AFTER FIFTY YEARS

Evening Star, Issue 22004, 13 April 1935, Page 28

AFTER FIFTY YEARS

A DiKTOR RETURNS TO NEW ZEALAND SOME EARLY DAY MEMORIES ' An -English doctor , who visited New Zealand several; times' more than fifty years ago lias returned to the dominioh with, a party of. tourists to show them round tne country and to tell them tales of the early days; (states the Christ* church ‘Press’).. He had found the task .more) difficult ..than he. expected, as most parts of ’ tlie. dominion have changed almost out of recognition, but he and his .friends'have been very agree-

ably surprised at the nature of the changes. ■ Christchurch has provided many surprises,, hut Dr VV. ilushton Parker, the leader .of the party, finds the .cathedral -as striking as ever, the xhusemn as ; interesting, and the gardens as beautiful. • In fact, h.e thinks, the Christchurch botanic gardens now, as then, the most beautiful in the world. Dr Parker first came to the antipodes as the doctor of . the .steamer Sorata, and in 1882 he. was appointed by the New Zealand Government to bring out emigrants travelling on sailing ships. In 1883 he brought 350 people to the country in thb Shaw, Savill ship Taranaki. The immigrants were landed at Port Chalmers : and they were all snapped up iwitliin two or three days by eager employers. . Dr Parker’s ’most vivid recollection of Dunedin, in those days was the

“ miraculous healing ” of a man who had set up, as a carer of all ills, deaf-, ness in particular. Dr Parker called at his house to watch some of the cures, which, he noticed, were never undertaken without the production of two guineas by the patient. Dr Parker asked the man why he did not cure his l wife ■ of * deafness—she was as deaf as a post—but the reply was not enlightening. MUSEUM AND GARDENS; After meeting Dr Hpcken in Dunedin, Dr Parker- came on to Christchurch, then a city of about 25,000 population.- He visited the natural his-. ' tory museum and the gardens, which were even then a, picture of neatness. .He came out; to the colony again in the following year with 050 more emigrants, who were landed this time at Lyttelton. He joined the New Zealand 'Government insurance agency and travelled the West Const, with an insurance agent examining applicants and issuing insurance At Hokitika, at -t; fir.nvmm’tVs. r”;l at Westnovt - , the miners were ’ eager to insure their ■

lives, and the tour very profitable, • but in the Nelson ■ farming rather more diffideac* was jnet with. Dr Parker tells ope story of a Westport* miner who consented to insure his life for a large sura,, but who postponed . the signing of the policy for ’ a ; dey. On that day he.; fell down the shaft.of a mine and was killed. ■- ' Dr Parker returned to . England by | the lonic. On board he made friends with a New Zealand parliamentarian;' one of the wealthiest men ip the pdtfntry, who had coipap to the colony originally with half a cro'wn .in his pocket; This man’s two daughters were, oh boartj the lonic, but they nevercreturned to New Zealand. One was married to the . captain and the other to. the ship’s doctor. . , Now Dr Parker has come back to spend two months of a _ six months’ world-tour in the dominioh. He’and his party are touring the country in n ■ car. and they are taking particular care to see all that is to be seen in the South Island; Dr Parker has been tremendously hn'pressed with'the .'changes Christchurch has undergone, and he hast spent hours wandering about the city looking for old landmarks. He always ends up in, the gardens, which are his favourite strolling ground, and in which he finds much to interest him both as a tourist; and as a naturalist.