NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 307, 27 December 1924, Page 13

NEW ZEALAND.

'■PUREST PLACE I KNOW." THUMB-NAIL IMPRESSIONS OF A TOURIST. (By A.J.8., in -Sydney Sunday Times.") 'New Zealand is the purest place I know. . . . And I've see them all." Sitting next to mc in a deck chair aboard an American steamer, a prominent Sydney merchant was holding a post-mortem on the world. After dinner in the smoke-room he repeated the above observation and said if he made New Zealand his permanent home he would never die. A couple of New who had received -2/ a. Ih for their wool at (iisborne sales, and were coming o\er to Sydney to spend Christmas, did not seem even mildly interested in his remarks. Kvjdently they agreed with him or were too polite to start an argument in the smoke-room of a steamer. Could be Smart. Auckland is the largest town in New Zealand—it is about as big as Brisbane ■jr Adelaide—and could be brought up to date and made a real live city. A wealthy Englishman whom I met at Rotorua, visits that wonderful spot every year, and lakes the baths. None of the Continental spas benefits him as much, but he told mc he hardly ever spends more than a day in Auckland. "What can one bally well do there V" he asked. For instance, the tourist who is accustomed elsewhere to half a dav'a racing on Saturdays, is told when he "arrives in Auckland that the VVaitemata (or -ripe tomato," to give it its colloquial name) is a gTeat spot for yachting, boating and fishing, and that the bowling greens are unsurpassed. Wowser legislation has decided that out of 305 days in the year IHO,OUO Auckland folk shall only enjoy horse-racing on 20 of them. Whenever racing and beor are mentioned in New Zealand the wowsers put their backs to the. wall and vote according to their conscience. Sunday's Dinner in Doubt. -A funny incident occurred to mc one night as 1 got back to Auckland from a picnic race meeting. The G.P.O. clock pointed to midnight, and rain was tumbling down, when a man approached and apologised for holding one up in the storm. He wanted to know what dividend the hurdle winner had paid that afternoon. I told him, and aaked why he did not buy an evening paper. "I'll replied. 'Tapers in New Zealand can't publish dividends." A commendable feature of racing- in New Zealand is the exclusion from courses of crooks, urgers and convicted criminals. Recently an owner was asked to make his language a little more anaemic in the paddock. Not Bobbed or Shingled. I scarcely noticed a girl in Auckland with bobbed or shingled hair and as for the New Zealand flapper, she is the mildest think I know. The vamping industry is practically unknown in Queen Street, the main thoroughfare. Girls walk down the street at four miles an hour, and never glance to the left or the right. They are still wearing long skirts. Sydney girls arc all supposed to be bold. . . . Sydney men are sheiks. .. . Sydney never goes to bed. All the burglars in New Zealand arrive there as the result of a brief boat trip. An Auckland party is as bright as Scotland tin the Sabbath, or Wigan on a wet Wednesday. I went to one party. Nobody had anything to say or sing about, and the "spots" ran out at JO p.m. Keep on Walking. One afternoon I went across Auckland harbour for a swim, and after coming out of the water was told it was illegal to sit about on the beach in a costume, but as three schnapper were on eale at the wharf for 1/, there was nothing to prevent people enjoying their tea. Near the wharf was a large sign board branded: "If you want the Kire Brigade ring 247. If you want the plumber ring 34." A bit Woop Woopish! After seeing Wellington I could more readily understand how that particular city came to be inhabited. In both places the people were very affable; in fact, much more polite than Sydney folk, but they do not know yet how to enjoy themselves. They take their pleasures sadly, whisper to each other in cafes and dining-rooms, and suspect strangers. The majority of the cafes are far from being imposing. The hotels arc dull places. New Zealanders like Knglish people immensely and never use the word Pommy, even to describe a wicked new arrival. They style them "Homic.s" if they wish to decry them. Larks sing in New Zealand and buttercups may be seen in the paddocks. New Zcalandera are very loyal. At the Auckland hotel where 1 stayed the orchestra played the National Anthem before dinner. Those who like good healthy sport can shoot wild pig, deer, hares, and rabbits. Trout, swordhsh and whales are there for the fishing fraternity, but we don't all fish. Wonderful Rotorua. Rotorua is made up of Nature's wonders. There I saw a geyser play. The adjacent ground shook and trembled as the boiling water was thrown up hundreds of feet in a continuous fountainlike column. Gurgling black mud and frightful chasms, beautiful lakes and wonderful baths are all here. After a big night a dive into the Duchess Bath ie better than all the prairie oysters. The water is blue and full of medicinal properties. We held the championship of the world in soda water there one night.