CONSUL RETIRING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21769, 7 April 1934, Page 12

CONSUL RETIRING

MR. CALVIN M. HITCH RETURNING TO AMERICA [BY TELEGRAPH —PIIESS association] WELLINGTON, Friday After a little over three years as Consul-General for the United States in New Zealand, Mr. Calvin M. Hitch, accompanied by Mrs. Hitch, left Wellington this evening for Auckland, and will sail by the Mariposa to-morrow for Los Angeles. Mr. Hitch will reach the retiring ago of 65 in July and is returning to the United States to have a holiday before his actual retirement. Mr. Hitch said Mrs. Hitch and he had greatly enjoyed their stay in New Zealand. He had found the Government officials courteous and obliging and the people had been very kind and hospitable. "I was surprised when 1 landed here," he said, "to find that the country had made such a wonderful development in the very short time since the first settlers came to New Zealand. Your public roads are wonderful, and, taking all things into consideration, development has been somewhat in advance of the population of the country. With your present development, New Zealand could easily accommodate double or three times the population yon have, but these things, of course, will come along in the ordinary course of affairs. "1 was particularly interested to find New Zealand so well supplied with first-class newspapers. I think it remarkable in a country the size of New Zealand, and, with the long distance you are from other centres of population, that your newspapers should be able to carry so much foreign newp each day." INIr. Hitch said he had also been particularly impressed with the agricultural and trade journals in the Dominion.