AS OTHERS SEE US

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11784, 21 March 1924, Page 4

AS OTHERS SEE US

Dr Mayo and his colleagues from Philadelphia and Chicago yesterday said jsomo very pleasant and suggestive things to the Rotary Club at the weekly luncheon. And, first of all, the Dominion people will surely thank them for their high appreciation of the Dominion and the people who have made it what it is to-day. In this appreciation they touched only the obvious. But most travellers pass the obvious without comment, being content to take things as they find them as a matter of course. Not so these visitors. They were astonished at the level of civilisation attained in this small country in its brief life of less than eighty years. They expressed their amazement in good round terms of congratulatory appreciation, proving well that they have eyes to see. Their recognition is the highest' compliment ever paid to the pioneers who set this country going on its course of upward development, and left the legacy of their example to inspire their sturdy descendants to carry on the work of civilisation to its present up-to-date level. For this appreciation much thanks, and for the moral drawn by one of the visitors who accounted for the phenomenon with the declaration that the race has been kept pure from the first. For the rest, these visitors said things of much encouragement. They found no fault with tourist accommodation ; they only praised the .substantial comfort everywhere to be had. They lauded our hospitals, public and private, and spoke highly of the men who work them, and of the work they do in places of research. One of them, who has fought and won a hard battle in the great city of Philadelphia for the purity of its milk supply, gave the stamp of his approval to the municipal control of the milk supply of Wellington. In the matter of financial recognition of the honorary medical staffs of our hospitals, we cannot agree with every aword they said, but this is not an occasion for argument. It is one for thanks for appreciation and encouragement by competent men of much experience of the world, and that we tender them heartily, in the hope that this Dominion may see them again, and more of them, and Boon.