MR REEVES IN PORTUGAL

Evening Star, Issue 13016, 29 July 1908, Page 9

MR REEVES IN PORTUGAL

"VERY LIKE THE NORTH OF AUCKLAND."

[Pbok Ovr Speciai Coxuiespondbnts.]

- _. , . .LONDON, June 19. The High Commissioner for New Zealand returned to London on Friday lost from Luton, whore.ho aiteended the International Telegraph Conference 6n behalf of his Givrrraent. This was purely a business conference, whiCQ meets every five \ears to revise the rnlea and regulations under which the worlds telegraphic business is carried on. Juicn government and each cable company has five years m which to consider new schemes and table amendments, with the 'esnlt that at the conference there is a mass of amendments more numerous than the rules themselves, and a vast amount of technical details to be discussesd and settled. "It is a field time for experts," said Mr Peeves, when T saw him on his return. "The departmental expert is enormously in evidence, and has a real picnic. He will spend half a day discussing whether a warning signal shall be two dashes and one dot or one dash and two dots—and all that of thing. Mixed up with these technicalities are proposals for policy changes which are sometimes of a very hair-raising character, and which sometimes cause considerable alarm to the mercantile community. However, so far as I am in a position to give you information, I may say I do not think the mercantile Bommunity has any reason to be dissatisfied with the conference. An immense amount of depatmental work has been done, and the policy changes have been either reject; d or =o whittled down as to bo quite acceptable lo business men. "I was extremely courteousiy treated," continued Mr Reeves, "and had the very gocd advantage of being able to cooperate with and learn a great deal of detail irora the British delegates, who were very good to me, and also my friend Mr Philip Benton, the delegate from South Africa, with whom especially I was in co-operation. I think there is no question that the cctleniakers, or some of them, have beer, going beyond all bounds in the use of extraordinary and unpronounceable words, and an effort is to be made to get future code-makers to be more reasonable: but persuasion, and not compulsion, will be employed. For the rest, of course, New Zealand is in a peculiar position, because sho has practically no private telegraph or telephone companies doing business in the country; so that a large proportion of the work done at the conference does .lot dierctly affect us. We are in this respect in a happy position of isolation, f shall be in a position in a few days to send ray Government an advance report of the conference, and they will get a complete leport later on. Meanwhile I think the mercantile community con settle down and feel well content with the results. " One learns a great deal at such a conference. I attended the meetings regularly. The proceedings were conducted in French—an enormous improvement on the polyglot conferences one sometimes has to attend. where it is impossible, owing to language difficulties, to comprehend one filth of what is being said. Some of the accents were rather startling at times, but that lent a touch of humor to the proceedings. We were very courteously treated by the Portuguese from the King downwards, and I saw only one bit of a street riot, and that was of a semicomic character.

" Portugal is a very pretty country, and I -was very much struck with the general likeness of some of the coast country to the country north of Auckland. I could not help thinking that probably the kind of cultivation and tho kind of products which are successfully grown on the Portuguese coast, are those wh.ch, as time goes on, will be the products of the peninsula north of Auckland. Not only the shape and general appearance, but the color, tho atmosphere, the temperature—everything reminded me of the northern coast-; of New Zealand. There is the samo bright sunshine and pleasant ocean breeze that you get in the Auckland province. In fact, it bears a greater similarity to the north of New Zealand than any country I ever saw. "The New Zealand flax is quite a common ornamental plant in Portugal, and the Tasmanian bluegum has become acclimatised so thoroughly that it is quite a feature of the country. Tho Australian wattle also grows well, and the Moreton Bay figtree, and I also saw the Norfolk Island pine. But the thing that touched me most was, that twined round the pillars of the King's beautiful palaco on tho mountain slopes of Cintra, where there is one of the finest views in Portugal— I saw one of our commonest bush creepers, ' Muhkenbechia adpressa,' with its little brown leaves and black wiry stem. It grows in great masses in the New Zealand bush, and it was interesting indeed to find it twined round the pillars of a king's palace in far-off Portugal."

Probably.—First Sceptic : "How do yon suppose Noah could see during all that flood and darkness?" The Believer: "He probably had arc-lights aboard."

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