TRAFFIC & PUGILISM

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1914, Page 8

TRAFFIC & PUGILISM

AUSTRALIA'S PROGRESS LAWLESSNESS IN SYDNEY. MR. P. C. BATKS'S IMPRESSIONS. Two leading ides*s were strongly impressed on the mind of All 1 . D. C. Bates, the Government Meteorologist, during his visit to Australia, from which he returned to Wellington yesterday. One 5s that during the past five years the traffic by road and rail has grown till it has got a little out of hand ; and the other that the popularity of pugilism in Sydney has had a very bad effect on the youth of Sydney, The" Commonwealth's .gre.it progress is reflected, said Mr. Bates yesterday, in the increase in .traffic, which has quite congested the railways, and in other signs evident to the most casual observer. The flocks and the wealth of the country generally, he was told, have at least doubled in the last five years. The greater number of stock has necessitated the utmost care in preserving feed ■and water to carry graziers over the dry seasons. i 'Trains, said Mr. Bates, are often delayed owing to the congestion of traffic. The permanent way is suffering through the volume of trp&c, and he felt sure that unless some steps Were taken to inept properly the changed conditional serious accidents would occur. One train on which he travelled Was delayed an hour and a half through a- sleeper being derailed. The flanges of the wheels were broken, and the car had to be taken off. the line. The best carriages on the 'Australian trains, Mr. Bates said." were superior to those in use in New Zealand, but he came hack quite satisfied, nevertheless, with the New Zealand railway system. The Post and Telegraph Services, *« "well as the railways, were oppressed by the volume of business presented, to them, and seemed unable to cope with it properly. There hasbeen. recently, an outbreak of violence in Sydney, said Mr. Bates, particularly among the young men. He; called on oJie'N,e,;v Zealand mend living there, and found that he had just been ma-ltreated and disabled by a mob ofi young hoodluifig who had apparently set out to rob him. ' He had not reported the ,' matter to the police because hfe ieafed a, vendetta. Would be established against him. This man and several others to whom the . visitor spoke had got licenses to carry firearms, and were arming themselves with revolvers to protect themselves. This outbreak of lawlessness Mr. Bates attributed to ," the . popularity of pugilistic contests, which '■pact reached v, degree of favour •probably'aihliTnown hitherto in the world. A fighter 6*r a fight promoter was regarded by a section of the people almost as a sort of deity. It was tio wonder ignorant youths aspired to "go out and stouph." The growth of the pleasure-loving Spirit, too. was obvious, said Mr. Bates. It badly needed tempering with some solid # work. He went! while in Sydney, to see a big football match, - There were about fifty thousand spectators ;' and the poor quality of dress of a great number who had paid the highest prices for admission was quite remarkable. Nor conld ho understand why the people •were all there, for they aid not ma,ke intelligent remarks about cither the game or players. Their chief source of delight ' appeared when somebody was "M 3 out/" ,