SOUTHERN MOUNTAIN SCENERY

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21391, 6 February 1935, Page 8

SOUTHERN MOUNTAIN SCENERY

* MISS SHEILA MACDONALD IMPRESSED (PKBSS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) AUCKLAND, February 5. After spending two months in the Dominion, mostly in the country, Miss Sheila Mac Donald. daughter of Mr Ramsay Mac Donald, sailed to-day in the Aorangi. In some farewell remarks she said she had been much impressed by the southern mountain scenery, but on going into the New Zealand bush she was always struck by the absence ot bird life. She had been told this was due to the ravages of deer on the plant life. She hoped something would be done to protect and restore the bird life. In the English countryside birds were everywhere. In an informal talk at the Auckland Women's Club she said there was still an enormous amount of work to be done in New Zealand by women's organisations. Excellent work was being done on domestic lines, but there it seemed to stop. The intellectual side of life seemed to be neglected. One thing she had noticed all through New Zealand, and could not understand, was the way in which all brilliant young people left the Dominion. "It seems so strange to me that instead of staying in your own country and making the atmosphere you all crave, you go away and take your culture with you. You have a wonderful country crying out for, people to make it great, and yet you g'o away instead of staying to 'bring about the change.'' she said.' Referring especially (o ihe country's sunshine and its open-air life, M'iss Mac Donald said: "You' live in a paradise and you do not know it."