LONG FACES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 30, 6 February 1933, Page 9

LONG FACES.

TOO MUCH PESSIMISM.

CONDITIONS IN DOMINION.

VISITOR SUGGESTS CAMPAIGN.

Of many interesting impressions of New Zealand gained during a tour of both islands ,by Mr. C. H. Tarrant, a Sydney business man, only one—the tendency of Neve Zealanders to be unduly pessimistic about their present lot—was unfavourable, and Mr. Tarrant made the suggestion that newspapers in the country should emulate thoser of some Australian cities and conduct a campaign against pessimism. "These very, long faces and this talk about depression and awfully bad times nearly drove me to distraction," said Mr. Tarrant, when giving his experience to.a reporter from th&< "Press." "I noticed this particularly,, in the North Island,,where the majority of the people met with introduced themselves, with a query about the possibility of a certain depression lifting. In the South Island, and more so on the West Coast, the complaining and bewailing about hkrd times were not so frequent, but, nevertheless, the tendency is general and should be stopped. I feel very strongly that the newspapers in New Zealand S should do everything in their power to stop the practice, which is one of the biggest hindrances to internal recovery. When trade conditions were first affected byi'the slump in Australia the same tendency to exaggerate its effect was noticeable, but business people saw the danger of undue pessimism and even wiht to the extent of approaching certain newspapers. in the cities, which countenanced the 'long face attitude,' arid'threatening to withdraw their support unless, it were stopped." I Mr. Tarrant, who is governing director of Tarrant, Trathen and Company, prominent leather gopds manufacturers in-Sydney, had been on a visit to relatives on,the West Coast, and while there he was greatly impressed with the beauty ana magnificence' of the bush and alpine scenery. ' ' : •It' was Mr. Tarrant's first visit to the .West Coast for 50 years, he said, : and naturally he was anxious to renew his acquaintance with people and places on the Kumar a goldfield, where he had lived for some years. But he found that every where, the work of gold miners and gold-dredges had changed the aspect of the countryside, and on the sites' of what were in his day prominent landmarks—schools and churches—were now great heaps of rubble and tailings. Mr. Tarrant was interested to notice that were the beginnings of a revival of the same gold fever which stirred the whole coast years ago. Even in the backyard of a house at Kumara in which he stayed for a time recently there had been found enough gold to serve as an interesting memento for him. He spent some time inspecting the big gold dredge at Rimu, which, he was told, was securing an average output of 300 ounces of gold a Week. Another-and far older .- piece of engineering oh 'the' Wcst Coast > also attracted Mr. Tarrant's admiration. - : iifty years ; -ago Be saw the construction of the big bridge spanning the Teremakau River, between Greymouth and Kumara, and he was amazed during his recent stay there to find that the bridge was still in constant use and showing little sign of wear.