NEW ZEALAND PRAISED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 8, 10 January 1929, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND PRAISED

PROFESSOR OSBORNE’S VISIT PAKEHA AND MAORI VANCOUVER, Dee. 30. No one could speak in more glowing terms of New Zealand, its people, its customs, its institutions, and its pride of race than does Professor W. F. Osi borne, of the University of Manitoba, who recently returned from a comprehensive tour of the DominionProfessor Osborne, in an address in Vancouver, said that the most arresting impression of his tour was the New Zealander’s pride in being British and his manner of treating the Maoris. The newspapers, reporting his addres", gave prominent notice to the fact that the constitution and practice of Now Zealand was to afford absolute equality before the law to the Maoris. Their high standard of intelligence, the culture of their educated classes, the legislative capacity of their leaders, and the desire of the race generally to ‘‘break even” with the pakeha in matters of civic and national aspiration, were factors that made him marvel at the results New Zealand has produced in the Maoris. “If you seek the best British sentiment, you will find it in New Zealand, among both races,” the professor saia. “It is a standing example to the truth of the saying that no nation in the* world can handle natives like the British. There is inspiration in the history of the fighting that took place between the British and Maoris, and the abiding friendship between them that followedNo one mentions colour line in New Zealand; it would hurt the susceptibilities of the Maoris, who made a great sacrifice for the cause of the Empire in the Great War- Their history as a subject race has no parallel in the world *s history.” Of the climate and physical configuration of New Zealand, Professor Osborne spoke in superlative terms. “Charming, event to the point of bewitching,” he said. Her natural beauties were incomparable. It was no doubt the most beautiful part of the globe. Other countries might have material advantages over New Zealand, but none could compare with her for natural beauty, the charm and hospitality of her people, and their determination that their country should maintain the British tradition in the lives and habits of the people and in the legislative products of their civic find national institutions-