A SPORTING PARADISE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3713, 12 May 1925, Page 7

A SPORTING PARADISE.

CONDITIONS IN NEW ZEALAND. AUCKLAND, May 5. “You New Zealanders do not realise in what a wonderful country you are living,” said Sir Hector Duff, of London, in speaking last evening of his impressions after a month spent in New Zealand. Sir Hector was formerly Governor of Nyassaland, South Africa, and is a keen sportsman, lx>th with rod and gun. “What has struck me most,” said Sir Hector, ‘is how animals introduced into your dominion prosper and increase in size and number. Lour trout are as big as our salmon, and it is reported that Wapiti have been shot in the south that beat American records for size. Red deer have increased until they have become pests, and as this is not an isolated case of imported pests, I imagine that New Zealand will watch further introductions very carefully. If your country were nearer Britain, its fame as a sporting paradise would attract a flood of visitors, and even against the great handicap of distance more sportsmen will visit New Zealand as its attractions become more widely known.” Sir Hector Duff has recently been fishing at Taupo and Rotorua, after visiting Hawke’s Bay, where he has landed interests. He remarked of the fishing that it was “most phenomenal” and a great asset, and he had enjoyed his fishing trip greatly. New Zealanders did not realise now fortunate they were in this land. The*® might Hill be a legacy of post-war boom and depression, especially in regard to land values and rentals, but generally the country was fairly in the way of prosperity. Compared with the difficulties under which Britain was labouring the dominion was very lucky indeed, and those who were irclined to grumble, Sir Hector advised to spend a little time on the other aO of the world. After a study of conditions there they would be gla4 to Teturn to New Zealand and to rejoice in a land which Nature scorned to nave especially favoured.