WELCOME SPRING.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17678, 31 August 1929, Page 4

WELCOME SPRING.

Winter in New Zealand, by comparison with certain other lessfavoured latitudes, usually is very little more than • a dull interval between autumn and spring sunshine. Our New Zealand-born probably find it difficult to understand the enthusiasm and rejoicing with which in countries where winter means a long spell of rigorous conditions the return of spring is heralded. Longfellow, in his “Hiawatha,” speaks of “the long and dreary winter, the cold and cruel winter,” which overcasts his native America. In such latitudes Nature is imprisoned, and unless people, like the ant and the squirrel, make provision for the event, hardship and privation may befall them. In ‘Antarctica, the Byrd expedition has been without the sun for approximately half the year. They have lived a life if semi-hibernation, securely burrowed under the snow. One can 'imagine their feelings at the return of the sun, and even in this mild country of ours appreciate ..the exuberance that prompted the hoisting of the flags and the salute to the three nations —America, Great Britain and Norway—'associated with the conquest of the South Polar region. One may also compliment that act of foresight in organisation which enabled the members of the expedition to top off their celebration with a turkey dinner.