IN THREE COUNTRIES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15810, 28 December 1911, Page 9

IN THREE COUNTRIES.

I ENGLAND, AMERICA AND AFRICA

\ NEW ZEALANDER’S OBSERVATION?.

Mr B. G. Booth, who has just spent four years travelling in other lands, made many keen observations as ho went from place to place, and ho hasf brought back with him a great fund of fresh and interesting information. Ho went from the teeming industrial centres of America and England to the t-'iJsmdid wilds of Africa., and he saw many different peoples, different scenes and different conditions of life. In England and America he spent a good deal of time in the huge factories, and- he made many inquiries iff regard to the industrial position. Describing these things in an interview yesterday, he said that in America trades unionism was fairly strong. The strength of the employers was gained largely from the large numbers of foreigners who flocked to the cities, and who, representing the principle of individualism, held aloof from the unions. These men were Norwegians, Scandinavians, Poles, Russians and members of other European races. They were strong, steady, industrious and eager. Overworked and badly paid in their own countries, they were attracted by the high wages in America, and their object, usually, was to earn as much as they could. Their wages on piece ranged from about 10s to 22s a day. Mr Booth watched many of them at work. They seemed to absolutely enjoy their labour, and they entered into it systematically, the articles that they handled being disposed so that no time was unnecessarily lost in picking them up and putting them down. The character of the work generally enabled them to go right through with one article from one day’s end to the other. In England, on the other hand, the workers were mostly English. It was not possible, apparently, for Englishmen to work at such a rate. They did not seem to be as strong as the foreigners in America, and they had not been trained to such a strenuous pace. Besides that, the English workman did not seem to require so much money, and

in England the,, unions had a stronger influence. In English factories the visitor saw old .men, who had been employed in the same establishments ■ from boyhood. Their heart end soul was in their work, and the work was good work; but they took a long time over it. One man came specially under notice. He was employed in an Ipswich factory. He run traction engines outside and put them through their paces. He had a wife and five children, and he lived fairly comfortably and contentedly in a little brick cottage, one of a row, on £1 a week. Probably English manufactures were cheap because labour was cheap, and American manufactures were cheaper because specialisation entered into the industries, and thousands were turped out where in the Old Land there would be onl}- dozens. In America, sometimes, a firm was found that worked for quality. In those cases no better care and supervision was exercised anywhere. But they certainly wore exceptions. In the implement industry England led in regard to quality and strength, America, in. regard to adaptability to conditions. Jt was easier to do business with Americans than with Englishmen. The Americans showed a wish to encourage, custom. They often met their customers half way. They said: .“Shall we alter this to suit your requirements?” It took a long time to induce English manufacturers to make a small alteration which might lead .to increased business. But when an English firm made up its mind to do a thing, and got fairly started, it went through with the work quickly, and did it well. The Englishman kept the practical side of the proposal before him, and did not object to a little extra expense. The American, on the other hand, counted everv detail of cost. In one American factory Mr Booth saw some engines in operation, and pointed out an improvement that oould be made at a slight extra expense. The manufacturer agreed that it would be' a good thing, but ho said that it would incur an extra cost of 20 cents. As that would have to be added to each engine of a certain size, and as very large numbers were manufactured lie could not see his way to make the improvement. Where engines were sent out by thou-: sands a slight extra burden on each made a big total. The Englishman calculated his profits on one article, the American on 100 articles. In South Africa and- British East Africa Mr Booth saw a great Real that interested him. The authorities in South Africa, lie said, seemed to bo taking effective measures to have, better use 'made of the land. Experimental stations had been established, and it was evidently the intention to see exactly what the soil could do. He went inland from Mombassa, in East Africa, and bad opportunities for seeing the development that is taking place in-that part of the continent. Around Lake Nyassa, lie said, Lord ,Delamere had been farming for some years, and had been successful in growing wheat and breeding sheep. In flocks, a cross was obtained between the native sheep and English rams. He saw young lambs of tho first Cross. At a distance they resembled ilie cross-bred sheep grown in New Zealand, bJ»b on a closer view there could be seen patches of . wool on them that resembled in colour the hair of the dams. The crosses, however, had a much closer resemblance to the rams, and they gave promise of producing good slieep in respect to both wool and mutton. English bulls were crossed with native cows. The cows had small humps, which completely disappeared in the first cross. The worst trouble in connection with wheat-growing was rust. The last season’s yield, however, had been favourable. Wheat grew nearly all the year round. Ho saw in one place a field of ripe wheat, and alongside it a field in which the wheat was only a few inches above the ground. Black labour was employed at absurdly low rates, but the cultivation, for the most part, up to the present, had been merely scratching the surface of the soil. Farmers from South Africa with a knowledge of cultivation by machinery wero now introducing better methods of tilling the soil. The Governor, Sir Percy Girouard, was doing excellent work fti the district. The country wqs overran with Indian coolies, who bad been introduced for the construction of railways. They traded with the natives of the country with gaudy beads, blankets and other articles, and apparently had thoroughly established themselves. Brahmins were tho stationmasters and did clerical work, and members of other sections of the Indian races, were engineers and drivers oil the railways. On the coast, rubber plantations had been established. In Uganda large quantities of cotton were produced, and all that part of Africa, evidently, had a future before it.