THE FORTUNATE ISLES.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 May 1925, Page 7

THE FORTUNATE ISLES.

IMPRESSIONS OF DOMINION, “You New Zealanders do not realise in what a wonderful country you are living,” said Sir Hector Duff, of London, in speaking of his impressions after a month in New Zealand. Sir Hector was formerly Governor of Nyassaland, South Africa, and is a keen sportsman, both with rod and grtn. “What has struck me most,” said Sir Hector, “is how animals introduced into your Dominion, prosper and increase in size and number. Your trout are as big as our salmon, and it is reported that a wapiti has been - shot in the South that beats American records for size. The red deer have increased until they have bccotne a pest, and as this is not an isolated case of imported pests, I imagine 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 bisitors, and even against the great handicap of distance more sportsmen will visit New Zealand as its attractions become more widely known.” Sii*i Hector Duff has recently been ing at Taupo and Rotorua, after visiting Hawke’s Bay, where he has landed in,teresis. He remarked of the fishing that it was “inost phenomenal,” a great asset, and he had enjoyed liis fishing trip greatly. . Everywhere he had been Sir Hector has been impressed by the friendly feel- • ings held toward Britain. Nowhere else in the Empire had he found so cordial a lov£ for the Motherland. This he attributed largely to the purity of the British stock. Finally, he returned to his fii-st remark, that New Zcalaiiders did not realise how fortunate they were in this land. There might still be a legacy of the post-war boom and depression, especially in regard to land values and rentals, nut generally the country was fairly in the way of prosperity.