BACK FROM HOME.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 103, 24 January 1908, Page 8

BACK FROM HOME.

AIR. FRED.' TOWNSEND INTERVIEWED. -.'Among'the passengers arrive ,back from Home yesterday was Mr. . Fred. : Townsond, of ; tlio iirm'of Townsend and Paul,- ex-Mayor of Miramar, and a member: of the. Wellington Harbour . Board. Mr. Townsend-.; left; -Wei-, lington some ten months ago, partly -to recover his health, and - partly oi\ pleasure, on both of wliich' counts ■ho i succeeded.' -/Mr. Townsend, who iwas . accompanipdi.by his .wife and son, .went -Home via. ; .the Suez ;C!Uial,>. left the ship at Naples, ;.aiyl wandered leisurely through Rome, • Florence,-v Venice, ; Milan, and' Luccrne, which ; pleusant- tour, . was followed., by. a .week "atyPdris.: Mr.-. Townsend | was in London four years ago,' but he' remarked , that it was .a; greatly im- : proved' London' that' lie ;gaw- last year. The. alteration, of the. streets, and the making- of the' "lCingswayj". is: goingVto 'add considerable: dignity. to'- the city,, .wbilo: its' construction has- removed much .' of what. was objectionable. '..After-" a - stay.,- in. .London; the party,tmtrc.d the.-Midlands','''and .then;Wci.it' north to; Edinburgh; did the Trossachs, made good. uso. of . Glasgow's: .splehdid :; tra.ni. service', 1 and after that crossed' ovcr -to, Belfast., At' Dublin they visited ,tbe'Exhibition,, where •Canada outshone every, other, country with,, a -display, that cost ■ £25,000,,-He '.considered the New Zealand-exhibit '.was-tho next best in the-show, and it was attracting a good deal ■ of . attention among . tlio I' visitors, '■ but though a creditable display, was made,' hp ; thought' it a • pity' the, Government' had not, gone 'a little farther for another £-100 or £500 would have made our. excellent display, really a splendid one. ' : ; After Dublin fcame', a tour of through' the Gap of Dunloe; to Cork 1 , then back nortlr to Dublin, and over to Liverpool. Speaking ; on, matters ; municipal',' Mr. -Townsend says that as far as his 'observation' went 'WO had little, if anything,; to learn in municipal politics and government .ill' Now-'Zeal-and; or in. our business 'methods generally for that'matter.. Of .-course* the Glasgow oleotric tram . system was : tlio', best in the world; but in many of the cities the.'old-fashioned-'methods ' were still pursued—they, moved so slowly at Home. ■■ V • . ■ The party returned to' New Zealand via Capetown, and they took' tho opportunity that offered. of. visiting- the .-Transvaal;' Mr. Townsend describes the l . ; deph!ssiiiin tliat exists in Johannesburg as "sotnething awful."' Bankrupt conditions prevail everywhere; every place seemed to he; either, to let or-for sale, and everyone the}' met wanted t6' get out of the' place, and wore" iiiaking enormous 'sacrifice's to do so.i -- Tlic/ivils.-of a'great boom 'were; evident on • all "sides. Land had. been' sold in the p.rin'cipal streets of-Joban-; uesburg .'at'.'a value' as; hi'di as' would have to'be paid in the middle of London; House rent- had been'.' enormously. higl(. Talk about I Wellington 1.. Some young' fellows- they inet bad been "batching" in a five-roomed house, without convenieiicps—no" hot .'water; no drainage—and ui boom times; had waid -£20 a month rent for a place that .could be got'in W'ellingtph for £o a -month." ' He wept down some of the Rand minfeyand'could rot but admire tlio way/the mines were Worked byChinese and black labour. Though'they -were deporting tlio Chinese, their coming bad dono good, as it had taught the natives not to be o.uitc so independent, as formerly, and they were now binding, themselves to time agreements instead of working only : tlirco-'or four nionths'in.,the-year;'' II r.vTownseiii' jajj 1;;;. had ."-intended' to; bo away'longer, flj ; .'f-ndeed settle abroad if any, particular plat'.; o[ ik his fancy,-_but lie was moro than (need that'.New Zealand was the 1 'finest', country on earth. He remarked in conclusion; that although the change of designation; from "Colony" to "Dominion" did not .appear on the surface to effect any great alteration, it had brought tlio country under ..observation, ' and as' a "Dominion"- it- had'more weight with, business men. In common with- others, Mr. Townsend returns a believer in advertising the country abroad, but sqys that, we are getting the pick of' the emigrants from England—the scum go to the United States and' Canada.'