TOUR OF EUROPE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 19 June 1928, Page 8

TOUR OF EUROPE

A TWO YEARS’ HOLIDAY. MR. J. E. CAMPBELL’S IMPRESSIONS. Home from a holiday tour which embraced many parts of the Old World, the West a.s well as the East, Mr. James E. Campbell, who, with Mrs. Campbell, left Hawera about two years ago, returned to Hawera on Friday. They report having had a wonderful time and to have enjoyed and been keenly interested in every place they saw and to have appreciated the opportunity of seeing the people of so many countries, widely separated by distance, in characeristics, and customs. They visited, in addition to all parts of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Norway, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, and, in the East, Malaya, Philippine Islands, Borneo. China and Japan. After comparing conditions generally and taking ail circumstances into consideration, Mr. Campbell is firmly of the opinion that there are better conditions ruling in New Zealand than in most other countries, while for sheer beauty of landscape and sqenery he considers Switzerland stands at about the top of all the countries he has seen.

Yesterday in most interesting manner he talked to a “Hawera Star” representative on what lie had seen, heard and done. IN NO RAY AY.

Norway, said Mr. Campbell, was one of the most interesting parts of our journeyings. The Norwegians were as yet absolutely unspoilt by the tourist traflc, though the shipping companies and the people of the country laid themselves out to see that visitors were well treated and shown all that was best in the country. “Our ship was the P. and O. Ranchi, carrying 500 passengers, and fitted up in 'a way that makes these boats very popular with tourists,” he said. The fiords were naturally one of the features of the tour, and the journey was largely a cruise through these wonderful “arms of the sea,” similar in many ways to sounds of Southland in this Dominion. But a remarkable tribute was paid to the natural beauty of New Zealand bv. a visitor from America who had 'seen botli when lie said that Norway could give no points to New Zealand in this respect, and that the latter had the added beauty of the native bush as a. set off to the beauty of the sea-s-ape. The farthest point north reached was a town called Molde, on one of the fiords, and of the many sights seen none surpassed the huge' glacier

at Lcen, a view that stood out in Mr. Campbell’s memory. Welcome as the tourists were' made everywhere, mo town excelled Aandalsnaes, where the whole pier was decorated and also the hotel, making it a veritable fairyland when a dance was held in the evening. There were many facilities provided for travel, and in some of * the wilder

verts the stoekiaerre. or buiggy, wais used. At one- place a- football (soccer) match was played, but it was not very exciting. IN GERMANY.

The general impression gained from a tour of various parts of Germany was that the people were anxious to he very friendly and everywhere showed the greatest kindness. Representative Germans made it plain that they bore no animosity to the British and looked forward to their being allies in the future. So much had been said at different times of the poverty in Germany that Mr. Campbell was anxious to see whether it existed, and after making several trips to the poorer quarters of many towns he found no slums and that the children were all well cared for and nourished. But the people generally, said Mr. Campbell, were working with all their might, and in the field nearly all the workers were women, while the men were released for other jobs.

A curious feature of the countryside was the absence of fences and stock. The trip up the Rhine, Mr. Campbell said, was very picturesque, and the value of the great liver from a commercial point of view was very considerable. The magnificent castles to he seen at various points- were striking. but- for real beauty Mr. Campbell considered the river was not theequal of the fine waterways of Fiji or of the Wanganui River, in New Zealand. A TRIP TO HOLLAND.

Other parts visited wore the French and Italian Riviera, parts of Spain and Switzerland, Holland and Belgium.

A man whom Mr. Campbell met in Lucerne gave him much assistance in seeing Holland. He took him round, to many leading farmers whom he knew, and enabled him to see the conditions under which they worked. He found that in practically every case dairy cattle were stall fed. Many men manufactured on their own account instead of supplying factories, and several he met were manufacturers of special loaf' cheeses. Practically the only cattle to be seen were Hols loins. Hand milking there. as generally in England, was practised, and they would hot consider machines, apparently because these would not do the stripping.

CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND. Ln England farming appeared to be in a dreadful condition and the season bad been very bad—Mr Campbell left England at the beginning of January so that the far nun s were not very optimistic of the future. The majority of the farms were leasehold and there were few small freeholders such as New Zealanders were accustomed to see.

In most parts rates were exceedingly high and tin's applies specially to some ol the sub'll]'ban areas such as Poplar on the outskirts of London, where the rates wore equal to 25s in tire £ and it was reported in one of the dally papers that there was a probability of these going up to 28s 3d.

Betting on practically everything was rife and one very striking direction in which that was carried out was the betting on the question of who would win an election. A London pa,per quoted the 'latest' betting on four Parliamentary candidates, “G—4, 10—1, 3 —l, all against” and the fourth candidate—“no business.”

In the industries generally there wore distinct signs of better times, but. there was also, Mr Campbell believed, a decided leaning amongst some sections of the people towards tariff R,eform, under the guise of what was termed the “Safeguarding of Industries Act.” He saw the great Britisli Industries Fair, a., fine -function, hut he was grieved to find the majority of people willing t» accept non-Empire products if such are obtainable a few pence cheaper than those from the Empire. There was still a great amount of ignorance so far as New Zealand was concerned. One instance that came under big own personal notice was that of a man he met in the Isle of Man, wh<> asked him “aiid in what part of!

California is New Zealand?” Another instance was that of a bank official in Worcester who did not know that New Zealand made use of refrigeration to get her butter, cheese and meat into England. Britain regarded New Zealand as Australia, and the use of the word “Australasia” was very largely responsible for this. An interesting event Mr Campbell witnessed in the Isle of Man was a service of one of the open air churches. The meetings were held on the hill sides and drew many thousands of people to hear the Bible read and the old familiar hymns sung. The middle class people, said Mr Campbell, were up against it and have suffered more than any other class since the war. Wages were not large and cost of living was still high, while education, save in the country schools, was expensive. Numberless cases were to be met where parents were denying themselvs sorely in order to give their boy a year or two at a public school. When they have had that education there w’ere few jobs offering. On the steamer by which Mr Campbell travelled to the east were a number of vno young fellows, mentally and physically well equipped, on their way to take up positions' on the rubber plantations in the tropical regions. Ireland, said Mr Campbell, was not in a flourishing condition, and it was considered generally that the change to the free State had been a retrograde step. The land was in most parts excellent and among the most fertile in the British Isle®, but the farms he saw were neglected and not being developed at all, largely because of the feeling of insecurity prevalent which prevented good men from putting capital and effort into farming. On the other hand, lie said, farmers were enterprising and courageous in Scotland, where they have to struggle hard to overcome the disabilities arising from Hie vigorous climate. It was remarkable how well they do, he remarked. Dairy fanners, both in England and Scotland, had many disadvantages as compared with New Zealand, and cattle have to be housed for a considerable portion of the year. In many cases half the farm was used in the summer months for the grazing of the stock, while the rest was used to grow crops foil- the winter. “Nothing is more beautiful,” sand Mr Campbell, than the English countryside in spring and summer. “The meadows and parks are a sight to see and are actually one of the glories of Old England ”