"THE ARGENTINE"

Evening Star, Issue 14535, 10 December 1910, Page 10

"THE ARGENTINE"

A .DUXHDIX MAX'S IMPRESSIONS. I/IFF. IX UUEXOS AYRKS. Mr J. Moore, who recently returned to Dunedin aftor spending, over three years in tho Argentine Republic, has some interesting experiences to relate about life in that still semi-civilised country. -Mr Mooro intends to return there, aud his present visit to Kew Zealand is being made with tho object of opening up certain lines of trade between this country and the Argentina, Ho mentioned a number of lines—so many that the remark *' Everything except sheep " was prompted. "You people in New Zealand seem to have the idea that this Argentine is a serious rival to Now Zealand as regards sheep," he said. "Hut ten years a.20 there were a hundred million sheep in tho Argentine; now there are only seventy nullum, and the number is on the decrease. They can't Ineed sheep over there as they <\o in Now Zealand, i never tasted niuttsu anything like so good as you gel here." Mr Moore explained that the chief reason for the decrease in the number of sheep is the prevalence of scab in the Hocks. "The Argentine Government do not look after the agricultural interests of the country in the'way tho New Zealand Government do. They have excellent laws, but they never enforce them. The owners of some runs do their best by means of dipping to eradicate scab, but the owner who does this may have as his neighbor a man who takes no steps. The scab-infested :- : ..jep rub themselves against the posts of 'be boundary fence, and so the disease gets mto the ilocks in the adjoining run. A many owneks contemplate putting up double fences round their ' rstancias,' or runs, but that is a very big expense." Another drawback to sheep-breeding in tho Argentine is the fact that the lambs stiller severely front the effects of two very bad seasons yearly—at mid-summer and midwinter. There is practically no shelter on the pampas, and tho hot nor'-westers of summer and the cold southerlies of winter cause a good deal of mortality among tin lambs. Mr Mooro says that he felt the cold in winter more keenly than ever he felt it in Dunedin, the winds being very searching, lint thoro are about seven months of delightful weather every year. Most of his time ho spent in Buenos Ayres, now a city of about a million and a-quarter inhabitants, and growing every day. Nearly all nationalities are represented, the Spanish, of course, largely predominating. There are only about' 25.000 English-speaking people in the city. Thus it comes about that of tho very largo number of newspapers published in tho capital only two are printed in English. Onone of these, a weekly, Mr Mooro held the position of editor, resigning it in order to corno to New Zealand on the business venture previously mentioned. His pictures of lifo in Buenos Ayres are exceedingly vivid. There appears to bo plenty of money in circulation, and the peoplo spend it freely. A wealthy woman wilt think nothing of spending £2OO on a costume or £BO on a hat. The mode of life is quite Continental, and the attitude of men to women is fundamentally Spanish—a maximum of jealousy with a minimum of respect in the way we understand it. Tho men are wonderfully' polished and suave in their manners to one another, whether in business or in ordinary social lifo. The cafo is the great resort, and drunkenness is a vice practically non-existent. Theatres are largely patronised, and so aro the casinos. Mr Mcore cannot commend the taste the patrons of these latter show in their appreciation of "turns." An ordinary music-hall turn wotdd bo despised by them as too slow. The undisguised sensuosness of the Spanish dance is what goes down with them. They, however, took quite a lively interest in wrestling contests on tho stage. Tho audience, however, gets worked up to such a pitch that taeka and bits of glass aTe liable to be thrown by thoso in the boxes abovo on to the mat where the wrestlers aro struggling. Rugby football is played over there to some extant, and Mr Moore saw Palmer, tho ex-Otago University threequarter, playing as a member of an English touring team. Hut the hick of selfcontrol and the highly excitable nature of the people arc not adapted to Rugby football. Soccer - is" played more than Rugby, but Mr Mooro did not say whether it was played in a more civilised style than Rugby.

On the way home Mr Mooro crossed over tho Andes to Chile, and mailed from Valparaiso to Sydney. While at Valparaiso he was invited by a fricud to "go to tho races." They went, but not, fo the racecourse, which was situated at Santiago, some twenty miles inland. The friend took him to a largo enclosure ut Valparaiso, wlicto relays of men with telephone receivers to their ears announced to the crowd everything that was going on at the courso at Santiago—the starters, the positions of tho horses at- each furlong post as the raco was being run, and finally the result. All this was to enable tho crowd—and it was a big one—to make their investments on the totalizator, jmst as though they were on the racecourse, and tho machine was kept extremely busy. "It was a raco meeting down fo iho merest deta3," said Mr Mcore, " except that there were no horses."

There are quite a- number of New Zealanders in the Argentine, and Mr Moore quotes the case of a, Tim.ani man to show how tho unfettered life of this only partly civilised country makes our mode of life seem somewhat irkssoni n . because of restraints imposed here which are unknown over there. Flo bad done well, and announced to his friends that ho was going to live in a civilised country again. He returned to New Zealand, but, soon got back to the Argentine. "They tie you up too much in New Zealand," ho complained. "I went down the main street in Timaru on a Sunday afternoon, and could not buy so much as a cup of ten.. And they aTe trying to stop Sunday baKbinc; there too. It's no good to me." Possibly another reason for his decision was that ho had hoped to purchase some land near Timaru which when he first left was available at about £1 an acre. On his return it could not be bought- for £ls an awe. Ho made back for the country of bin aTeas, despite tho fact that- it- is under martini law just now, or was when Mr- Moore left.