"STANDS ALONE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 103, 4 May 1931, Page 8

"STANDS ALONE."

NEW ZEALAND'S SCENERY. RANGOON VISITOR'S PRAISE. ISOLATION OUR HANDICAP. "New Zealand is a country prevented only by her detachment from becoming the most popular touring centre in the world," said Mr. W. J. Grant, editor of the "Rangoon Tinies," Bupoa, in an interview to-day. "

"I have been all over your fine land," said Mr. Grant, "and found it fair and o-ood to look upon. It compares favourably with the Himalayas, which I have explored with some thoroughness, and is not eclipsed by Switzerland in grandeur, while in scenic variety is stands al6ne. The Himalayas are vaster m scale and their snows are greater in mantling capacity, but I can assure you they are not more impressive- Even the Buller Gorge in the South Island has unique features. "The travel facilities in New Zealand also are, to me, amazingly good. We have certainly nothing like them, in India or Burma, and my experience of European travel forbids me to claim any superiority for Italy or Switzerland. The fact that I managed to see the whole of the Napier, Rotorua and Hamilton districts within , a week speaks volumes for the dispatch and efficiency of railway and service car facilities." Mr. Grant is touring Australia and New Zealand in order to study political and economic conditions in these countries.' He is an authority'oii agriculture.

"Wlien aviation has developed' and quickened travel," he declared, "I am convinced that New Zealand's • scenic and other virtues will be more extensively recognised. She is at present a lonely land stranded in ' a vast ocean. The aeroplane will rescue her."