BEAUTY OF PARKS

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1935, Page 4

BEAUTY OF PARKS

PRAISE OF BRADFORD MAN. I i NEW ZEALAND’S WINDING ROADS. Tribute to the scenic qualities of New Zealand in general and New Plymouth in particular was paid by Mr. A. H. Smith, a Bradford merchant and aiderman of that city, who arrived at New Plymouth yesterday in the course of a tour of New Zealand. He will leave this morning by car for Palmerston North. “I have been astonished and delighted by an inspection of New Plymouth’s parks,” he told a reporter last night. “In the quality of the scenery, their attractive layout and sheer beauty, the parks are as fine as anything I have seen and I can only say that the beauties of Pukekura Park and Brooklands compare favourably, with those of the Kew Gardens.” Mr. Smith, commenting on the remarkable fernery at Pukekura Park, said it was a most amazing place. The wealth of ferns was incredible and he wished that England had the same natural flora. Of New Zealand scenery seen in his short tour, Mr. Smith was particularly enthusiastic about Waitomo. It was, he considered, unique in the world. In his own Yorkshire, caves were plentiful, but none approached Waitomo. Rotorua he classed as a unique experience. Mr. Smith is one of 25 aidermen of the city of Bradford, a position that requires at least three days’ solid work a week. In additional, he is a director of several companies and an enthusiastic sportsman. He saw the All Blacks defeat Yorkshire just before he sailed for New Zealand and admired the New Zealanders’ play. His only complaint against New Zealand is the winding nature of the roads. He admits to being of a mathematical turn of mind and says he has counted 10,201 bends in the car journey from Napier via Taupo and Rotorua to Auckland, thence to New Plymouth via Waitomo. He told the reporter that he counted nearly 3000 bends between Waitomo and New Plymouth. “But the bends are worth it,” he said. “The Awakino Gorge and Mount Messenger are two drives as lovely as I have seen.”