Confessions of a Leigh Hunt

"... Every reader will welcome his account of his association with that fine example of private enterprise, the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company Limited ... in 1903 Mr Leigh Hunt founded the New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative Distributing Company Limited ... his determined and persistent agitation led to the amendment in 1910 of the Crown Suits Act so as to make the Crown liable for torts, wrongs independent of contract, such as negligence or fraud ... The part played by him in afforestation and town planning, his Dominion Farmers' Institute Scheme, his establishment of the British-American Co-operation Movement ... the Dominions need of increased population and of a steady flow of immigration ... Mr Leigh Hunt founded the Dominion Settlement Association ... Most far-seeing of all his projects was that of harnessing the West Coast Sounds first for the production of nitrates and later for aluminium, and a large number of products requiring a prodigal use of water power. Everyone who believes in private enterprise should read every line of the fate of the New Zealand Sounds Hydro-Electric Concessions Limited ... Many people will find the most fascinating part of the book that which deals with the pioneering life of the Hunt family, first on a farm in Taranaki ... and then flaxmilling on the Piako Swamp ... Uplifting is the author's account of his relations with some of the good friends he made, in which the explorers Mawson, Byrd and Evans reveal the deeper and more spiritual side of their natures ..." -- Foreword by H. F. Von Haast.