AS OTHERS SEE US.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 193, 13 February 1912, Page 6

AS OTHERS SEE US.

IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ZEALAND. "It sounded funny when I went to Rotorua, New Zealand, to take the baths for rheumatism to be told that I could have taken the same treatment.,at aresort in Michigan," said a Seattle woman at the Wolcott. "They aSsurebY'ihe' that the water was not the- same-, but added that they had borrowed the whole method of treatment from Ba«t,tte. Creek. "Rotorua is a curious- part of the world. You may be leaning on_your umbrella and will suddenly notice steam coming from the-ground w,h;en, you made the hole. The ground is just like chalk, and you feel the heat coming up. I saw places where hot and cold springs existed side Ijy side, the natives' using one spring for cooking their food and the other for preserving raw materials. "The hotels in New' Zealand are rather primitive. In one, for instance, there was only one bathtub, and in the mornings men and women would stand in line before the door, clad in their bathrobes, waiting for-their turn at..the tub. It was rather embarrassing to an American, but the natives did not seem to mind it. '

"They have a way of rapping on your door at 5 o'clock in the morning and asking you if you would not like a cup. .of tea. Tea seems to be drunk to a larger extent than it is even in England, for New Zealand is a temperance country, and on the corners where you would expect to see a bar-room, there is a tea parlor, and I was told that the men drink the beverage as they would whisky in England. "One of the most marvellous places I saw was where they dig for kauri gum, which is used in making varnish. The trees are practically all gone in that locality, but they dig on the site of what used to be a kauri forest, and get the gum. This works up near the surface every four pear*. "The sun burns down there with an intense heat. Of course, you know the effect on the shoulders of wearing qn open-work wai9t at the seashore. The effect will wear off in a short time. But iofn there I got a pattern worked on my shoulders so deeply that, it was eight months before I was- able to wear an evening gown again.

"Of course the pet kangaroos were amusing. One which had been a pet of one of the leading officials caused conliderable excitement among the members of a house party that was being entertained by the official. Most of the guests had gone to bed, but one young girl decided to take a walk in the gardens. She was strolling along when suddenly she felt herself grasped about the neck by two hairy arms. She screamed, of eourse, and awoke the household. It' turned out that it was the kangaroo who- had turned Borneo. "One of the most desirable souvenirs yon can get down there is a little kit i basket made of fine hemp, covered with peewee feathers, which are made by the Maori women. Having seen one I was anxious to carry one home, but was un; able to find one at any shop until the day before I was to leave, when I saw one in a general store. I asked the price.

"'That is not for sale,' replied the merchant, a white man. He added that it had been made especially for the South Kensington museum in London. 'My' wife has been making several to order,' he said. Well, I pleaded and pleaded, and finally he saw I was in earnest. But he said it was impossible to have one made. I kept on insisting, and then he asked me when I was going away. I told him the next day at 11 o'clock.

" 'My wife makes the baskets, but she is very lazy. I don't like- to ask her to make one now, hut I'll see what I can do.' He retired into a hack room, there I saw him talking with a Maori woman. He made an emphatic gesture and then ho shut the door and locked it with a bronze key a foot long. " 'l'll promise you shall have your kit to-morrow before you sail, madam," he said. I got it, for the merchant had locked his wife in the room and told her she should have nothing to eat or drink until she had finished a basket for me.' "—New York Sun.