BRITAIN OF THE SOUTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18843, 18 October 1924, Page 14

BRITAIN OF THE SOUTH.

LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND.

[' MANIFOLD ATTRACTIONS.

i "SO MUCH SIMPLE JOY."

An interesting pen picture of life, in New Zealand has been published in England in a recent issue of Country Life. " After nearly a century of civilisation," says the writer, you find New Zealand to-day adhering very closely to many British traditions. To meet the exigencies of a remote, new country, however, she has amended, expanded or modified some of this inheritance. In suffrage, labour legislation and health measures, she has blazed a trail for the world, although she has never had a Labour Government."

In regard to social conditions, it is remarked that " it has been said that in England the first son goes into the Army, the second the Navy, and the third the Church. In New Zealand a prosperous business or professional man usually buys a farm as a sound investment, and likes to have one son a farmer. The Dominion is building up a young squire type. It means hard work, but great compensations. There is a freedom that the city man is denied." A reference is made to the scenic attractions of the Dominion and the opportunities for sport. In regard to the latter it is observed that " the whole year is peppered with race meetings." "It is no singular manifestation of farming conditions to see a lithe, sun-tannfd young man rounding up his herd, attending to his milking or shearing plant, busy with sheep, doing the hard manual labour on his farm, and at night to meet him at a theatre, concert or dance, groomed and in every way oqual to his professional brother from the city. After it is over, he motors home to snatch a few hours' sleep before milking time. Nearly all the farmers now own a motor-car; it is a necessity, and the family and the milk cans may take turn about riding in it. . . . " Tho sheep lands are less fertile than those used for dairying, and are held in larger areas. Socially, the .sheep farmer sits ona pew higher than tho dairyman. Tho latter live in closer proximity, and each group usually forms a co-operative ••onipany, erects a plant, and manufactures butter and cheese. . . . The dairy factory is a kind of .community centre, where the men talk things over* while the milk is being delivered." The writer concludes: " Probably no country can offer so much simple joy without paying at the gate. You got the peace, the sunshine, the beauty, the freedom, the camaraderie, and the 'chance of health and prosperity. II you need the hurry and rush of great cities and the mellow joys of the Old World, :lo not go out here." If you are young, strong, ambitious, you can yet make a world of your owa."