SOME NOTES ABROAD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 329, 16 October 1908, Page 9

SOME NOTES ABROAD.

BY A NEW ZEALAND FARMER.

QUALITY OF!OUR MEAT IN LONDON. ,>a AMERICAN IMMENSITY. . Mr, A; D. M'Lcod, a Maryborough farmer, who has been a member of tho FoatherBton' : , County Council for thirteen years and >s weljrknown in local politics, returned from a trip'round the world by tho Malieno on Wednesday. Ho.has been away seven months, and, r being a gentleman with a keen perception, was approached for his impressions on things abroad. ~ . . Poor Mutton from New Zealand. "In" connection' .with tho meat trade (said Mr. M'Lepd) ,1 am. certain, from closo investigations made in Loudon, .that.our great aim should'bo to-keep up the standard of our lambs for -tho export trade. -At Smithfield; I loarned that fully double the'qaiintity of primo quality-; New Zealand lamb would have realised good prices during tho summer months. At the same time; I saw New Zealand meat exposed'for sale at Smithfield that was a, .disgrace to tho country. It was sent Home;irom the-North-island—l can't say by' whom',' though I ; know,- but it was- not- sent by either ..of the;two . Wellington companies. I brought these carcasses under the notice of Mr. Crabb, vtho; Government's representative,'■ and "tie..'agreed" with mo that it was ridiculous affd damaging to send carcasses so poor;'in/quality."-, Bftt -they-graded at this end? "Als far.'as'l can'ascertain, each company does' its'own-grading, tho Government 'vets' merely'certifying-that the carcasses are fit for consumption. 1 -There'.was a" Government tag tori" the carcasses'mentioned, and this only gaveythe impression that the Government not onlypassed but : approved of the'export of sucn'poor stuff. , The'big meat men said that one' 'such 'carcass (a carcass without fat or 'form and only fit for the boiler) did,-more harm than 500 prime carcasses did which .was' largely, due to tho oldfashioned prejudice that still existed in regard;; 'to' New' Zealand' frozen''mutton. On tho,';other'hand,- New Zealand lamb—ranging frorfl. Solb'. to 401b. weight—stood by itself, and-was considered by the Smithfield experts' to be'absplutely.tho best, : I am strongly of 'that' the Government should go further, and insist on a standard grado for mutton to be exported oversea, so as to absolutely prevent such stuff as I saw being Bent ; put of the colony. ";Iy heard New- Zealand -cheeso very favourably sjwken of, and New Zealand cheddar gold,-readily, in preference to others in many cases..-,Tho market was pretty bare of' New Zealand butter when I .was at Home, but I heard; it, well .spoken of everywhere.": - A Shocking .Disappointment. ".'lff-'visiting the Franco-British 'Exhibitioner was shockingly 'disappointed/ at the beggarly display wo mado. I do think that when the Government did decide to exhibit they should havo made it worth while. Instead .'of'-that, it is . really a standing joke; The-Exhibition itself was magnificont, andin addition to tho exhibits thero were numerous side-shows, such as an Indian encampment and a Zulu kraal. I really believo that thoso, people .who, had heard of New Zealand beihgrepresented wero;under the impression that it was just such another side-show, with, perhaps, a few-Maoris sitting round. Everybody had heard of the • Canadian and the Australian, courts, but no one seemed to know'that' New 1 Zealand 'had_ a oourt. The. exterior dinginess of ' the building failed altogether .to attract, and the only-' people who. 'twere., were . New Zealanders and tho's'o ...who dropped, in by ■'accident.- As an advertisement it will be next'to useless, and, as afwh'ole/T was'more than' disappointed.

English Politics, •, . . ; "ii-was a. very'[difficultmattci.,',to get the' \jffre. so many 'and confusin'^''' , tWßat M iV very/ very "certain.; is' that" ,tlie .drink question, willjlobm largely in 'the"future. '''"What." 'docs' strike the colonial at Home is thc.pnormous amount of drinking that^s-.done by .the waring people, of Eiigla'na ,an'd "Sc'otfana..' It is'appalling I The ■suifragis't'movemeM is steadily gaining a'rid is being giveii'morc serious attent'iori' by.Hliinkirig\people of' I was present" at . the 'enormous mass meeting holduii'Hyde Park, and a great sight it was. Judging by'the result' 1 of tho last four or five by-elections; it'is; pretty evident that the present will have to go. "I . crossed to New York on the Lusitania wheri' : she :.last .'broke her owii\'record. She steamed tho,.,.distance..between' Queenstown and.Sandy Hook/in four days • fifteen hours, her . best.' dayfs' steaming'.being , 650.'.knots. She; is i .veritable .city afloat, as comfortable as one could wish, and_ everything needful is obtaiii'able ' j'; ' i America ?.nd the Panic. "New- York ..is , just recovering from tho financial panic of last spring, evidences of which'are to be'seen on every hand. There is a great deal of! poverty'and' any number of unemployed. But ,the peoplo of New York are. wonderfull}' optimistic, and they reckon' to start on'an even keel after the new Fresi-' dent is located.- I was there' when the'-news arrived'of"the' reception of the American' fleot' at- Auckland,;' but: I am sorry : to say that the''news received in the spirit- that theVrecoption iva's accorded. In' the clubs and' r iii the street it' was borne in on one that they had gone out of their way to: give Nert^Zealaud' a'free'show, : and that all tho credit -was' thbirs:' ;: Tho "irritating bounce of the average American was painfully apparent, and the insinuation behind the articles in. the-papers (not the cabled reports) was that', if the yellow man threatened, Australia and NejVpZealaiid'would know where to look for protection." I 'am certain of this—that any money: spent on entertaining the fleet was well -spent. All tho papers were full of head .lines (above very meagre reports), but the ; advertisement lay in bringing home to the'ignorant insular people of America the existence ■ of Australia • and New Zealand, of which they knew nothing." • •" Into the Wheat Country. "I. had a look at Montreal, and was present. at a two days' show held 'in Toronto. Thev; say there it- is the best.;show in the world—l hold other views., They . havo plenty of sideshows,' and clever advertisements to brighten up the phow, which reminds me-to'remark that ; wo"do' not' know how to advertise in' New Zealand. There one humourous." incident while I was there. At a meeting thcrq'avas a heated dabafo; between.American./a'nd -Canadian* farmer,s_'as to why the American flag , was not given. : moro prominence-i at tho show, the Americans maintaining that it should have been,: seeing Alley, took the greater number of prizes.' • .: v"There had: been; very, heavy rains and floods in central-Canada,-and we had quite an experience 'on tho- journey. to- Winnipeg, where we' arrived .-18 hours' late. • At.one time;-, we 1 were packed up behind ten other trains. > Owing.'-to -wcsliaways there wero several ..derailments, and no train could get through on time. To add to tho difficulties, .the mechanics of the Canadian Pacific Railway struck, but the company was filling the -strikers': places as rapidly as possible with Americans-from over the lino. Those who with the men put down the- number of. accidents to the inefficiency of. the .roiling , stock, but really , the company did wonders in maintaining the service as they; did.\ .Winnipeg is one of the great receiving centres of tho Northwest wheat bolt, which extends from 1000 to 1200 miles west to Kalgarv, and north and south, from that place for I don't know how far. The wonderful growth of wheat was a revelation. I stopped at Brandon, in the • Ailhorta country, and drove- around a bit,'and there as far as the eye could, reach in 'every 'direction was land bearing from 85 1.0:4!) bushels of fine-wheat-to the aero— • the whole crop iii first-class order. The " Land Laws. "If, I were asked to state what was the principal ,factor in the success of Canada, I would say the .land system, which limits, the holdings to from 6-10 to 1500 acres (which effectually keeps tho speculator out),' and the good 'railway service. As the whole country was' under wheat/its future' was influenced

solely by the price of that commodity. I coulu sco no opening there for mixed farming, as the summer was short and the cold iti the winter intenso. On the other hand tho snow appeared to fertilise the ground for tho wheat. I met 0110 farmer who had cropped his block for 25 years, and novel' had it yielded less than 20 bushels to tho acre. The cold would bo terrible to a Now Zealander. A meteorological official Informed mo that the thermometer had been known to drop from 50 above to 30 below zero in a few hours, and that at Moose Jaw and Medicino cattle had been so badly frostbitten that they had to be destroyed. Tho railway system was good to tho farmer — it carried his wheat from Kalgary to Fort Williamson (a distance of 1500 miles) for 10 cents a bushel. There was a crave doubt whether the C.F.R. would bo ablo to shift, the wheat this fall to keep contract dates owing to the mechanics' strike, but big efforts were being made to do so."

."For Ho Is An Englishman." In his opera "H.M.S. Pinafore, 1 ' Mr. W. S. Gilbert sang of tho glory of being an Englishman. It is just as well to subdue the fact in certain parts of Canada. "As you know," said Mr. M'Lcod, "a great number of immigrants have been imported into Canada during tho last six or seven years. A largo proportion of these wore tho lowest abd poorest class of citv-brod people, perhaps the least suited in the world to go on tho land. ' So in certain districts to be an Englishman is actually a term of reproach,and in one advortisoment I saw an omploycr who wanted hands inserted tho line: 'No English need apply!' Tho _ Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes were most in demand as farm-hands. This should teach Now Zealand j a lesson in regard to the selecting of linmi- ■ grants. Tho Timber Trade. "Vancouver is a flourishing city, but thero is an extraordinary tightness of money there .at present, and per cent, could be readily obtained in advancing money on first-class city property. I spent a day or two there looking into the timber industry at Hasting's Mills, one of the largest timber mills -of Western Canada. I found a great deal of the .cry of cheap labour that we hear in New Zealand was not' quite, born out by fact. The .wagos paid were practically up to the level of those paid here for .similar work. At Hasting's Mills the henchmen and the greater number of those doing- the finer work, were Filipinos. The foreman received three dollars a dav, and. the rank and file two and a"half dollars for a day - of ten, hours. . Tho same applied to the timber work in the ranges, where Filipinos were associated with Japanese, who were also engaged in logging tho lumber down-river in the form of rafts, at, times for a distance of from 150 to 170 miles. The methods are such that the timber is never touched by hands from the time it is felled until it is turned out'in dressed boards. Tho mills were slack, when I was. there, and I was offered 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 feet of Oregon timber in log lengths at 10 dollars per 1000' feet (4s. _ per 100 feet). After watehing. the' Canadian methods of handling timber the idea . of : asking for in-. creased protection against Oregon appears ridiculous.- If the timber. industry or Now Zealand cannot compete with the Canadian product with the protection now! granted, it. should go down. It is arrant foolishness wasting what remains of our own .timber when we can get it so cheap- over..'there. Anyhow, thero is a protty tight ring at the. present, time controlling our own . timber industry, and a little healthy, opposition from outside cannot but do good.',' Mr. M'Lcod returned by way of Fiji,'Brisbane,'and Sydney, and feels sore on haying to go such a' roundabout, way-, to , reach Wellington. • . ~. BOXING,/ ——— : ' ' MANAWATU TOURNAMENT. • • ■ (BX TELEGIIATfT.—SrEfiIXt/ CftitItBSPONDEN-T.) i»3i. : - '.' ,lfef f ; Hie semi-finals of the amateur champion-, ship, }vhich were.flecidpd at. the Opeca House this 'evening, attracted another; largo" audience. The two little boys (James Bros.), who hail from Now Plymouth; gave another splendid exhibition of boxing, : .. and wero loudly applauded at the' finish! The following are the results:— Heavy-weight.—Hale, 12st. 21b.. (Wellington) met Cole, 12st. 61b. (Manawatu). Both men opened with a few stray blows. In the . second-and third rounds Hale, rained in some severe. blows, but in the fourth Colo came to light with some heavy body, punches, and the referee ordered another round, and at the finish announced it-a draw. . This was the contest of the. evening. Havillo/(Palmerston North), 7st. 101b. met Kutner (Wellington). Bst. . This was a, willing contest right through, and 'the judge , jgave-the award to Haville. In the contest, Iveson, Bst. ■ 71b. (Mana-. watu).and Ellis (Rongotea), Bst. 41b., the first and second rounds saw a good go between tho lads, and honours were evenly divided. , Ellis showed superior .work in the third round and was returned the winner at the. termination ■ of tho fourth. ■ Watchorn, 9st. 121b. boxed Rice, 10st. 81b. This contest caused no end of amusement,, and on. account of it being a bye no decisionwas given by the referee. , Tho filial-.item off the programme'was the contest between Ben Tracy; Bst. 71b., of Wellington, and Shields, of -Manawatu, Bst. 81b. Six two-minuto rounds were fought. Tho first round was even'right through, and in the second Tracy drove his opponent'to the ropes. The third round opened willingly, Shields being smart on the breaks, and the round ended without any great advantage on either side. The excitement was raised in the fifth round, when Tracy showered in his blows, which were gamely returned. At tho finish of tho sixth round the referee was not able to separate the lads, and gavo his decision as a draw. .' . Mr. Iko Fake was tho referee,.and his decision gave satisfaction right through. The preparations reilect great credit upon the onorgotic secretary, Mr. W. H. Hankins, and his committee. ' . i ROLLO-TRACEY CONTEST. The following account of the boxiiig contest, between Tracey, light-weight champion of New Zealand, and Hollo, of Australia, appears in tho " Manawatu Daily Times " Hound I. —Tracey attacked, and, following up, pressed Rollo strougly, but,good ducking, by tho latter let him free, and after even sparring Rollo got home with two light hits on tho neck, but Tracey retaliated with a smart upper cut. Tracoy was business-like, but Rollo had better " style." Too much of it, however, for a fight against a man who had previously beaten him. , . : Round II.—"Too low," said the referee to Tracey after the second round had barely started. Tracey looked surprised, but " bucked " into tho gamo harder than ever. A. feint by Rollo, quickly followed lip, caused Tracey to- stop a hot one with' his throat. Rollo was still indulging in too much fancy work. Tracey then hotly, and gotin a hard one to Rollo's head, and, following up with another, drove tho Australian to tho ropes. Tracey got in his left with good effect two or three times, and again drove Rollo to the ropes, but an agilo duck saved him from a dangerous position. _ - . Round lll.—Tracey sailed right in and drove Rollo into the corner, and was punching him severely, when Rollo claimed a foul, and dropped to'the ground. The referee disallowed the claim, and tho spectators bccame noisy. Tracey was pasting Rollo unmorcii'ullv, and a foul was claimed again, but again disallowed, although tho referee spoke to Tracoy. Round IV. —Tho better condition of Tracey began to tell its tale, but Rollo was excellent on his feet, and his ducking was exceptionally good. Rollo got .home two or threo good straight drives, but Tracey drove him again to tho ropes,-and was punishing the Australian severely, till ho slipped and got awuy. During some givo and tako exchanges tho referee cried " Foull" and awarded the fight to Rollo for Tracey hitting too low. -