"A PARADISE."

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 104, 4 May 1929, Page 11

"A PARADISE."

I SCOTSMAN ON DOMINION. I I CHARMED WITH KIS VISIT. AUCKLAND'S FIXE AMBULANCE. "A paradise," is the way Mr. Allan Hannah, a business man of Larbert, Sterlingshire, sums up New Zealand. The Scot is not as a rule given to exaggerate, and Mr. Hannah is, moreover, able to make comparisons for he has travelled much, and lias also covered over 2000 miles in New Zealand since March 21. Mrs. Hannah had also reason to think well of the Dominion, for she has been here some considerable time, having come out to try and get rid of a very obstinate attack of rheumatism. Her treatment was a perfect success, and probably when New Zealand's wonderful thermal curative baths get better known at Home, the Dominion will cure many more overseas sufferers from this distressing complaint.

Mr. Hannah travelled out by way of Singapore and the East down to Australia. While appreciating the glamour and interest of the Orient, he is convinced that it is no place for the white man as a permanent home. "Give me New Zealand," is his verdict on the matter of climate. He thinks we have been messed with something as near perfection as it is possible to get in this world. "You have here the best country I have visited during my travels," said the visitor, this morning, to a "Star" reporter. After our perfect climate Mr. Hannah said the thing that struck him was our wonderful variety of scenery. During the war he was one of the transport officers of the Bed Cross, and was concerned with an organisation that used to help the New Zealand soldiers on leave to find their way about Scotland. He was amused at the number of New Zealanders who wanted to see the Trossachs. As a Scot he had not thought a great deal of that scenery, though when he came to look at it again he had to admit it was pretty good. But when he came to Xew Zealand he found such a wonderful variety that he did not think we had any need to go outside for beauty.

Arapuni was one of the places that struck him very forcibly, and he was convinced that the possibilities behind such an amazing quantity of power were enormous. Efficient St. John's. Being chairman of the Eastern District Ambulance Association, Sterlingshire, and a member of the St. Andrew's Ambulance Council, Glasgow, he has been keenly interested in ambulance facilities on his travels. "In the whole of my tour," he sr. id, "I have seen nothing to equal the transport arrangements of the St. John Ambulance in Auckland. I have seen a lot of ambulance work, and inspected cars of all kinds, but your wagons here are the best I have come across, They are really a credit to the city, and I can only hope the citizens appreciate the service that is being rendered. You must remember that speedy ambulance transport often means saving life." Mr. Hannah paid a compliment to the keenness of . the Auckland transport officer, Mt. S. E. Langstone, who had certainly seen that Auckland had the very latest and the best wagons it was possible to secure. The interior of the wagons was more like a hospital bay than the inside of a car, and the springing of the mattress and other details for the comfort of the patient were perfect. Auckland should be proud of its ambulance. The Immigration Age. The wonderful hospitality extended to him since he came to Xew Zealand impressed Mr. Hannah very much. Naturally he thoroughly enjoyed his visit to the very Scottish province of Otago, but he found the heartiest of welcomes wherever he went from north to south. Pie was interested in the fortunes of people who had come out here to settle, and was glad to find so many Scottish people who had "made good." Commenting upon a letter said to have been written to an English newspaper by a disgruntled immigrant who "strongly criticised life here, he said he could not understand such a misrepresentation of New Zealand or its people. The only thing he could imagine was that the writer of the letter probably came out too late. He could see that anyone wishing to emigrate to Xew Zealand must come out fairly young, before his ideas were too set.

Personally, said Mr. Hannah, if he had not ties in the Old Land, nothing would please him more than to make his home in New Zealand. Mr. and Mrs. Hannah are leaving homeward bound by the Aorangi next Tuesday, and in them New Zealand has two more enthusiastic and pleased visitors to add to our already long list.