LIFE EASIER IN N.Z. THAN IN OLD COUNTRY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18901, 28 October 1929, Page 16

LIFE EASIER IN N.Z. THAN IN OLD COUNTRY.

REV J. BURNS, LONDON, ADMIRES THE DOMINION. “ The southern lakes are very beautiful, while the' mountains are very imposing and - compare very favourably with the Swiss scenery,” said the Rev James Burns, in an interview. He has been conducting the special anniversary services in connection with the sixtj'-fifth anniversary of St Paul’s Presbj'terian Church. He has been carrying on ministerial work for nine months in Dunedin, but prior to that he was in various charges in England for over twenty years. The vastness of the mountain ranges is what impressed Mr Burns. He said that in New Zealand there had been opened up a new world of intensity. He had had the opportunity of seeing the settlers pulling down the timber and had witnessed their struggles against nature. “ What great heroism was shown by the early settlers, and what a great deal New Zealand owes to them for their early strivings,” said Mr Burns. “ What a magnificent race they were! ” Referring to conditions in New Zealand, Mr Burns said that life here was much easier than in the Old Country. There were not the appalling homes and depressing slums here. In England there were the monotonous streets with not a single blade of green to please the eyes of those who toiled in those districts. For them, life was a tragedy. The industrial revolution of last century had caused crowds of men to flock to the cities to seek higher wages. They had no obligations and no sense of beauty, arid just herded together. The problem of today was to cleanse those slums and to create beauty from the waste spaces. During the war Mr Burns was a lecturer in connection with the War Office, and he often lectured to the New Zealand troops. During his association with them he had formed a very high opinion of them. They had been christened the “ apple-cheeked boys ” —their faces were round and they had such fine colouring. Another thing that impressed him with the New Zealanders was their wonderful hospitality, also their broadness of view when the future of the country was considered. They were very unselfish.