HON. W. P. REEVES

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 52, 29 August 1925, Page 8

HON. W. P. REEVES

VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND

AFTER THIRTY YEARS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 9th July.

Those who have been in touch with the Hon. W. Pember Reeves during the past six or seven years have seen a rather remarkable transformation. To put it briefly, in the last year or two he has renewed hia youth, mentally as well as physically. He is taking a vigorous interest in those things which appeal to him at the height of his activity and is again convinced that he has many useful years ahead of him. The fact that in two months he starts on a visit to New Zealand is a proof of this. Moreover, he is full of enthusiasm at the prospect of seeing again the land in the* development of which he played such a prominent part It is thirty years since he left the Domiijion, and the changes, that have taken place in tho meantime will, of course, be almost startling.

The fact that Mr. Reeves goes out to New Zealand with a definite purpose in view, with work to be accomplished, makes him all the* keener. As chairman of the National Bank of New Zealand, he will visit practically all tho branches, and, as he announced in his speech at the annual meeting of the bank, ho will make a careful economic study of the development, condition, and prospects ot the country. He will report to his own directors, but in addition, though he has expressed no such intention, it is fairly reasonable to suppose that he will also place his impressions on record in the form of a book. Mrs. Reeves and her sister, Mrs. Lascellcs, will accompany him on his tour. They will spend the summer and autumn in the Dominion, and will fcako things very leisurely. They go by way of Vancouver and expect to be in' Auckland on 9th. November. POEMS REVISED. During the last two year* Mr. Reeves has been revising all hia poema and writing a few new ones. These will be published shortly. It will be remembered that a volume of his verse? was printed in 1898. AH the poems that appear in that book will be republished, but with considerable alteration and additions, and a number of other pieces that have come to light during the last twenty-seven years will also find a place in the book. The volume will be published privately, and no copies will be sent to reviewers. Mr.' Reeves, however, authorises me to state that any .ibrarians or other officials of public institutions who desiro j to have a copy have only to ask for it to receive one.