A WORD FOR NEW ZEALAND.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2796, 2 February 1872, Page 2

A WORD FOR NEW ZEALAND.

Mr Alfred Saunders, formerly Superintendent of Nelson, and who has been absent in England for about five years, delivered a lecture in Nelson the other day, in the course of wh ; ch he made the following remarks ppqp the relative attractions of New Zealand and America :—-‘‘ So ; far as I felt, instead of being too much in love with America, after seeing it,' its institutions, its governments, its habits and its c|itnate,' I say give me New ip tq all Amepica. (Cheers.) It seerped to him (he continued) that Ameri? cans v?ere almost destitute qf veneration, of reverence, and did not hold much sacred that we were in the habit of reverencing. Ho said this with no hostile feeling, for they were a people of great power and enterprise, and were advancing with rapid stride* in material prosperity. It was deci edly a great country in extent, in power, in physical -■•aadeur; and we ought to be prepared to profit by exa£? le ill its successes and its mistakes. toothing struck a visitor more rapidly than the fact that, by some means, the 1 best description of persons have turned away frohi alf share in the Government'of the country ‘ There is a strong' disposition among the best men of the country to 1 avoid politics ; to avoid all argument and reasoning about them; and to allow a kind of brute force—if it may be so termed—to rule, They have left politics in the hands of men who are not the best ef men that should deal with them, preferring to secure a quiet life, although misgoverned. Now this was a mistake ; politics is the business of every man who lives in a young community ; and that man fails to do his duty if he neglect to take his proper pqsitiqu, apt}, jf he §ees ppyfhipg wrong, either in his representative or the Government, to do all he cap to stop and remedy the wrong, no matter what it may be. America bad recently carried out the system of protection to a large degree, and was exceedingly fond of it; so fopd that a friend of his, who wished to purchase a suit of good warm woollen clothing, found that the cost would be L3O. This came of protecting wool and woollens. Then in shipping a like result had followed—English bottoms were now carrying half the amount of American goods. Farmers were calling out for protection for the raw material, while the manufacturer asked for protection for the manufactured articles, and thaf the raw material Should'come in free. As to which of i he’two parties would first get tired qfdhisj be could not tell; but he did not think it would last long. Prices were otherwise very dear. He always got his drink cheap, and could not tell what price was paid for liqors at the bar, but on the train a cup of ootfeo was 50 cents (2s Id); and a dollar (4s 2d) was paid for a grey compound called soup.