AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2473, 13 October 1922, Page 4

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

A NEW ZEALANDER’S IMPRIIS. SIGNS. "N.Z. THE COUNTRY —PALMERS, TON NORTH THE TOWN." After a tour of the Australian States, Mrs E. H. Crabb, of College Street, Palmerston North, who r e . turned on Wednesday, is that "there is no country like New Zealand, and no town quite so nice as Palmerston North.” Mrs Crabb has been visiting Australia for the past four months and cheerfully gave a few of her impressions to a ‘‘Times” representative yesterday. Hobart had improved wonderful lly since Mfs Crabb visited it ten years ago. There was very little unemployment and business seemed to be flourishing. The large electrical works in Hobart were attracting all classes of industry and to a large extent were assisting to reduce the ranks of the unem, ployed. Mrs Crabb was greatly taken with Sydney harbour, as most visitors arc, but seemed to share the comtnoc opinion that the streets in the heart of the city are far too narrow. Tha noise and din of the traffic was most distressing to a Palmerstonian. The streets weer congested with pedestrian traffic and one had difficulty in Walking along. She spoke of the alarming number of people who begged in the streets and even in the trains, it was pretty well confirmed that these individuals made more than the average man's wages. Sydney’s unemployed brigade was very large. At street corners and in the parks there were hundreds, but from a lengthy stay in Sydney, Mrs Crabb gained the impression that a great number were not the unemployed, but the ‘‘unemployable.’’ The manner of handling traffic in Sydney, and particularly the railway service, was an eye-opener. A visit to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where there were no fewer than 1000 students, convinced the visitor that the musical side of Australia was not going to be neglected. Excavation work was already in progress for taking a great deal of the traffic underground.

Probably the most interesting part of Mrs Crabb’s travels in Australia was the opportunity afforded her to visit numerous homes for children—work in which Mrs Crabb is keenly interested. The Burnside Plome for Children was a wonderful institution and was generally regarded as the best this side of the line. It comprised sixteen "cottages” (in reality immense buildings of brick and different classes of stone). Each of these cottages had been donated by different benefit societies and wealthy people. One hundred acres of land had been given by Sir James Burns as the site for the buildings. The home had a fully equipped hospital, school, swimming baths, gymnasium and gardens, and they grew their own vegetables. Forty children were being brought from Scotland and forty from Ireland to attend the home. Many of the gardens were able to grow flowers representing the four seasons. Mrs Crabb also visited Melbourne, being greatly taken by the improved residential areas. The country between Sydney and Melbourne was dry, parched and bare, as compared with New Zealand.