“WONDERFUL PEOPLE”

Southland Times, Issue 20618, 17 October 1928, Page 12

“WONDERFUL PEOPLE”

VISITOR’S IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ZEALAND. “You have got a wonderful country and the people in it are more wonderful still. I tell you honestly no halo that God could give them would be too good.” Such was the opinion of New Zealand and New Zealanders expressed by an American visitor to the Dominion recently. “What strikes me most,” he continued, “is the wonderful spirit of hospitality that is evident wherever one goes. You are welcomed as a brother by everyone. I have never seen anything like it, and we are supposed to be very hospitable in the States. “As for the scenery it’s marvellous. I was taken for a motor drive up to the top of Mount Victoria to se the view from there. If you can show me anything finer I should like to see it. The whole country is an ever-changing scene. I tell you straight,” he added in a tone of conviction, “that if I did not have to go back to the States I should like to settle down here.” “What do you think of the facilities for travelling?” he was asked. “Splendid,” was the reply. “I have no complaints to make at all. The railways I consider most comfortable, and I like the styles of the carriages. Another thing that impressed me greatly was the civility which I met with on all the trains and boats. In fact, everywhere I went I was treated with the utmost courtesy. There is one thing you New Zealanders should be absolutely proud of, and that is that ferry service between Wellington and Lyttelton. It’s parvellous! I’ve travelled on ferry steamers all over the world, and on the ‘crackerjack’ services in America, but none of them can touch this one. Why those two boats are more like express trains. They shoot out of the wharf at full speed, go for their lives, and when they get to the other end of their journey the passengers are off in no time.” “The whole country sems tn be run on the most up-to-date lines,” was his next observation. “The hotels are good, and you have all sorte of novelties and innovations that one would never expect to find. I must say, however, that the North Island seems to be brighter than the South—especially the far south.”