COLONIAL OFFICE VISITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15650, 2 July 1914, Page 8

COLONIAL OFFICE VISITOR

I SIR HARTMANN JUST. ARRIVAL IN AUCKLAND, i j ; The (.esirability of representative men •in Great Britain and in the Oversea . Dominions interchanging visits from time 'to timo has been impressed upon Sir | Hartinann Just, Assistant-Under-Secretary I of State for the Colonies, as the result of 1 his tour of Australia and New Zealand, i which is just drawing to a close. The | visitor, who arrived in Auckland last evening from Rotorua, stated that he considered an interchange of such visits would do a great deal towards cementing the ties binding the Mother Country and her Dominions together. Such ties must inevitably be strengthened by opportunities of the kind. Personal ties were, of course, a very important element' in the relations of the Oversea Dominions with Great Britain. Sir Hartmann was reticent as to his ' observations during his present tour, statI ing that he had nothing to communicate on the subject. His journey was undertaken as the outcome of a resolution brought before the Imperial Conference i of 1907 by Mr. Alfred Deakin, then Prime I Minister of the Commonwealth of Aus- ! tralia. As permanent secretary to the conference, Sir Hartmann's tour has necessarily been somewhat in the nature of an official investigation of conditions in Australasia, and I ,o ' has taken full advanj tage of the opportunities afforded to him lof meeting public men. He preferred I to make no public comment upon the ini formation he has gained. i.'ir Hartmann j made it clear, however, that he has become convinced of the value of Mr. Alfred Deakin's proposal A fact which Sir Hartmann said he had realised by coming to Now Zealand was | that the people of the Dominion were very closely akin to those in the Old Country. He said he had been much struck by the thermal wonders of Rotorua, and also by the attractionr which that district offered to tourists and sportsmen— as regards fishing. Rotorua was tho kind of place he would imagine English people would be glad to visit, another point in its favour being its ratability as a health resort, both as to climate and as to its waters. Sir Hartmann visited tin whole of the Hot Lakes district, including the round trip, and considered it remarkable.