A SCOT ON NEW ZEALAND

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21858, 11 August 1936, Page 9

A SCOT ON NEW ZEALAND

“HAPPIER PEOPLE THAN AUSTRALIANS” SERIES OF COMPARISONS “Having lived among you for nearly a year, we are returning to Scotland convinced that you have a charming country, richly endowed with all that makes life worth living, and peopled by a very happy and hospitable race,” said Mr J. Hossack, a secondary school teacher from Edinburgh, in conversation with a representative of “The Press.” “My wife and myself both formed the opinion,” he continued, “that the New Zealanders are a much happier people than the Australians. Certainly in Sydney and other big Australian centres which we visited, the people had all the outward symptoms of happiness, but to us they bore a strained look. Of course, you good folk in New Zealand are quite selfsatisfied. but then you have a lot to be satisfied with, and that must be what makes you so transparently happy. Then again, there is not the same fierce competition in all walks of life as that experienced in England and the Continent, to bring your shortcomings to light.” Happy heme life, the cornerstone of all happiness and success, was, he proceeded, more in evidence in the Dominion than any other country he had visited, and he indicated that he h:.:l travelled extensively. A Free People The large measure of freedom enjoved by New Zealanders also appealed to Mr Hossack. There were rivers to fish and forests to hunt for everyone who was so minded, whereas in Scotland such sport was reserved for only the very wealthy. To trespass on the game preserves of the Old Country w;s still regarded as no small misdemeanour.

He had been in most parts of the Empire, but nowhere did he encounter a race so like the people of England and Scotland as the Now Zealanders. He was amazed at the similarity. Indeed, he felt more at home in New Zealand 1 cities than he had in London.. He could see no marked difference between the people i**' the two countries, except that, on the whole, New Zealanders were bigger men physically. The same sense of humour, too. was more or less common to the two countries. If there was any point of comparison, it centred on the fact that the average man in the street in New Zealand was much better spoken than his kinsman at Home. Generally speaking, for all the difference there was. the visitor from Great Britain would never really know whether he was in New Zealand or a town in England or Scotland. High Standard of Living: Mr and Mrs Hossack were well pleased with the scenic attractions of New Zealand. The sounds in the South Island were even more magnificent than the fjords of Norway—but the New Zealand sandflies were not encountered in Scandinavia. Taking class for class, the standard of living in New Zealand was much higher than at Home, The marked absence of the really poor class was very noticeable in the Dominion, and, with a population of only one of the big cities in Great Britain, the Dominion enjoyed the advantages and appointments of a whole nation. Concluding, Mr Hossack said he would not have hesitated to offer kindly criticism on New Zealand, bui to be quite honest he had found nothing which might be construed as a subject for complaint.