MEMORIES OF TOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21853, 16 July 1934, Page 11

MEMORIES OF TOUR

DOMINION 80 YEARS AGO BRITISH PREMIER'S VISIT MEETING WITH THE MAORIS [from our own correspondent] I/ONDON, June 12 Mr. Ramsay MacDonakl's speech at the New Zealand luncheon was an excellent advertisement for the tourist attractions of the Dominion. The Prime Minister's recollections of his visit 30 years ago are obviously happy ones, and even at this distance of time inspire him to lyrical eloquence. He assured the Duke of Gloucester that the great prospects which had been held out to him would be amply fulfilled, that nothing had been overstated.

One of the finest of Mr. MacDonakl's memories was his meeting with . the Maoris. One of the most interesting books of folk stories that ever came his way was Sir George Grey's book on the "Traditions of tho Maori People." We turned to our Greek legends for beauty, for inspiration, for imagination, for the delicate and romantic treatment of all the emotions of love and affection. Why need one go there when one had Sir George Grey's collection ? There one had the legend, the tradition, the romantic setting on its human side, on its imaginative side, which were worthy of a place in the bookshelves alongside the finest of Greek legendary stories. And it would be to the eternal good name of New Zealand that the people of New Zealand had learned to respect the Maori race and to treasure their traditions side by side with their own. Scotswoman's Only Regret Mr. Mac Donald recalled his visit to Dunedin. Sitting with those people at their fireside when the day's work was done, he said, their thoughts wandered back over the thousands of miles to some little homeland village, to some plain little chapel where their fathers and mothers had made obeisance to their God generation after generation. "But I remember one little lady," said the Prime Minister, "who became very eloquent about the attractions of New Zealand, and I said to her, 'You are very happy here.' She said, 'I am.'

" 'I could touch one little vacancy in your happiness.' 'I don't think you could.'

" 'When you have got all that, New Zealand is going to give you and you pass away, would you not wish to be laid in the churchyard of that little village from Avhich you came?' 'That is the only thing that New Zealand cannot supply,' she said. 'lt can supply everything else.' "What a tribute to New Zealand," said the Prime Minister, "from this simple woman from Scotland. Scenery and Fishing

"I have many memories of the South Island," continued Mr. Mac Donald. "Standing there outside Queenstown, looking over. Lake Wakatipu on to the mountain tops of the Remarkable 3 covered with snow, as I have done, you will just revel in the gorgeous natural scenery that the Dominion provides for the visitor. Or fishing on the rivers by Rotorua you will bo able to catch your fish and, without taking it from the line, put it into a boiling pool, catching and cooking it in one process. Or at the springs at Hamurana you can throw in a half-crown with absolute reckless and Royal force, and it will be thrown out and back at your Royal Highness' feet."

The toast entrusted to Mr. MacDonald was that of the chairman, and he concluded with complimentary references to the High Commissioner as an educationist.