DOMINION SUMMED UP.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 93, 13 January 1908, Page 8

DOMINION SUMMED UP.

VISITOR'S VIEWS. GREAT RESOURCES—DOUBTFUL LAWS. (BY TELEGRAM—SPECIAL - CORRESPONDENT.) , ■ Auckland,. January,.ll.. , . According to Mr. Richard,Garnett, a Yorkshire politician, now. in Auckland, New Zealand is an earthly:paradise, for;the working man on the land. Mr. Gnrriett's general observations and comparisons, ••as.;furnished to an interviewer, contain rather more, than the ordinary amount of food: forethought/ Ho stated that on the whole ho was very favourably impressed with New Zealand. The most striking feature.,to him was tho Dominion's amazing vitality. Ho was filled with wonder when he reflected how much had been accomplished horo in sixty years. . "A great many of tho things you have done here,", .he went on,' referring to Ne,w Zealand legislation iuore particularly, "we look upon with more or less , suspicion at Homo, if not with wonder: . Whilst many 'hold tho opinion, that these things are speculative, they-must, of course, be judged by results, and so far your country shows striking prosperity,"' ■ COST OF LIVING IN WELLINGTON. "Have you studied our social conditions?"' "Ye's. The . first thins, that struck mo about them was the very, great cost of living in Wellington. I was really astounded; at tho'high prico of. every necessary of life, with the possible exception of meat.\ Clothes were frightfully, dear, and' fruit' and a~ great many other things that aro-cheap at Home appeared only'to be within reach of tho rich. 1 " I was speaking to a tram conductor in Wellington, who told me that he was only just recently out from the Old, Country, where lie had been earning 28s. per week. In Wellington his wages ,wero/ £3, but he was actually better oft at Home. How far that indicates the general position of artisans in New Zealand towns I'do. not know, but it seems to me it is a moot point whether tho workers in your towns, despite their increased are much better off than our artisans at Home. • . ■. LUCKY' MAN ON THE LAND. - - -: "As to social conditions in New Zealand, generally speaking, I believe .the . average comfort of your- people is better than, that of ours. I think that where you cet that groat'advantage is,in your labouring .population in-the country districts.- In comparison with, tho samo.''class..in Eiwland- they. are. as aristocrats to paupers almost. / .;. " Farm.;labourers, in some of the English rural counties have ..tq.-Ji.ve on a more pittance, compared to, tho wages, of-.first-class; farming men here. There Js no-denying it: our farm labourers at Home would find New Zealand 'an' earthly paradise.' ' An 'excep->. tionally good. wage, on an ■ English rural parish farm is £1 lier'week, whilst'the-'pros-pect' of ever becoming a .farmer is-quite out of ,the question. Here there is a chance for , every frugal . man' to . become'a, farmer." EXPORTING' THE' GOOD: IMPORTING | - THE BAD. - ■-

Mr. Garnett went on to say, that he was' vary forcibly impressed by one thing on leaving Home.- Tne day he left he saw.on St. I'aucras Station a , couple of hundred l'olislj Jews, Austrians, and Italians, who had just arrived in the Metropolis. They comprised as starved, miserable, and dejected a lot of human beings as he had over soen. There they'stood; huddled together, with no hope' and no happiness. Then ho wont 011 to. the boat to cbme. to Now Zealand, and found thero a couple of hundred of 'about as smart and happy men, young and,'up .to forty years, of age, as oho could meot, on the way to this Dominion. He had noticed since arriving hero that the lonic and the Atiionic had brought out hundreds more of the samo type. "Thus you see," ho remarked, "while wo are sonding out of England our strong,' vigorous,'"and virile young'menj we are taking in a typo that must ino'vitably lower the standard of artisans at Homo—a type that may' also become a burden on the State.

. "I was talking to two clergymen from country parishes in England, who told .me that this process of depopulation was going on all over tho country, one saying that-in some parts none but old people and children Were. loft. The others wero fleeing as if from the plague. Wo shall - havo to do something at Homo for our agricultural population. I,was. of that opinion before, I came hore, but am more than ever, convinced of it how. Something will havo to bo' done to keep our young people at Homo."

WHAT OUR GRASS CAN DO. • "You are impressed, then, with tho prosperity of our .farming community?" "Your farmers in the Auckland district have been making money, I am told, by soiling milk at 3Jd. per* i gallon to the 1 creameries. Well, at 6d. per gallon .wo could not manage to milk at, Home at a' profit. Then T hear that your farmers are getting 3d:, for mutton, and are doing well, at that price. Twice that amount at Home would'bo considered ruiiious by. our farmers. Yes, I am greatly impressed by the.agricultural prosperity of Now Zealand. I think it is due in tho first place to tho virginity of your soil and climatic conditions, and, secondly, to your officient system of. cooperation and centralisation, which is established all over the Islands, and which would be an 'cyo-opener' to many of our agriculturists at Home."

THE ONLY DANGER. "To my mind," added Mr. Garnett, "the only thing New Zealand has got to fear is herself, through her legislation. : An ordinary country—by which I mean a country, with less natural resources—could not possibly liavo withstood som'o of the legislation that has been passed hero—such, for instance, as the branch of .it which artificially fixes wages. It must follow that if you raise the value of worknion's wages beyond a natural line everything those workmen make or manipulate mnst increase.in .cost." _ Oil tho subject of colonial preference, Mr. Garnett oppressed tho conviction that, whon once the people of England have been appealed to on-that issue alone, when it is not confused with any othor issue, they will give a far more favourable verdict than bofore. '. Mr " r Ga '' nett stood for tho St. Austell's divi«P» , Cornwall at- the last election as a Liberal Unionist, and was defeated bv Mr. c Tmifi' ,° < J' ondon and Sydney'firm of M Arthur and Co. The lattcr's resignation leaves the seat unexpectedly vacant, and to Mr. Garnett s disappointment lie cannot stand for it at the by-elect-ion in February..