IMPRESSIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 292, 9 December 1936, Page 8

IMPRESSIONS.

MR. K. LINDSAY, M.P. CIVIL LORD OF ADMIRALTY. DEPARTURE BY AWATEA TO-DAY. Although lie considered it an impertinence to comment on n country in which he had spent only six days, Mr. Kenneth Lindsay, M.l\, Civil Lord of the Admiralty, who returned from Wellington by the Limited express this morning to connect with the Awatea for Sydney this afternoon, made brief but interesting observations in an interview.

"I want first of all to tlmnk publicly the people of New Zealand for the great kindness they have shown me wlier'ever [ have been," said Mr. Lindsay. "I would like to put on record the sense of complete 'oneness' one feels in this country. That is caused, no doubt, by the fact that the people here come from the same people as those at Home. They have been transferred to a soil which has much of the fertility and charm of the Old Country, with a great many additional possibilities."

"I am greatly impressed with the way the Government is trying to tackle a number of complicated problems," continued Mr. Lindsay. "If I have any criticism to make, it is the absence of criticism. New Zealand is such a magnificent example of a democratic country that criticism is the very, breath of life. 1 would like to be »able to stay six months and make a detailed study of some of the things that are happening, and if any opportunity "occurs _ for me If) conic back, I shall seize it with both hands." Fair Play and Tolerance. Mr. Lindsay said ho was pleased to notice that among all parties in the Dominion there was a unanimity about Imperial defence. The coming years were/ likely to be restless and-trouble-some in the world. It was good to feel that in this far away corner of the Empire there were islands of British people, with the same ideas of fair play and tolerance as those of the people of England. He would take that message back to the Old Country as an inspiration. In the course of his rapid tour ot the Dominion, Mr. Lindsay played a round of golf at Kotorua, saw some of the thermal attractions, and attended a Maori entertainment in the evening. Next day he drove to the Chateau, where he had funeli, and that evening lie dined in Wanganui with his old friend, Mr. Gilli<*an, headmaster of Wanganui Collegiate School. Next day he flew to Christcburch, spent a day there, and returned to Wellington on the interisland steamer. He spent the week-end at Government House, Wellington, and conferred with the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, and members or the Cabinet. Plans have been made for Mr. Lindsay to spend the coming week-end at Canberra. He will then return to Sydney, where he will spend a week, and will afterwards go on to Adelaide for the centenary celebrations for a week, then to Melbourne and West "Australia, sailing from Fremantle. He will spend a week in Ceylon on the way back to England. He is due back in London on February 20, in time for the Naval Estimates.