"BEST FOR THE LAST"

Evening Post, Volume c, Issue 54, 5 March 1934, Page 10

"BEST FOR THE LAST"

BEAUTY OF MOUNT COOK

VISITOR'S APPRECIATION

DR. WILLIAMS'S TOUR

High appreciation of the scenery he has seen in the South Island, particularly in regard to Mount Cook, was expressed by Dr. Walter Williams, of Missouri, president of the World's Press Congress, in an interview with a "Post" reporter today. He returned to Wellington yesterday with Mrs. Williams and Mr. Robert Bell, of Christchurch, and left with Mrs. Williams by the Auckland express .this afternoon for a short tour of the North Island, embracing the Chateau Tongariro, Wairakci, Rotorua, and Auckland, where they are to join the Monterey, sailing "on Saturday for Los Angeles. "This is the last lap of a six months' vacation," said Dr. Williams, "and I have saved, the best for the last—like Kipling in that respect." Dr. Williams was charmed with the beauty and grandeur of Mount Cook. The weather was. good, and he was fortunate, he said, in seeing the mountain in all its glory. "I have seen all the great mountains of the world now," Dr. Williams'stated, "and I can say that it is worth coming round the world to see Mount Cook. It surpasses anything I had seen before in Switzerland, and the Andes in South America, and anything wo have in America and Canada. Perhaps we have higher mountains somewhere, but none that has the beauty, the glory, and the majestic character of Alount Cook. Snow fell the night we were there, and next morning the added beauty of the fresh snow made it extremely attractive. . . . You have a "beautiful country and hospitable people." Being an old journalist, Dr. Williams was specially interested in the newspaper work of the Dominion, and in the journalists. He has visited all the Continents of the world, and' he said he supposed he had met more journalists than anyone else in the world. Copies of New Zealand newspapers are being taken back by him to America, mainly with the object of showing them to students at Missouri University, of which he is president. Dr. Williams said he expected to write something about the world's journalism. He had written a pamphlet on the subject a year ago. Dr. Williams was also impressed with the Canterbury Plains. The plains and the rolling downs behind Timaru were different from anything he had seen previously and he much enjoyed the trip. Any country, he said, which produced such meat as-Canterbury lamb and kept on producing it was very much worth while. ■ ■ Mr. Bell, added Dr. Williams, had been his guide, philosopher, and friend. "I came 20,000 miles round the world to see him and Mount Cook," he said 2 smiling at Mr. Bell, who was present: "The two'together are very much worth while." Dr. Williams said it vas his intention to return to New Zetland in about a year's time to see the.things he had missed this time."