AUSTRALIAN IMPRESSIONS

Evening Star, Issue 18504, 11 December 1923, Page 10

AUSTRALIAN IMPRESSIONS

WONDERFUL PROGRESS. CHAT WITH MR WALTER FULLER. Mr Walter Fuller, who returned to Wellington by tho Manuka last week after a two months’ visit to Australia, spoke very interestingly of his trip to a Wellington ' Times ’ representative Mr Fuller stated that he had had a very pleasant sojourn in Australia, and in the course of his travels had visited Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Sydney, and Newcastle. “ I had been absent from Australia for nine years," he said, “and, on arriving in Melbourne from Wellington, I was very much disappointed at the primitive wharf accommodation u't tho Australian port as compared with that at Port Nicholson. It was very primitive indeed. There is not the slightest officialdom, however, on landing there. Tho boat tied up to the wharf at onco. and ten minutes later I was settled at tho hotel. No questions aro asked as to how old your grandmother is, nor any of the silly interrogatories tha' ono has to answer here. GREAT TOWN-PLANNING, “ I saw little chance in Melbourne City itself, though I went over the whole of it in a motor car; but tho w r ay the suburbs have grown is simply astonishing. I also had the opportunity of seeing some of the suburbs in the making; and it is a great object lesson to New Zealanders in town-planning to see how not omy aro tho roads laid out. but fine plantations of trees arc made before the houses come on the scene. That seems to be tho spirit of Melbourne, beautifying places all the time. Another thing that struck mo very much was the control of tho m every much was tho control of the street traffic. The rush of traffic in Mol bourne at all times of the day- is something staggering. At one point, Flinders street, I found it took seven' men to control the motor cars, of which there seems to be at all hours of the day a double linn on each side of Urn road, besides the tramcar traffic. The crusn at Flinders street station at the rusn hour is also astounding. It is estimated that 150,000 people pass through the station in half an hour. “ AN AUSTRALIAN BLACKPOOL/’

St. Eilda, of course, is a wonderful place. It used to be a Sleepy Hollow, frequented by people on Sunday afternoons : but now it is as busy ae Blackpool in the Old Country. Ono of tho newest things 1 saw in Melbourne was a Palaiso de Danse, I also saw there one of the largest picture theatres I have ever seen. It accomodated over 5,000 people, and is full almost every night. The exhibition of war relics at the Melbourne Exhibition Building, too, is a wonderful sight.

GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT. “As to roads, tho people of Melbourne seem to have set themselves out to cope with the bad roads nuisance most thoroughly. Everywhere there appears to be a very honest attempt to put the bad roads'in order. For example, the road from Melbourne to Geelong, forty-two miles kma. ms & horror* a nightmare.

tho last time I went over it, but now it is almost a dream of delight, perfectly laid down in bitumen, and not a speck of dust to be soon. Bourke street, brilliantly lighted, is a wonderful sight at night time, being quite tho White Way of Australia “ Tho theatres generally have not improved, except those under the Ward management—tho Princess and the Palace Theatres—both of which have recently been reconstructed at a cost respectively of £50,000 and £40,000. They are said by visiting artints to bo two of the finestequipped theatres in tho world. GREAT LOVE FOR TREES. “ A meed of praise should bo given to the Victorian and Adelaide railways, which arc the last word in comfort for travellers it is made so, of course, by the width of the gauge. Adelaide is a very beautiful and prosperous city. One could almost call it a large Christchurch, with its splendid shops and very wide, well-kept streets Here, again, the great Australian love for trees is in evidence, for trees ficem to be planted at every available corner. Geelong and Ballarat don’t seem to have improved at all. REBUILDING SYDNEY. “ Sydney is still the wonderful city it was of yore; but it is being transformed daily. Indeed, tho amount of building going on there is almost unbelievable to ono who has not seen it. The city, in five years or so, will practically be reconstructed. Great activity is going on in regard to the city underground railway; "but when it is going to be finished no one in Australia seems to know. I had the opportunity of seeing almost every part of this city also by motor car; and I found tho great trec-p'lanting onco more very prevalent. The street traffic, of course, is very largo in Sydney, but it did not appear to mo to be so great ns that of Melbourne. This was the case, 1 suppose, because of the streets being so narrow, and most of them devoted to one-way traffic only. MATTERS THEATRICAL. “ There have been no new theatres built in Sydney; but the Theatre Royal has been reconstructed by the Williamson firm, and is a most handsome theatre, coming near to rivalling the two W T ard theatres in Melbourne. Everything in the theatre world is already so wellknown over there, owing to the fine theatrical columns published weekly, that I have little or nothing to say about it, “ [ had a cable from Sir Benjamin Fuller a few days ago. He is now in London, and he reports having booked several very attractive turns for Fullers’ vaudeville. Also the new theatre (the Saint James’s) is to be started early next year in Castlereagh street, -Sydney. The plans have boon approved both by the State Government and. the city council; and it is expected that the theatre will lake some eighteen months to build.”