairs in the colonies, have you not?"' " I am very much interested in the welfare of the United Methodist Free Church here. At Home we are very strongly established. We have a branch in Auckland, and I am sorry to see that at present the cause is rather weak here. Our General Missionary Committee have had a good deal to do with sending men out to the colonies, and therefore lam interested in the condition in which I find the various branches. I am sorry to find that our church is weak throughout the whole of the colonies." " How do you account for this ?" "It is nob because of our polity, because that is especially suited tor the colonies." " What is your strength in New Zealand ?" " In this colony we have nearly a thousand members and eleven missionaries. What few we have are noble and good, and labour earnestly to support their church. In the early history of our church in the colony we could have had grants of land for our churches, but refused them, believing that the principle was wrong, and that it was better for religion to be perfectly free and independent of State aid. Other churches accepted grants, and the United Free Methodists, having declined to accept free grants, were compelled to buy leas suicable sites and to erect less imposing, bujldinga than they would otherwise have done. This r has, given our people an uphill struggle, and- probably has induced many of them to associate themselves with more prosperous churches. At Homo we are very strong, and our denomination is the strongest in Rochdale. There was an attempt , made recently to form, a union between the Methodist bodies in New Zealand, and we. regret- that ,that union was nob brought about, as the necessity for a sepainte existence- is. not so great as at Home. The need;for it at' Home is also passing away, and the desire;,forunion is growing. I think<ib umy be brought about in a few years,"