LORD NORTHCLIFFE.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1921, Page 6

LORD NORTHCLIFFE.

CHARMED WITH NEW ZEALAND. A GREAT HERITAGE. PEOPLE OUGHT TO BE HAPPY. ROTORUA AND THE MAORIS “A peep of a few days at even a small part of the North* Island is an experience of absorbing interest,” said Lord Northcliffe, in the course of an interview. “I had often tried to picture New Zealand, talked about it with New Zealanders, and read about it, but, except for its intense loyalty and general productiveness, I had no idea of a country so vastly varied. It is unlike any other place I have ever been to. The scenery changes every few miles, so much so that it Is impossible to lay down a general description even of the small part of your country I have seen.

“Take Rotorua for example !j Is there anything like it anywhere else in the world? Can any one health or holiday resort offer in its season such diversity of entertainment? Take the baths! Several of them are unique. If they were 10,000 miles nearer Europe, Rotorua would attract a population greater than those at Harrogate, Karlsbad, Vichy, and the rest of such places put together. I am taking home a technical description of these baths for publication.

“But, the baths arc only the beginning of Rotorua,” he proceeded. “In a few weeks the fishing season will be open. Such large and vigorous rainbow trout which you have at Rotorua are found nowhere else. I am very much afraid that 1 shall not be believed at Home when I tell the folk about the New Zealand fish.

“Then, within a few hours of this resort, there is deer-stalking and shooting for many kinds of game birds. There are fine lawn tennis courts, good bowling, and a golf course, which is a good deal better than many I have played on in Europe. It is unique in several respects. One or two holes of a volcanic nature are really unnerving, I can assure you,” said the traveller. The bush and its feathered denizens were a delight to the visitor. He saw as much of the bush life as he could while at Rotorua, but was disappointed at not seeing many native birds beyond the wax eye, the fantail, and the wood pigeon, although there was an abundance of imported birds. He heard, but did not see, the glorious tui. He was astonished at seeing so many hawks. FOR IMMIGRANTS. Speaking of immigration, Lord Nor thclifl'e said that this was a subject which occupied a good deal of attention in the .Motherland. “I have come to the definite conclusion which I have, confirmed by inquiries from many sources,” he said, “that the kind of immigrant from Britain most likely to succeed al pre- : sent in the part of New Zealand 1 have seen is the young man from the British , farm, skilled in the management of 1 stock and cow-keeping, who is willing to work as hard as he does at Home as i a share-milker. In a year or two he I ought to get to know New Zealand ways, and at least have earned his i keep. We have many such young men I with capital to invest, but I have met ; young men from Home who have suc- ■ eeeded without capital.* We have nothing like your mortgage system, which, , with all its faults, enables men who never would have Owned a yard of land in the Old Country to become landowners. “I am no authority on New Zealand land,” he. continued, “but 1 had explained to me by practical demonstration a good kind of land that is hidden beneath the bush. It was a great surprise to me—and I have a farm of my own in England—to find that grass and even turnips could be sown on the ash of a bushburn, and make a good strike.”

The Ruakura State experimental farm he describes as an ideal piece of organisation. He was acquainted wth experimental farms both in Britain and Can ada, but he had never expected to find in New Zealand a farm of such dimensions. The propagation of native trees on the farm interested him immensely.

THE PAKEHAS AND THE MAORIS.

“An unexpected pleasure,” continued the great newspaper man. “was the knowledge of good relations between the pakehas and Maoris, even though there are still living many survivors of the war. I went out of my way to ask Maoris, not merely the show Maoris of Whakarewarewa, how the New Zealand ! Government had treated them, and I did 1 not find one Maori with a grievance. On i the other hand, the pakeha speaks well [of the Maoris, who «wem to be of light- ' hearted easy-going folk with no small capacity for wit. I said to one Maori who was cooking bis dinner over a steam hole, that he was fortunate in not needing a stove and coal for the stove, and he replied* ‘Pai korrv, yes’. No coal and no coal strikes like you have in England.’ I wonder he could uead the papers,” added the visitor. Lord Northcliffe was full of admiration for the best specimens of Maori manhood he had seen. “I must read up the mystery of the Maoris,” he said. “One of the great things about travel,” he commented, “is that it gives one a great many subjects to study.”

TRUE TO THE OLD STOCK. “You ask if I find any sign of a racial type developing." he continued. “No, none whatever. I have looked for it, but the people are identical with those of the Motherland, if more lightj hearted and more devoted to amusements. I was struck by the fact that a little place like Rotorua should have its racecourse. Of course your racecourse at Ellerslie is wonderful. It is the most beautiful course I have ever seen. “Yes,” added the speaker, returning to the subject of the absence of racial type, “you are true to the old stock. A young man whom I took to be an Englishman told me that he was a New Zealander of the third generation, and that there had been one Australian o-eneration before his grandfather. It is quite impossible to realise that one is 13 000 miles from Britain. One feels further away from England in Calais, which is three and a-half hours from London. , . , “The amount of sunshine you have here lias been a great surprise. I have j hardly seen a cloud. Oh, yes! Doubt-1 less you get bad weather, but. I nave, not seen it. My stay here has been one I of the quietest, happiest weeks 1 have ever spent in a somewhat busy life 1 have no doubt that if I am spared 1 shall come back to tackle those red deer and the rainbow trout. “Y6u New Zealanders ought to be liannv.” he concluded. “I wonder if yon know how well off you are? I have not seen a single beggar white or brown, and 1 have not seen a poor looking person. You have a glorious country of

sunshine without a snake or venomous reptile. You have not imported any of Europe’s dangerous beasts, and I hop's you will keep out dangerous bipeds. One glance at the record of American crime will show that the chief criminals are those who have entered their gates in the last few years. They are being barred from the United States to-day, and they will naturally make for this happy land unless you keep them out and fill up with suitable persons from Britain. Look at your sparsely-settled countryside! Its comparative emptiness of people strikes one from England. It is a great heritage to be handed down from those stalwart pioneers who came with courage to the unknown.