DOMINION OUTLOOK

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 46, 6 February 1928, Page 7

DOMINION OUTLOOK

A VISITOR’S IMPRESSIONS LORD PROVOST OF DUNDEE. ENORMOUS AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES. Before he left Auckland for Wellington, on route for Dundee, Scotland, Sir Alexander Spence, who was accompanied hi Lady Spence, told an Auckland “Star” reporter that he had been wanting to pay a visit to New Zealand for the last 20 years and at last his ambition had been fulfilled. To say tne least, he had been most agreeably surprised, particularly iu regard to its enormous possibilities »s far as agricultural development was concerned. Sir Alexander Spence is a pronvnent business man in Dundee and most interested iu gram and produce For 20 years he was a city councillor and for three years was Lord Proves" of the City of Dundee. He has 1 nephews aii>i nieces in the South 1». land and had naturally spent most m his time (there. “But,” he said. “• was not going to leave this lovely country without seeing as much of n as I could. Therefore we travelled from Wellington to Napier bv train and then on t o Wairake’ and F.otorua by ear, thence trail’ to A tekiaad. Your scenery is most beautiful and I have never seen anything line that on the Mamaku. The journey from Napier to Wairakei and Rotorua we shall never forget. It was t wonderful trip with the rnoSv wonderful sights possible to see.' THE RAILWAYS. A bystander asked Sir Alexander what he thought of New Zealand railway... “Well,” he replied. “I think this country has done wonders in less than a man’s. Jife-time You know it i-, quite young yet—only in its swad. dling clothes so to speak—and one cannot compare it with Scotland for instance, which is hundreds of years old. It’s a pity,” he added, as an afterthought, “that the Government did not go in for a blonder gauge than tile three-foot six railway. But I suppose the twists and turns on the lines had something to do with that.” Asked what he thought of the Dominion froffi an agricultural point of view, Sir Alexander Spence said he was, agreeably surprised to see such fine crops growing in Canterhn and Otago. The wheat crops were good and looked well even on the lighter lands. There were many, mant acres both in the South as well as the North Island that should be under cultivation. It was such a pity to see land that could and should he producing lying idle. Land values here seemed to be altogether too high in his opinion. Settlors with small capital should be attracted here, but the men New Zealand wanted were just the kind England and Scotland did not want to lose. The visitor did not think that the North Island lands he had seen would develop agriculturally in comparison with the South