APPRECIATION OF N.Z.

Evening Star, Issue 19542, 28 April 1927, Page 13

APPRECIATION OF N.Z.

The visit of the Duke and Duchess of York has not failed to have its advantage as one of the best advertisements for New Zealand. The special supplement of the London ‘Times,’ devoted to this dominion on the occasion of the visit, has been already noticed.

The Belfast ‘ Telegraph,’ in a column leading article, did not fail to recall that “ the part taken by men Irom Ulster in the history of New Zealand has been a conspicuous one. The late Mr W. F. Massey, a native of Co. Derry and Prime Minister of New Zealand,' left a fine record of statesmanship. Others from the province, such ns Mr John Ballance, were prominent in the political circles of the dominion in the past. Again, the present Prime Minister, Mr J. G. Coates, has family associations with Ulster. Thus there is good reason for the special compliment paid to Belfast by the New Zealand Government, in conjunction with the British Broadcasting a special programme of New Zealand interest having been arranged for this evening.” The article goes on to point out that “though the population of New Zealand is not large, being about the same as that of Northern Ireland, the people'have always been well to the forefront in .matters concerning speial reform, local administration, and the franchise system, as well as commerce and industry. They have boldly attacked problems which European nations were at the time only debating upon, and have .given a lead to the older countries which afforded useful data for observation purposes. The loyalty of the people of New Zealand was shown conspicuously during the Great War. At that time they sent overseas over 100,000 soldiers and nurses, out of a population of little more than 1,000,000. It must be acknowledged that this record was highly enviable.”

The Belfast ‘Northern Whig,’ in a. leading article, states: “In no part of the world over which the Union Jack floats do newcomers from the Mother Country feel more at home than in the island dominion, where in an area considerably larger than that of Great Britain a population approximating to that of Ulster enjoys a measure of well-being such as few countries in the old world are blessed with. Many ol the problems which engage the attention of British statesmen have _ not arisen in New Zealand; life there is at present less complex than with us. It 1 is no lotos eaters’ paradise; success can only be won, as in all the daughter States of the Empire, by hard work; but in the words of a once popular song of the Victorian epoch, ‘ there’s wealth for honest labor.’ The extremes of riches, and poverty which exist elsewhere are unknown.”