NEW ZEALAND.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 17 December 1924, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND.

BEACHCOMBERS’ GUIDE. This is the place from, which, the All Blacks come. Their way cry is, of course, a hint of what goes on every day in their own country. „ Business men greeting each other in Auckland, for example, jump rapidly up and down on their toes and tap each other on the head- with, a club to' which they resort afterwards, while chanting the old Maori phrase “Ee an’ Owee.” New/ Zealand produces chiefly hot springs, an English atmosphere, wooden idols, hats with three dents in the top, and sheep. “Let us return to our muttons’ * is the national motto. The three dents in the hat are due to the - New Zealander’s habit of taking off his hat in all directions when he meets his wife. . There is a general idea that New Zealand consists of the North Island, South Island, and Stewart Island. The catch about this is that Stewart Island is farther south than the others, hut as it contains only 350 people and some mountains, the island in the middle decided to ignore the sacred right of a small democracy to call itself (as well as its rulers) what it liked. There were no Irishmen living on Stewart Island at the time. Another catch is the river Wakatinu. which_ is pronounced with the n silent as in egoist.—Daily Express (London).