As Others See Us.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 134, 10 June 1904, Page 4

As Others See Us.

One of the most observant of the visiting delegates to thu Science Congress which was held in Dunedin at tho beginning of the year, Mr Georgo Woolnough, M.A., of Queensland, recently read a paper before the Royal Geographical Society, Brisbane, dealing with the geographical and meteorological conditions of New Zealand, considered in their bearing on field industries. It is always interesting to seo ourselves as others see us ; hence Mr Woolnough's marks, as summarised by tho Chronicle, are instructive, besides which many of his conclusions are valuable) as the opinions of a ninn of considerable scientific attainments. According to Mr Woolnough, New Zealand is favoured above the other adjacent islands and the mainland of Australia in several respects. The natural resources of New Zealand are an immeasurable quantity ; t.lie yeoman character of her people touches the highest mark ; the communal government of the colony falls short only of the miraculous; I he climatic conditions are most fa\curable to field industries, and very largely contribute to indtv-cluel anil public prosperity ; such, in the main, is the statement made by Mr Woolnough, and which statement he proceeds to prove in detail. As the result of his observations he concludes that, although the forces at work for good in New Zealand include great natural resources, the character of the people, and the conditions of their communal life, yet the greatest force of all is seen in the geographical and meteorological conditions and their bearing upon field industries. No other country in the world is so admirably situated for supplying meteorological data from which reliable weather forecasts mav be made, and everywhere Mr Woolnough went he saw at work! the influence of the climate—in the prolilic yields and magnificent quality of the cereals, tubers and fruits, whilst the cattle and sheep in the freezing works were models of form and condition. The favourable climatic conditions are responsible for two remarkable mutually reciprocal results—viz., the equable distribution of population and the equable distribution of prosperity. The configuration of the country would not by itself account for the fact that not more than HO per cent, e/f the/population of New Zealand live in towns of more than 10,000 so'ils, for, as Mr Woolnough truly remarks, "if the interior of the country did not contain fertile land watered by abundant rains and warmed by genial sunshine, island-formed as the country is, thero would not bo more persons distributed over it than may be found in a corresponding area of Queensland Never-Nevcr country." In regard to the economic conditions

in New Zealand, Mr Woolnough has an equally optimistic view. Pre-

mising that the great economic problem of the day is so to work that accumulation of wealth shall not be cluvkfd, and so to govern that the wealth so accumulated shall not bo too unequally distributed, he. opines that New Zealand has not only attempted to reduce this problem to practical form, but has to a large extent succeeded in the attempt. At. the same time there is a certain significance in Mr Woolnough's remark that whoever has seen this reduction of the economic problem at work in New Zealand and also "a striking example of a converse character" must be tempted to consider which, after all, is the heller of the two. Dr. Victor S. Clark is quoted as saying that an American community "would soon kick holes all through the New Zealand Acts of Parliament," endorsing the opinion of r. "canny Scotch Labour leader" who

dubbed New Zealand an "ideal laboratory," making experiments by which all the world will eventually profit. New Zealand legislation is considered as a series of laboratory experiments, in the light of which America will solve her social problems in her own way.