A TOUR ABROAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 185, 4 August 1923, Page 9

A TOUR ABROAD.

RGW ZEALANDER IN TEXAS. WONDERFUL. COUNTRY. I/eft a third share in a property of ?65 acres, right in the centre of the oilhearing country in Texas, Mr. Frank Cflewer, of Wellington, left New Zealand i some months ago,- to visit the property. ( Be hart many interesting reminiscences j of his tour to relate, when seen by a j "Dominion"' representative. , "The day after I arrived in Kastland, , the city of the oil-belt, the local daily wrote a column about mc and the business of my visit," said Mr. Clewer, Pro- | ducang a* cutting from the "Oil Belt j DaQy Xews." The paper learned with great interest that the English language was spoken in New Zealand, and commended the visitor on his being familiar ' with the "American method of speech," j as it termed it. i "I was not there long before 1 en- > ( lightened the good people of Texas about i t this country," he said, "and gave them:) facts <and figures that must have im- * pressed them about New Zealand, for ; they, devoted three columns of their , epace to the Dominion and its place in 1 the sun. During the whole time I was , tlier* people sought mc out, and took , the keenest interest in everything I told j them about Xew Zealand. '"The People of Texas are very like ] our own folk, except that they take life much less seriously. It is a 'dry' State, hut Mexico, across the border, is wet, | and Te.v.tns get all the liquor they want. \ Although by nature a peaceful, law- ! abiding people, they have more crime in !! their midst now than they ever had, '] chiefly through the.effects of the dread- i ftil liquor that comes across the Mcxi- I] can border; They are descendants of j ] English, Irish, and Scotch immigrants, j ] The great ranches have been cut up, and | men, whose" hair is turning white, will i sadly recall stories of the roaring cow- j boy days that are now no more. I f I New Zealanders had Iheir wonderful country—it is four times the size of tiermany and about 120u miles across —they would make millions from it. "In Texas they have a tax on motor spirit. It usually amounts to id per gallon, which costs !(}d. Everybody ihere thinks it is the fairest tax for the I upkeep of the> roads. The man who . ( motors a good deal pays his tax propor- ; t innately to the amount of petrol he con- ; sumes, but the tax does not press j ' heavily on the 'man who only uses his ; ! car occasionally, at week-ends. Wages i are the same as in New Zealand. There are no industrial troubles, and very few , ! unemployed. Mexicans do all the work { on the railways. Schools are good, j' and the churches are well-attended. The I' white and coloured populations have ,' separate railway carriages, and waiting- I ' rooms. Cotton, corn, wheat, and cattle ! are the staple industries. The cattle j i are chiefly Merefor'ds. Dancing is almost j entirely prohibited. There are no fixed j sports," although, wliile l was there, j forty men were arrested for being asso- , ciated with cockfighting." , After giving his impressions of the in- . dtiatrial ' situation, in England, Mr. Clewer said: "1 am not "cracking up" ' New Zealand to be anything flash, but it's flasher, than the next-best country in the world to-day. - It's a long way ! ' better than the- Old Country, w'ncrc I| ' was born and reared. If we were only ; ' 3000 miles away from Britain, we would j suffer the same evils of over-population 1' and industrial'distress from which they < suffe*. ,, l ' '