ENGLAND REVISITED.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 10 April 1912, Page 1

ENGLAND REVISITED.

NOTES BY THE WA> . WESTERN AUSTRALIA No. 4. After four days we reached Fremantie, and went alongside the wharf, and took the train to Perth, the capital of Western Australia. When New South Wales and Tacmania refused to receive any more English convicts, Western Australia became the only convict colony in the Southern Hemisphere. They have just now reachtheir majority as a self-governing colony. In 20 year s they have made marvellous progress. There are beautiful and wellkept gardens. The floral beauty of the place surprised us. Perth, in comparison with Melbourne and Adelaido, has very narrow streets, so narrow that in some places there is only room for one tramline. It is an electric tram, and conduct- , ed very stupidly. A man come s to you with a" receptaple for your money. If von have not the required coin to put in the box, he first gives you change, and you then nut the coin required in the box. Hew very much simpler is the system in voijue in Sydney or Adelaide ! you give them the money, they give you the ticket, and it is done. POLITICAL. The voting for the referendum was on. and we rot into conversation with a political woman. She was courteous and kind, and did all she could to advise us where to go, and in conseuqence we saw the beautiful wardens, which we enjoyed very much. While we were speaking to 'her at the corner of the street, a policeman told us to "move on." "Ah," she says, "that is because of my colours," —and she looked at her bit of blue. She was a Liberal, she said; "But there is not much difference between us and the party in power (the working man); but that* policeman knew me, and that is why he ordered us to move on. But we are going to be beaten." she said; and so they were. 'But it was only in Western Australia. They carried it by a 4000 majority; in every other place they lost it. ■ ■ We left Westralia with the thougnt that how much can be done by a free people. When everything settles down in Australia they will will have learned a lesson : That while there is no reason why a. Government cannot be carried on by intelligent working men. they cannot do violence to freedom* without suffering themselves. Thev. must conduct it in the best interest of'the people. ROUND ABOUT CEYLON. We arrived at Ceylon after 10 days from our last port. Bishop Heber wrote: "What tho' the spicy breezes, . Blow soft on Ceylon's isle, * Where every prospect pleases, And only man is vile." A visit to this spice-bearing island will convince you that that was true then, and also now. Ycu cannot trust a native —he will cheat you, .if he can. He will' sella thing to you for four or five times its value if he can. You must never ex r pect to beat them at a bargain, because that is impossible. A small land respectable looking man came on board, and offered, in as pure English as it was possible to get, even in Dublin, to take us ashore, give us our luncheon, and a good drive for four shillings each. Wo thought it cheap, took our passage ashore, drove out to Mount Lividia, a , splendid drive, 'in a one-horse hackney carriage, the children of the district accompanying us with the cry, "You are my mafnmie ; vou are ray daddie," in the purest of English, in the hope you would reward their claim to kinship with a copper coin. We reached the hotel, ,' for that's what it was, stopped round the place, and finally drove back to our destination for lunch. It was a beautiful drive, but warm. There were fine House s in. juxtaposition to miserable shanties, where the sellers were waiting for their miserable customers. We were told these natives own the freehold of their shops, and would not sell. And I suppose that the municipality or government has.no right or law to force the sale. We reached our establishment and sat down to as fine a lunch as it was possible to give. Such attention was given xls that I have never seen before. Finally bur bill was brought in, and it was 3s 6d ! Each one came to me and said: "What are you going to do!" "Well," I said, "I don't like the cheating, but we have had such a good lunch and drive, that, . I am not going to dispute it;" So we. paid if and came away satisfied. But, there was one attached ,himself to us. as our guide. He was a Cingalese. .1 suppose, of the same tribe as he with whom we had arranged. Why hei was -, there we never knew, but he was a bene* volent man, intent on making us rich by setting us up, I suppose, as jewel'merchants. He had plenty of jewels to do that, and was willing to set us up. He would "sell us his precious stones, six,, seven, and eight-sided garnets for ss. He would guarantee they -would fetch 20s in England. Bishop Heber's hymn came to me: "Only man is vile. ■•■ . A lady' staying at the boarding house said the- were not worth more than Is 6d. The Cingalese was down upon the lady for that. It made him so mad that he began to depreciate thi s lady. Ho found his sale was spoiled, for there were, some who had never read Bishop Heber's hymn, or had forgotten it. He offered nie one for nothing. Of course I took it. He said: "You sec whether you don t <ret one pound for that stone." "All right." I said, "I will give you half if I do." I showed it to a jeweller. He said it might be worth 2s, but would not give more than Is 6d. So the lady wa R right. We were driven round by the market, where this truthful man averred we could get good bargains, for which he, of course, was going to get a commission. I never knew who was master of thab shop, for there were half-a-dozen chattering at once. Of course the lady bought somethintr, but whether it was a bargain or not I don't know. The only thing that stuck to me through the whole outnng was "only man is vile." pi p Eß< (To be continued.)