A VISITOR FROM SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11852, 2 January 1902, Page 6

A VISITOR FROM SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

INTERESTING INTERVIEW. - . [by telegraph.—own CORRESPONDENT.! Wellington, Wednesday.' Mr. R. Caldwell, who is a member of tha : Parliament of South Australia,. arrived in ■'''!> Wellington yesterday by the Talune from '■.. Sydney. He comes on a visit, partly 0 £ 'I' pleasure and partly of business, as he in- {, tends to study the dairy industry of this '" country in reference to the question of in- '8 spection. The dairy industry in Southj :■] Australia ; has now attained such proper- '.}?. tions that a systematic method of inspec- , tion is necessary, and Mr. Caldwell, as 1 chairman of the Dairy • Board, wishes to'." see what is done in New Zealand in this ■' respect. Speaking to an interviewer, Mr. Cald-> - ■ well said he intended to also learn something of the working of the industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act.; A similar! Act is iii force in South Australia, but,; says Mr. Caldwell, "It has not been- ' largely made use of." The reason for this, ' he supposes, is that the masters haw generally conceded the; demands of the employees. Whether this is the real reason, m or not, however, the fact remains that very 1 few disputes have come > before the - tri- 1 bunals; established under the Act. , , _■ In regard to the question of federation ill ■ Mr. Caldwell says a good deal of dissatis-j ' faction is felt in the smaller States in re-' i gard to the financial aspect of the situa- ; • tion, though no doubt the differences will! 1 adjust themselves in .the course of time.i ii The great question before the Common-)|§ wealth—an even more serious question than I any : which at present confronts it—says' ', - Mr Caldwell, is' that of C obtaining fresh; 1 markets in the outside world.' The time is' I not far distant when the producers of Australia .must> compete with those of the' >c . ™ d /:f this question will D hen become, M a pressing one. - Mr. Caldwell -.does'; nob 1 attach-much value- to South AfvU* ax t -1 permanent market; inasmuch as it is bro-V - babe, he says, that South ; Africa Hinder ! •; settled conditions will- in the . course of four or five years be able , to!• produce Within her own, boundaries all that she wants for I home consumption. As an instance of the ' fertility of the : soil of H that "country -he ' mentioned that, a friend of his who- had '. R;>ne from Southland to South Africa '.'ma | :?™ to grow gum trees on his land near 1 j Pretoria. -; Within a : comparatively short 5 3 period, added Mr. Caldwell, "ho will surely ■ ' grow wheat and other produce" ■ $ Mr. Caldwell left this morning for a visit to i the,Wet; Coast district ° *** »38 1 Island. He will go as van New Ply. ■ - mouth and make a visit to Auckland be- : fore returning to Wellington.