NEW ZEALAND PRAISED

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20464, 2 April 1938, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND PRAISED

A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY SIR STENSON COOKES REMARKS “I have been delighted with my stay in New Zealand. Your people have been wonderfully kind and I am taking back with me to England the fondest recollections of your beautiful country,” said Sir Stenson Cooke, general secretary of the Automobile Association of Great Britain when interviewed by a Waikato Times reporter yesterday. Speaking of Hamilton Sir Stenson said he considered it to be a beautiful town and one he thought was destined to become great in the future. The adjacent farming lands spoke for themselves and their productivity was surely reflected in Hamilton itself. The advisory committee of the Auckland Association tended a complimentary luncheon to Sir Stenson Cooke in Hamilton yesterday. Mr F. E. Mason presided. Addressing the gathering, Sir Stenson said it was a compliment to the association that the Automobile Association in Auckland had so closely followed in the footsteps of the London body. He suggested that one of the reasons why the Auckland Association was the largest and most influential in New Zealand was because the executive had not been slow to take advantage of the experience gained by the officials in England and had adopted the services and benefits which they had tried and proved to be of benefit to the motoring movement. In England the Automobile Association had a membership approaching 700,00(1 and its income was over £1,000,000 a year. There were thousands of road patrols and roadside telephone boxes so that a member could call for assistance when in need.