TOO CIVILISED.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 487, 21 April 1909, Page 7

TOO CIVILISED.

IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ZEALANDVISITORS WHO EXPECTED TO SEE CANNIBALS. PUZZLED BY OUR LIQUOR LAWS. N (BY TELEGRAPH—SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] . Chrlstohuroh, April 20. Two '"round-the-world" travellers arrived in Christchurch the other day, M. ; St, Dyktor, editor of: tho French, "L'Ulustra- . tion," and Dr. Kopf, aaj oculifit, by profession, and also a writer and traveller: They Jiavo been rathcir Wore than a fortnight in tflio Dominion, and thero was almost a >ioto of ehagrm_ in 'their . 1 voices . aB they, .told a "Times" interviewer that in' New Zealand tiio people and conditions were so exceedingly " up-to-date " as to be advanced beyond bo-' lief. • .- -

"You aro too civilised, too cultured.- Wo ca.n find no adventures hero of tho kind our friends dreaded for. us when wo said wo wero coming to Now Zealand." M. St. Dyktor said that ho had been told that .-he would find cannibals, in somo paats of tho country. He lias brougliit his camera, and is busy taking pictures to. send to liifl paper,, but ho afraid that ho is not going to find any ciuniibnls. -..

Dr. ICopf and M. St. Dyktor oamo.to Australia first, <imd arc now working their way northwards from tho Bluff to • Auckland. They had a groat deal, to say of tho primitive life Kvod by the miners onl'tho Western Australian.; gold fields; and part 1 of that oouutry seemed'to interest'them most. , ,f-.'

" Melbourne ; and Sydney are fino/.towns, beautiful towns j but tlioy. aro too up-to-date for ,usV j but:in Western Australia it appeared they found primitive human 'nature, still., Thoy. wero amazed at tlio comfort of tho workmen's homes in New Zealand, naid at tho fact that a man earning! his £3 a week had in many cases been ablo to buy for bimiself a ;snug little property.: " It iB. wonderful,", they said. ' " We think tho working man is well off—well-to-do; but there is. ono thing, ho does not .get enough amusement.' ; ln -Franco,of ail'evening thoro ai'o the cafes, where, they meet and talk and pl»r games. Here thero is, nothing...; Tho hotels closo: at 10 o'clock, ■'and -then out everybody: goes, and, in tho: towns' whore .there' is .'prohibition, why, it is duller than over."

. ® r r ®avo an amusing account of 3>avlng asked fo-r a glass of beer 1 in aa hcttcl in InvorcargilJ. .. v-■ >. ~ .- 1 ,■ ' ! "I was very >tliirsty, and I did ask, for a glass of boor.; They , laughed' at' me. I f could 1 not see. thojoko. I' did see lots of men going about the,.streets. '..JChoy wero tipsy,, and; some wero drinkinc whisky out of bottles. I did ask tlio landlord why can I not got a;glass of beer? A,man hoard mo arid ho went to a box with liis own key, and did take out half a ,bottlo of .whisky and nut it into my haiids..', -'There,': drink this,' he said, Fanoy I could not got a glass of beer bv paying for it, but I could get half a bottle of whisky for nothing; In all tbo prohibition towns that we havo been in-wo have s6on moro drunkenness , than anywhere ■ clso."'- ■

. Prom : that the talk ; turned '• to '• Christ- • churchwater, which both gentlemen ,de-: clarcd to bo tho purest and most beautiful they had over Been;_ "It sparkles liko tile waters, at Vichy, but that is mineral, " whereas this is .pure."' \ 1 " Up; to now the scenery they iiavo admired most has been that of Lnko Wakatipu, Tlioy were immensely surprised at the "progress, of towns of tho smaller number or inimb- ■ itants. of Waimato ' and Temuka. . Good ; Bhops and good hotels in such small towns. In Franco there would not bo half the busi- : ness , places. ',; Tho same remarks oh- a larger* sfialo applied to Christchurch ' and . Dunodin. As to - tho newspaper offices; M.' > SK Dyktor said to them that they vote not behind Paris in any particular. Vl' was :moro'surprised'at that,'V ho said.' ' ".than anything/ They have all < ■ tho : latest l improvements of every kind." - j f It may bo remembered "that some yoara ago two Frenohmon sot out; to walk round tho world for, j Thoy had" .not to tako a penny in-their pockotsV 'Snd they: 6ct out 1 at; the instigation .of the French pai»r ' •'JLe Matin." .Oiie' of .these men was . Dr. Kopf. and the: other was the brother of M. St. Byktor.; , They' succeeded in their arduous enterprise, Midread^^ anisly .in',the year, 1900,, having taken three years and eight months over their task/Tho time would ,have been considerably, shorter ■ had they not been arrested in' Siberia on , suspicion' and detained; in prison for eight . months. . : '