OF NEW ZEALAND INTEREST.

Otago Witness, Issue 3672, 29 July 1924, Page 33

OF NEW ZEALAND INTEREST.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 29. The London correspondent of The Birmingham Dost has been making a comprehensive tour of Wembley from the ' ie ''' point of the facilities for sport ottered by the dominions. “Why go abroad, we can offer the best sport in the worm : is a slogan common to several overseas pavilions "at Wembley. One mignt amplify it by saying, “Why stay at home, when the Empire can beat the Scottish moors? The* Englishman carries his sports with him all over the world; he has playea havoc with Nature’s distribution of species, and carried through daring experiments m acclimatisation which have sometimes brougnt with them their revenge—as in the notorious instance of rabbits in the Antipodes. He deals in turn with Africa, India, Canada, Malaya, Newfoundland, and New Zealand, and he has come to the conclusion that there is no more varied field foi the sportsman than New Zealand which, in climate, natural beauties, and game combines the attractions of our moors, Switzerland and the Scandinavian Fiords. Here it is that the hand of the Englishman has been most busy in supplying the sporting deficiencies of the country, and every kind of shooting and fishing which we get. at home can be obtained there in greater abundance and under more equable weather conditions. Deer-stalking is almost a publicduty in the neighbourhood of Canterbury and Otago, where the descendants of the wapiti and other species introduced into the country are quite a pest to cultivators. “The collection of deer heads New Zealand Pavilion is probably the finest ever gathered under one roof. The pride of the collection is the Cameron head, with 19 points, and another splendid specimen is that contributed bv Lord Jellicoe. Then there is fishing, and the fisherman in New Zealand is specially well catered for—sport in deep sea as well as river being available. In the pavilion is a stuffed king-fish, an elder brother of the barracouta family, weighing 106'ib. caught with rod and line, a splendid specimen to rouse the enthusiasm of the sportsman. Shark and swordfish abound in Hawke’s Bay and the aptlynarned Bay of Plenty. Short of jungle game there is nothing in the way of sport which New Zealand does not offer, and a visit to the pavilion at the head of the Wembley lake will be a revelation to the sportsman. There will not again be quite such a good opportunity for the English sportsman to learn of other fields than is presented bv tbe assembly of the Empire at Wembley.” Mr F. MacPherson tells readers of a Newcastle journal that a picturesque surprise which the inhabitants of New Zealand have been preparing for some time past for the people of New Zealand will materialise in a few clays’ time. The surprise will take the form of a, monster avalanche of beautiful picture postcards which will descend on ns here early in J MIC. Mr MacPherson confesses to having to shoulder some responsibility for the coming “avalanche,” and he comments: “It may safely be said of (he New Zealanders as a nation that once they take on a job they always see it through. They leave nothing to chance when it comes to assuring the success of any scheme in which they are all personally and keenly interested. This certainly has been the case in connection with their Picture Postcard Day. Their newspapers have given it the widest possible publicity, speeches have been made on it, every section of the population has talked about it, associations have been formed to stimulate local effort In competition with that of other districts, teachers have given lessons on it in the schools, children have been saving their money and collecting special postcards for it. Amateur and professional photographers have taken thou sands of special pictures, many of the cards

will he works of art, business firms Will post to all their clients and agents at. Home, there have been special displays of picture postcards in the shop windows and on tho railway bookstalls all over the country; it is even whispered that the Government may print a special stamp for the picture postcard mail. Although the population of New Zealand at most is only 1.500,000. it is estimated that nearly 1.000.000 picture postcards will be despatched by the special mail. To the Economist, the Christchurch cor- > respondent sends information of banking | figures up to the close of the dominion's ! financial year, a period which “brings with I it important indications of tire economic | well-being of the dominion, not only in the | publication of the financial returns, but | evert move in the banking returns which are published at the end of every quarter. I T.;t,;e uanking returns in other countries, I the figures leave a great deal unsaid, and I the bare totals which are required by 1 nnk- ! mg law do not really throw much light | upon many important aspects of the banking situation. If we could know the ex- | tent of the bank balances in London in | particular, we should be in a much better I position to gauge the situation. Those | balances depend largely upon the relation I oetween imports and exports.” lhe writer forecasts that the end of sb'4 will he a critical period for the dominion. “Importations based upon the present expectations of export prices and consequent prosperity are likely to come in considerable volume: at the same time the disturbed and uncertain prospects for j export prices make one look with a certain j degree of apprehension towards the next | season, while the expiration of the moraj torium will leave any unsound or doubtful I enterprises without the shelter of legal | protection. If next season’s prices should | after all be higher than this season's, and j if. in tile meantime, the dominion goes j carefully and does not fall into the misj take of over-importation once again, there need be no difficulties; hut the dangers are hidden while the fair prospects are advertised in the usual interpretation of such indications as the bank returns.” This last mail,” writes Mr H. V. Woodcock. secretary of the Rveland English Society, in tho Kent Messenger, “has produced further proof of the popularity in New Zealand of mating Rveland rams with Romney Marsh ewes to capture the fat. lamb trade. It is regarded as the best cross of lhe South Island, and it is welcome news for the Ryeland breeders of Herefordshire and allied counties, as it must be for the flockmasters of Kent and other south-eastern counties. The two breeds possess white fleece, with the result tnat, there is a cleaner cross than is the case with the majority of outside matings. Lambs are early, strong, and attractive in style, whilst tho wool from the cross of these two famous breeds of English sheep helps materially as a deciding factor. Rveland breeders in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex will be pleased to hear that the pedigree Rveland breeders of New Zealand are about to start a Flock Rook of their own and have asked me to help them in that determination, which bids fair for lhe greatly increased success of the Ryeland in this great sheep-breeding colony.” Miss X. Iranian's article on “Infant Welfare” which appeared in the Glasgow Herald last week has called for a letter of comment from Mr J. B. X. Paterson, who intimates that he has recently spentsome time iu the dominion. “Tile marvel is.” he writes, "that so little is reported about, this progressive dominion. Miss Scanlan lightly says ‘that the healthy-born baby is the nation’s greatest asset.’ That beinsr so. I am surpri-ed to see such topics as the rearing of children still in the Old Country relegated to the women's columns! In New Zealand men and women are taught- that the child is worth £3O to the -tato at birth, and £SOO when he becomes a wage earner and taxpayer, provided meanwhile he has been kept healthy If. however, through lack of knowledge m mothercraft, the child become the inmate of hospitals, asylums, or jails, then that j erstwhile asset has ■ been turned into a I serious, national liability! Prevention is the j keynote in New Zealand. And it is recognised that the so-called educated woman is just as ignorant of how a baby should be reared as her slum sister.” The writer also points out that America, interested in the steady decline in the New Zealand infant death raie. recently sent over Dr Woodbury and an assistant to ascertain how they managed things. His report, issued from the Children's Bureau, Washington, makes interesting reading. Dr Woodbury points out that durinx the last 20 years the infant mortality rate has been almost halved; it was 80 per 1000—last, year it was 41.8 dnot 43, as stated), yet 'the climate has not changed in these years, nor have the people, nor their mode of living, etc. What has, then? The Roval New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children, which has been founded and well subsidised by the Government, offered free advice in parentcraft to all classes. “I did not find that the New Zealand Department of Agriculture was as progressive as Miss Scanlan suggests,” the writer finally remarks. “The milk problem has still to be solved, transport is difficult, and although cattle are examined on request by Government, officials, yet, the compensation for their destruction, if proved tubercular, is only £4 —the average market price when I was there being £l2. I leave you to consider how many farmers are altruistic enough to risk this loss.”