Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-02
new ZEALAND HAS
UNUSUAL FEATURES
British Colony Is Devoted to
.Anti-Poverty Policy; Feels
High Living Cost.

Even the NewsiZealanders. 80 far
out OF the beaten traoh: Of world
events that their institutions and
customs have developed along unique
lines, and so self-sustaining that the
world war scarcely affected their
food supply. are not isolated enough
to escape the universal pinch Of high
living cost, according to recent dis
patches. s.~.. -. Fl. %. =~
Tire National Geographic Society
has issued the following bulletin con-
corning our antipodal neighbor: a..
lima CINE bootlike italy inverted,
with the tip of her peninsular toe
Australia. some 1000 miles distant.
and you gain 9 picture. both in size
and contour, of New Zealand, ...t
Unique characteristics.
Long accounted . social science
laboratory and political experiment
stations some physical features of
New Zealand are equally unusual.
biologists found there a tailless bird
evolutionary souvenir. they believe, Of
the now extinct wingless moa, rang
ing in size from that of turkey to a
super-ostrich height of twelve feet
from head to ground. Then there is
a caterpillar which dies. but to live
again in thes form of plant. which
blossoms and goes to seed.
in the instep of the sRnd boot
Is an area equal to that of Sonnecti-
cut and Delaware together. where
boiling springs spout from shores of
ice-cold lakes. and kissing pillars OF
steam and columned vapors puncture
the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. comparable
only to the steaming. vaporous valley
of Ten Thousand Smokes, near Mt.
katmai, Alaska
"EHcre. as in Alaska, it is a case of
'cherchez lie volcan,' and the volcano
Is to be found in the extinct crater
springs district extends into the sea.
and energies again in the barren peak
1000 feet high, hooded in billowy wells
Of white yapor.
Attracting the publicist because it
has the newest governmental expert
ments-compuIsory arbitration, old
age pensions, tax exemptions on small
farms, for example-New Zealand in
terests the geologist for an opposite
reason. because it is among the oldest
portions of the earth's solidifled sur
seldom is a clearer Illustration to
be had OF the effects OF geography
sssason iss in sh New zsa
land, once with the Maoris. and then
with the English colonies. The
Maorfs, among the most remarkable
of all savage tribes. are Poiynesians.
They came some 500 years ago. some
say, from Tahiti and e6und the
aborigines 'unappetizing. but, as the
event proved. not indigestible.'
Stimulated by Climate.
THE climate of New Zealand, with
Its elastic air and perpetual notion
10 more Stimulating than the ener.
waiting air of most Polynesian islands.
Food was not waiting to be plucked'
from trees, and shelter had to be
provided. Hence the latent instincts
Of these savage cannibals were de-
veloped here as nowhere else and.
even before the English came, the
Naoris had gable-roofed houses. with
deliberately carved posts and lintels,
and interiors decorated with designs
Of crude beauty.
women were needed in the strug-
gle against harsher natural forces, so
they won. positions of esteem. and
were represented in tribal councils.
They were ingenious enough to bake
meats on heated stones; but not. too