On the Way to New Australia.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 149, 23 June 1894, Page 12

On the Way to New Australia.

Is Paraguay.

By the Rev. Fred. Hastings,

(From the 'Sydney Daily Telegraph.')

' You shall be called in good time,' said the landlord of the Argentina, as I retired to reati. I waa called just a boat tbe time the train was starting, Tbe next night I tried to fall back on my own awakening powers. Alas, I conld nob sleep. Well, the moaquiboeg had something to do with that, and I fear the walls will tell the tale of slaughter. Ib seemed as though word had gone round to all mosquitoes in the neighbourhood, and they came to fatten on tbe blood of a stranger. Anyhow, they made me watchful. I eat up in the great rocking chair several hoars, and when the waiter came he was surprised to ccc me ready. As it> wag, I bad only jusb time. The only train of the day to Villa Rica starts ab half-pasb 6, and I had half-an-hour'a walk to the station. There was a crowd at the station. How they crushed one another ab the booking-office. They bad no idea of forming a line and taking turns. The station is really a fine one, but the carriages are emalL The first-class are aboub half the usual length. The whole line belongs to an English company. Ib cannot) pay much for the trains are so infrequent and tbe rates bo low. 1 wenb to Villa Rica, 92 miles, first-class, for about 9s. The third-claes rate is very low, to suit the poverty of the people. No allowance is made on the double journey, and do return tickets are issued. When once people got inland, it is evidently the desire of the authorities that they should nob return. The Womek. Ab every station swarms of women are gathered to supply passengers with melons, bread, confections, sausages and jars to carry cold water. Girls bring tins of cold water round and frequently a small black kettle with hob water for mate drinkers. Ab the stations, too, are beggars, some of them, alas, hideoua specimens of humanity, offspring of the incostnouti unions and intermarrying so common in the land. One woman, who carried aboub a dozen hats on her head, did large business. . Thoy were only aboub 8d each, and well ma.de. Many carried their combs in the hair, and ib caused no surprise to anybody to sco them with hair down, and the hands busy at coming. Tbe cigar was in all mouth?, but one woman, who had a large mouth, bad a cigar alighb which must have been about Bin. in length and over l£in in diameter. Ib would probably last her all day. One passed now and then a good quinta or residence, with orange groves, bananae, aloes and palms in abundance, but generally nothing bub the adobe or mud-builb huts are seen. Under the broad covered unenclosed half of the hut bedsteads were in many cases occupied by those who did nob care to ' pick up the early worm.' Some were just turning out of bed ; others were preparing the breakfast), pounding tho maize, cooking mandiooa or boiling water for the mate beverage. Palm and orange trees arc on every hand. Flowering shrubs and broad-leaved plants growing luxuriantly wild toil of tbe tropical character of the climate. The soil is red. Brick kilns are many. On we go skirting the large Ypacary Lake ; bbec under the shadow of bold and well-wooded hills. We are gazing on part of the great Cordillera range, on to where the Corro Mbatovi stands up boldly against tho cobalt sky. In tbis mountain is a cave in which the country people believe St. Thomas, the Apostle, once dwelt. That apostle is credited with having travelled to many places, and he may have crossed to this land before Columbus discovered America. A beautiful little town, with a large white verandah-shaded church, attracts notice. It is Paraguari, and jusb beyond ib the place where nearly 200 former colonists, called ' Lincolnshire farmers,' lte buried. Over 800 of the survivors were rescued only 20 years ago by an Argentine society and a benevolent man. Before Paraguari was reached, a largo house was pointed oub standing ab the foot of a beautiful hill. It was the summer palace which Lopez built for a gay Irish woman, the celebrated Mrs Lynch. She ought to have been lynched, as.'people credib her with having greatly marred the usefulness of a man who, with all his faults, was a bold progressive man, one who loved his country and did his best to protect its interests. At Sapulcai the new locomotive works are seen, and standing in the yard is the quaint old engine and guard-van which was used by the British Army in the Crimea, and used up to a very recent date for taking pay to workers and officials on the line. A special engine and carriage would certainly be wanted now, for the currency is bulky. I noticed. a young man in the train undo a pockeb handkerchief and reveal a bundle of notes as large as a quartern loaf. A hundred pounds in dollar notes is a bulky amount, but what would ib be in the halfreal notes worth a halfpenny ? Eight boure in the train, and only 92 miles covered. Slowly and surely. Still, the journey was very interesting owing to the many novel eights. Ib would be more tedious a second time. Meeting New Australians. At Cabillero I wan surprised ab being accosted hy.name. Two of the New Australian colony were waiting there for the coming ' second batch,' They wore getting

bullock waggons ready. To find 40 could be no easy task ; they would want that number to carry the women and the baggage. The carretaa are very largewheeled waggons, covered ab the top with zinc. A ton is a good load for six bollocks over the rough track they will have to go. I inquired whether I could get horses and guide at thab place, bub the answer waa in the negative. I must, thereforge, go on to Villa Rica, where I had been told I should have a better chance. Villa Rica is a scattered place of about 10,000 people, and in the centre of a rich agricultural district. Here lam fortunate enough to to be welcomed by the manager ot a great sawmill. He nob only received me into hia home, bob promised to supply me with horses and send his son as my guide. It was through a letter in advance sent by a friend that I bad such an unexpected welcome. Mr Urqubarb made me feel deeply grateful for his kindness, and he has made a number of New Australian colonists feel grateful. He received those who were ejected by Mr Lane, and belped some to get away from the.country or to find a place of shelter and work. Some through him went to She new colony started by and called after the present President 4 The Gonzalez colony.' - Others he helped to purchase small holdings. I saw the home and holding of one who bad boen aided by Mr Urquhart. He bad left willingly the New Australia, and it waa a pleasure to see bow hopeful he waa. Mr Urquhart) rode over about two miles with me to the place. Here was a native house, a large orange grove, banana plantation, mandioca patch, lucerne, peas and maize in abundance. Twelve acres and the house of mud had been bought for £30. The purchaser said that he felt far more happy than in the New Australia. He was going to start bee-keeping also. 'It won't do in this country to depend on one thing alone,' was his wise remark. New Australians and Their Tales. I meb ab the house of Mr Urquhart several of those who had recently left the new settlement. It was etrange to see their eagerness that one sent by the great journals of Australia should communicate to their brothers in old colonies the disappointment they fefb in this. While young people were singing in one part of the large room, while their matrons were gossiping in another corner, about half a dozen seceders were round me in another. They poured into my ears their tales of annoyance, of broken ideals, of bitter regrets, and wrongful treatment. They complained that there was a difference in the basis of organisation. The settlemonb had been registered as a land company with a capital of £20,000. Proxies had to be approved by the Chairman, Mr \V. Lane. He could apply the proxies of those absent to check the carrying out oi the wishes of the pioneers. Although a large number signed a requisition to hold a meeting, Mr Lane utterly ignored ib. One said there had been disagreement with the Chairman from the start; that if they could after two weeks' voyage out have found an island on which a great number could have been left, they wonld gladly have forsaken the enterprise of the New Australia. Some evidently were disappointed because their own supposed personal merits were overlooked. One of the men who was foremost in talk that eveniag, was a man who was certainly not fitted to do much towards building up the settlement, but tho resb were men of splendid physique and determination, who mighb do good work anywhere. Onecompl&ined when turned adrift here ib was useless to try to get employment, as the natives all worked for such a pittance. Another bad, by the appearance of his wife, reason to complain of the hardships endured on the ' Tar,' in the transit for three days in a bullock dray lying on goods, and with the face only 2ft from the iron covering, heated mercilessly by the tropical sun. Great complaints were made of the way in which tea and coffee had been ab once withheld from the woman, and only mate substituted as a beverage. None could go and purchase any little luxuries. The Complaints against Mb Lane. Then they complained of the way in which Mr Lane, as a sorb of dictator, favoured only men of the Queensland shearer class, and ignored the better educated, thoughtful and competent men who from principle had joined the movement. The constant) suspicion and bickering made life unbearable. Boycotting was resorted Co by Lane's followers, threats were used, police were called in to give effect to the decisions of Mr Lane as a Paraguayan magistrate, ejectments were sudden and forcible ' Men and women unfit to travel had to go.' ciucli were the words I listened to. But the one thing thab made a deop impression on me waa the assertion that a large number of natives had to be ejected from their holdings to make room for the colonists. The land granted by the Paraguayan Government was nob very valuable. Ib was almosb useless. Better was wanted. More land was boughb from the Lowrie estate. On this estate were numbers of natives who had cleared patches in the wooda, planted crop?, and paid rent for the privilege. It is said that as many as 500 families wero scattered over the estate and the lands granted by the Government. Turning Out the Nattves. Mr Lane with a police officer served notices of ejectment on numbers of these natives. They were told tbab if they re ! mained their rents would be doubled or quadrupled. They were told that the Government would give othor land and give I them titles to the land. Bub the people did nob wi?h to leave homes built by the%ieelvos, their orange groves and banana plantations, their mandioca and maize patches. They were, however, compelled | in many cases to move. They feared the 1 police They looked with horror on the rude way in which the newcomers helped themselves to sacksful of oraugea and gave nothing in return. They were, however, promised compensation for all standing crops, and thab they actually received. When, however, some of the new colonists, learned the actual state of things, and learned that it had been found necessary to obtain such questionable advantages becauee tho land granted by the Government had been of such little worth, they were wroth. They said, 'We did not flee from the tyranny of capital and the greed of large landed proprietors to become ourselves in a corporate capacity land-grabbers and rack-renters.' They thought they had gone beyond the limits of population, and that they were to make a paradise of a desolation, and nob a place of weeping for the rutal and gantlo-spirited natives of the soil. Now Mr Lane know of this -before tho tirst batch sailed. He«told one that there was ' only one old woman on the land : then lie admitted that there might bo eiphb families.' The eight families meant more than 800 aouls. Such were the storias I had to hear. I must ascertain if possible how far they aro to ha accepted and whab counterbalancing there is. There were also further complaints that Mr Lane, without consulting any but his subservient committee, had suddenly resolved to send Mrs Lane to Australia to look for young women to come to the settlement. She had to tdke someone with her to holp to attend to her children. This, some of them said, is in direct opposition to the social-equality idea on which the colony was supposed to be founded ; no one is supposed to take service under an individual. They thought her also unsuitable for the work, as in the colony she seemed to hold aloof from I others. Apart from having to listen to so much that saddened me in respect to an enterprise thab started with euch promise, I greatly enjoyed my stay at Villa Rica. The town has so much that was strange to me. (To be Continued.)