“FINEST SCOTTISH CITY”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27567, 8 December 1950, Page 6

“FINEST SCOTTISH CITY”

Visitor’s Impression Of Dunedin Dunedin is the finest Scottish city in the world, and the man who says so has lived in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee. He is Mr Herbert N. Casson, a Canadian-born efficiency expert, who is at present visiting Dunedin. Mr Casson, who is 81, and has been living in London for many years, thought it was time he saw New Zealand, and “rushed down to Cook’s and got a ticket for Auckland.” Talking with a Daily Times reporter yesterday, Mr Casson said: “ Nature has done more for you New Zealanders than for anyone else, and what you have done for yourselves in 100 years is past believing.”

Mr Casson has written books on a variety of subjects and he is now engaged in writing a book about New Zealand.: In his own magazine, which is printed in five languages, Mr Casson has written the introduction to the book. In the article he states:— “A Sunday newspaper in London — The People—published an article which described New Zealand as a ‘thirdclass country.’ Well, I have had my first glance at New Zealand, and I have found that it is not at all thirdclass: In some ways, it is leading the world. . . . New Zealand has the only Prime Minister in the world who has declared for private enterprise; and already he has got rid of scores of controls. ... “Just now, because of the collapse of the Socialist Government, the happiest people in. the world are New Zealanders. They have better stocked stores than we have in London. They have better homes than we have. They have no slums. They have no hatreds. And they noiv have sensible men of high character in charge of the Government.” Mr Casson does not agree that New Zealand should seek drastic increases in her population in order to keep pace with other countries. The modem trend—in business and in nations—was away from big units, he said. Switzerland, with 4,000,000 people, was the richest and the happiest country in Europe. “ One of your country’s greatest accomplishments was to produce Rutherford, the creator of the atomic age,” Mr Casson said. “There is no reason why you should not have a Rutherford of politics or a Rutherford of business.” Reverting to the city of Dunedin, Mr Casson said that no city of 100,000 people in Britain “had half of what Dunedin had." Cities of comparable population in New Zealand were more highly developed, he said, and their facilities and appearance were superior.