THE SCOTSMAN ON NEW ZEALAND

Otago Witness, Issue 2260, 24 June 1897, Page 12

THE SCOTSMAN ON NEW ZEALAND

MR COOPER'S FINAL " IMPRESSIONS." (Fhoji Our Own Correspondent.) London, April 23. The last number of the Scotsman contains its editor's " Latest and Most Enduring Impressions "of New Zealand. These are at once so interesting, so favourable, and so shrewd that I venture to quote them at some length; feeling sure that they will be acceptable to^colonial readers. In the first place Mr .Cooper has a last good word to say for Auckland, and it is a very good word indeed. He says :—: — "Is it wonderful that on leaving New Zealand to-day my latest and irosb enduring impression of the colony should be made by Auckland, from which I take my departure ? In a previous letter I have put Auckland before all the other towns of New Zealand. It ia before j them by right of its beauty and the beauty of its surroundings. It is before them also for its stirring business air. It has more buildings of brick or stone than any of them. It has the kindliest journalists to be found anywhere Auckland was in the thick of the Maori fighting. Heie and at Taranaki, -near New Plymouth, the war raged. Is is not the least curiou3 ot my experiences to have found in the city many residents who could point oat where the barracks for the soldiers stood. Imperial troops were there to watch against and resist Maori invasion. One good friend, Mr Main — of course a kindly Scot — told how he had seen a fleet of Maori war canoes come to attack the settlement ; how those- war canoag were surrounded and the town caved. Think of it ; within the life of one man, born in Scotland, Auckland has sprung from a threatened settlement to a city of 50 x ,OOO inhabitants ! May we not feel proud of the race from which the men who have done all this have sprung ? " Nert, Mr Cooper has something to say about New Zealand houses and fcbe New Zealand, climate. After repeating that Auckland has more houses of brick and stone than any other town in New Zealand, he observes: — "This recalls a feature of the coloDy which must strike all who visit it. The houses are of wood. . . They are preferred to house 3of biick ; they are dcJer and more comfortable.

1 Certainly they look much batter. They are j always clean, externally. Mostly they are | painted white or yellow. Nothing could be prettier than the contrast between them and the green of their surroundings." "It may be susptcted, that in no oth'r climate than that of New Zealand would there be like satisfaction wi.h wooden houses. It is a lovely climate. This visit; has been paid in the New Zealand summer, and I may have seen the bfst of it. Bub it is said that in many respects the winter eiimats ia better thaa that of the summer. The varieties of temperature are comparatively small. Whether in the south or in the north there are no severe changes of temperature. Of courpe the North I&land is hotter than the South Island ; it is nearer to the tropics. In the South Island all our British fruits grow ; come parts of tho North Isbndare too hot for them. But there are other fruits of a sub-tropical character that flourish and are delicious. Here the mouths of fruit lovers at Home would water over the pe&che?, the passion flower fruir, the apricots, and the like that ripen here in the open air. The climate is that ; of Great Britain improved, and unquestionably it is of benefit in all lung and chest complaints." Probably the one of Mr Cooper's "impressions " which will most surprise many people in the colony — and out of it too, for the matter of that — is his view of the New Zealand railway?, on account of its highly favourable character. He remarks :—: — " The general excellence of the railway service has impressed me. . . . The. average speed saema to me, to be about 15 or 16 niilea an hour, including stoppages. Or course there i 3 on sections much raster travelling than this ; but it is the average. The lines have been most skilfully engineered, in many places through difficult country, and they are J always well made. The carriages, which are seated longitudinally, run with great ease and comfort to the passenger. One thing that has besn heard of at Home i 3 all but unknown here. Tips are not expected by the Eervantß. , They look after you and your luggage with the utmost courtesy, and they never extend an open palm, exoept to shake hands with you." Then the Scotsman's editor has something to say about the Now Zealand hotels. "It would be foolishness," he thinks, " to say that the hotels as a rule come up to our standard of the best at Home," bub he admits *|many of them are infinitely better than several of i ours that are most pretentious " In Mr j Cooper's opinion, " the fault with them is that they offer you too much meat"; and he goes on to remark, "It is my firm belief that New Zealanders eat more meat and drink more tea {"than any o'uber people in the world. At the" hotels and ths refreshment rooms tea is offered with every meal. Alcoholic liquor is never pressed upon you." This last recollection brings Mr Cooper to one reflection, which also will perhaps excite surprise on the part of come New Zealand readers. Certainly it will excite deep indignation on the part of the prohibit'onists. This is what he 1 says, and it seems to me both a high, and a well1 deserved compliment to New Zealand morals :—: — ' "In one direction my impressions of New Zealand have had a curious turn. The colony is rent with the demand for prohibition. To hear the faddist talk you would think the colony was one of the most drunken communities on the earth. Ii is nothing of the kind One might be inclined to say that it is the sobarest . of whits ommuuities. I have journeyed from Dunedin in the south to Auckland in the north, and have been six weeks in the colony. I have observed closely, and have seen but one drunken man. He was an Enclish. wastrel—' a remit-

tance man,' as they call such men hero — the. men who are sent to tho colony with an allowance to get them out of tha way at Home. The remittance man ia commonly drunk and a nuisance while his money lasts ; he ia sober and a nuisance wben he is waiting for money. It seems scarcely worth while to a PPIy prohibition for the sake of such men. I have not seen a New Zoalander drunk or the worse for liquor. Further, Ido not believe the vice of the colony is excessive or even heavy drinking. If there be a vice it ia betting on horse racing. There is a race meeting in every little town. The Government has legalised the ' totaliaator ' — the ' Pari Matuel ' of French racecourses. The machines are taxed bo much per cent, on their takings. A good deal of the money of the speculative New Zealander is swallowed up by the totaliaator. It cannot lose ; its patrons must do co." Finally, Mr Cooper sums up his impressions of New Zealand as follows :—: — "As to New Zealand generally, it can safely be said that it is a most beautiful land, with a glorious climate and unbounded possibilities of future greatness. Coal, iron, gold, corn, meat, fruits of all kinds are irs possessions. That they will be developed for the extension of its greatnees there ia no coubt. That its people are hospitable goes without saying." On the whole I am inclined to think that these admirable and most readable letters are the best advertisement New Zealand has ever yet had. There is no doubt at all th\t they will have an excellent effect in the mother country. ' '