COMPLICATED SIMPLE LIFE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16550, 14 May 1914, Page 4

COMPLICATED SIMPLE LIFE.

DISHEARTEN ING EXPLORATION FOR A BILLY. CIVILISATION IN A CARAVAN. AN UNUSUAL EXHIBITION IN LONDON. [From a Lady Corkksi-oxdent-] LONDON, April 3. Tho last thing ono would look for in London, or, looking for, would find, surely.would resin to bo simplicity. Material life to tho would-bo impartial onlooker can only bo regarded complicated, less complicated or more complicated, according to whether ono .•n.rugglcs along in a middle-class household on an insufficient income or makes so mo show on a comfortable one, cultivates or inherits vast elaboration in an upper-class regime or wages a never-ending contest with many mouths and Httlo to fill them in a poverty-ridden area. Simplicity appears an art that went out when civilisation as we know it came in. Most of us, if wo had time to stop and bo really honest with ourselves, in the whirl of tho competition that invades nearly every realm of everyday life, would probably find it extremely difficult to effectively separate ourselves from our surroundings and the conventions ordained by others, and find exactly where wo do stand in relation to the" universe and how many of our convictions are our own and how many simply bought (not without price) from other people, who probably took them over fifth-hand or older still in their turn.

Tito Simple Life Exhibition, now in -rogress at the Royal Horticultural Hall, in London, is enough to make a purebred and sensible New ZeaInndcr—one adjective, of course, in--oparablo from the other—hold her bead between her hands and wvep. For it is only as simple as numbers of people's ideas of simplicity, and those, if anything, keep the feet effectually off any patli that could lead to tho precious domains.

It would probably bo an eye-opener to the backwood«man tp learn that yon can hire simplicity. It is expensive, too, sometimes ten guineas a week, sometimes much more. For this you can wander away from the usual haunts of men—if these boast roads and the roads are wide enough and if yon can buy petrol. For you are sirirplo by motor caravan in this case. Two anonymous long-locked youths —in deference this to their choice of reading—who call themselves "Tho Rolling Stones," and their caravan "The Moss," exhibit something of a novelty in the latter, for they havo dragged it about the country themselves for hundreds of miles. It is of canvas and very light strong wood, is set on a couple of motor-cycle sideear wheels, weighs something under four hundredweight, and has a light horizontal iron shaft in front. Presumably for the edification of would-be disciples these simple souls, not far off thirty, maybe over it. unkind truth compels, have a printed timetable. For sixty minutes in the middle of a beautiful morning in Hie beautiful country they "study" Nict3che. A tent is a commodity that need only weigh five pounds one is told. But tho '•'tent" the inquirer is shown is a mere spineless mass of calico. What of tho fly and tho stays and the pegs in ease, as in England, one came on countrv where these "are not" one thoughtlessly demands? Another fifteen pounds is added.

NEVER A BILLY IN SIGHT. Dazzled with impossible luncheon hampers, patent stoves, camp goloshes, panama lints (33s and suitable tor simple holiday making in tho open), collapsible armchairs, wire-covered glass syphons, aluminium utensils of every description, from new-fangled devices for condiments to a rack in the to}) of your temporary roof tree lor stacking umbrellas, tho homesick Now Zealander prayed for tho refreshing sight of a billy. One was brought. Price 19s 6d. Even less like a billy than to-day's cups and saucers are like the chipped beloved enamel pannikins of New Zealand picnicking seasons. Not such a thing as even any semblance to jj billy in this whole up-to-dato exhibition. Tin, one was told patronisingly by the wielder of the nineteen and sixpenny horror, would "bo very heavy, you see." Shades of thousands of New Zealand billies with smoky, dented sides and the smoky golden nectar that they hold 1 , . Sixty-five pounds in weight is not an out of the way burden for, say, a couple of cyclists and this would include a camp bedstead and cork mattress, a sleeping bag, a camp chair and table, washing apparatus (canvas bath, basin and washstand), and the tent and its accoutrements, so is | worth consideration. One original camp had a tent whose cosy picturesqueness was its only virtue, for it was too unwieldy to travel any way but by train, being erected on curved wooden stays and composed of scarlet blankets. Two blankets at the top obviated the necessity for a fly and proved waterproof, the owner averred, and instead of blankets for night covering he and two others slept under one cambric covered down quilt. The scarlet tent covering was secured to the wooden framework with long pins and an ingenious outer tent, a sort of diminutive covered in balcony, with an opening in the top for a chimnev, protected against the wind by a piece of cloth, allowed for indoor cookery in inclement weather. Ihis most nearly approximated to Now Zealand notions of camping, for there were no beds, chairs or tables, the last two being improvised, as we arranged, the writer remembers, out of packing bags and boxes used for provisions, etc" ■

THE CARAVAN LUXURIOUS. It would seem to bo a capital idea and not extravagant for those who must have comfort but like an openair holiday to hire such a. caravan as ono can, with a horse from three guineas a week, save m the height or the summer season—July and August. For this not enormous sum. to which must ho added food for the horse (and a man's wages and food if none of the hirers can drive) a caravan to.house two at night with plenty of room.to carrv*"several tents for others, with really remarkable accommodation, can ho procured. The furnishing and building of these may interest some young New Zealanders. v They havo two doors, one at the hack 'and ono at the front, of the stable varietv, the top half being of class : along the sides aro velvet cushioned Beats, behind which, concealed and ready for use at the pressing of o spring, aro wire mattresses. Behind the hack door is a lavatory basin with an accommodating shelf above, and with, in a cupboard beneath, all the necessaries for a bath. Opposite this is a lady s wardrobe, and at tho other end on the same side, n. man's. Opposite the latter is au extraordinarily complete cooking stove set in a sort of alcove, with a chimney outside, and with several pots and kettka, a capital little oven and coal fireplace. Tho coal is carried in a couple of boxes that do duty for the driver's and another scat outside. At the side of the man's wardrobe is a elosed-in cupboard, whoro crockery awl such utensils as colanders, etc, aro kept, with three drawers below for tea towels, cutlery, etc. and underneath tho sofa beds are lockers for household 'uieu blankets, etc. Tho roof has ac-

rommodation for a largo supply of luggage, tents, etc., and iron brackets on the back walls will hold baggage.

Food safes are bolted on underneath the van. Sconces for holding three candles are sot at the end of tho sofas, and a hanging lantern lights the driver on his way. Windows extend the length of the car, and there are ventilators in tho lantern roof and also in tho doors. Tho total weight is thirty hundredweight, and one draught horse or a couple of cobs are said to draw it comfortably.

There is a good deal to be said for n holiday in such a concern as this. It seems a world away, though, from happy stretches of six weeks at a time spent by tho writer and her family of eight in a one-romed vorandahed hut in New Zealand bush near tho ocean beach, in the oldest of clothes, nourished by the simplest of meals (with salt and pepper content to dwell for the holidays in one compartment), with most food slightly enhanced by the aroma of wood smoke, and with fishing, bathing, walking, riding, blackberrying and a dozen other modest and inexpensive delights to make the days fly by on golden wings.