ENGLAND AFTER THE WAR.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16962, 11 October 1920, Page 8

ENGLAND AFTER THE WAR.

CHAT WITH ME W. H. TISDALL.

After an absence of fifteen months, spent in visiting England, Prance, Belgium, and Canada, Mr W. H. Tisdall, who is well known in motoring nnd acclimatisation circles. returned to Christchurch on Saturday. If; Tvas in 1912-13 that Mr Tisdall previously visited t'he Old Country, and i.-ompared with that occasion the thing that struck him most when he landed I hero a year a«io was that thorc seemed to bo less abject poverty. The workers jippeared tp be much better dressed, and. despito ibod shortages, well-nour-ished. At first Mr Tisdall found considerable difficulty in getting S°O(ls— rveryon« seemed to have that all "one" feeling, the reaction after the Strain "and stress of the war period. Before leaving England the position was much better. Boot manufacturers :vaA jewellers appeared to havo overtaken their orders, but in other tradea manufacturers (hod big orders still to t;xecute. As an instance, Mr Tisdall found that Slazongere, in August last, had £7000 of orders for tennis racquets, and were not ablo to take further orders till those in hand were executed. That firm's troubles ■were due to some extent to the difficulty in gettinge seasoned timber. Golf balls were also difficult to obtain. Mr Tisdall discussed the question of importing game with a number of people, and found that it was a big problem. Ho'made enquiries while in British Columbia regarding ruffed grouse. It was, he said, a very nice bird, about ' the size of a hen •pheasant, but was not a. sporting bird in any sense of the word. Ho had strongly advised to recommend the importation of Hungarian partridge. The Hungarian partridge was a game bird, and was spoken of highly in British Columbia. They had been successful in that country in acclimatising tho British pheasant, and astonishment was expressed when Mr Tisdall stated that this bird (had not 1~«cn successfully acclimatised in New Zealand, with the exception of the Auckland province. When Mr Tisdall arrived in England, • ho found the roads, from the motorisvs ; point of view, in a very bad condition, : as was to be expected from the frightfully heavy traffic they carried during ! the war period; they were, however, ' rapidly being improved. H© was struck by the immenso number of metor-lor-riee on tho roads- and the great j amount of goods traffic being Carried. ! Another outstanding feature was the i great number of char-a-bancs j mission.. He saw the square at EourneI month filled with these conI veyanoes, ■which, must have brought i thousands of visitors. Weekly and forti .nightly excursions were now run all ! over England, Wales, and Scotland, the rate being £2 por day, which, included good fcotel accommodation and visits ■ tso all the scenic and historic attractions. "But they will have to classify the English roads," remarked Mr Tis- : dall, "and keep the char-a-bancs off "; the'narrow ones. If you meet them in sin English lane you- cannot pass them, '■ and .it becomes a question, of someone backing and getting to a friendly gate." When in Vancouver, Mr Tisdall mode • some enquiries regarding the price of ! petrol, and discussed the subject with. a. representative of the Standard Oil > Company. He stated that they were ■ retooling petrol at 42 cents per impe- ! rial gallon, and he asked Mr Tisdall ) why New Zealand did not import petrol in steel barrels, containing 40 unpeJ rial gallons. The barrels themselves : cost £5, but the full price- was given j when tine barrels were returned. Each I .petrol case cost 28 cents and each tin . 35 cents—a total of about one dollar.

: Assuming that a more or less nominal return freight -was charged on the \ empty barrels, it seemed likely that a ,' considerable soring would be effected *by importing petrol in barrels. Ap- ; proximately, it would mean a reduction. .' of close upon ono-half. Mr Tisdall •&&& impressed with the large number of : cars he saw in the American and Canadian cities, and tiho almost total ab- - tsenco of| the motor-cycle and the ordinary push-bicyclo; but he was not impressed with the condition of the streets in some of the cities he visited—their j condition would not bo tolerated either J in England or New Zealand.