A RUSSIAN VISITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12653, 6 September 1904, Page 6

A RUSSIAN VISITOR.

A MOSCOW JOURNALIST ON TOUR. STUDY OF NEW ZEALAND'S SOCIAL CONDITIONS. .: ./ Amongst the passengers from San. Francisco by the Ventura last evening was M. A. Zelenko, of Moscow, a Russian journalist, who is on a tour of the world for the purpose of studying the social conditions prevailing in various countries. Mr. Zelenko, who represents the Russkioe Slovo, left the land of the Tsar in November last, and has since travelled. through Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Cuba. One of his principal objects in coming to New Zealand is to inquire into the working of the co-operative system of labour, of which, he says, he has heard a great deal", as well as into the. various other social and political systems obtaining in the colony. In Russia many works are carried out on the co-operative method by local government authorities and private societies, and it is for the purpose of making a comparison that our visitor desires to study; the working of the New Zealand system. Mr. Zelenko will remain in New Zealand about a month, and will then go on to Australia, afterwards visiting India on his return to Russia, where he will publish a series of articles embodying the results of his impressions. ... In the course of a conversation on board the Ventura last evening, Mr. Zelenko informed a representative of the Herald that New Zealand has lately been attracting a great deal of attention in his country. Many of the Russian books and magazines, he said, contain a great deal of literature concerning New Zealand, translated from the English," French., and German, and this information is read with keen interest by the advanced thinkers of the country. • Questioned as to the war, M. Zelenko said: "I can tell you nothing about that, beyond what you already know—in fact, v you probably know more about it than 1 do. I left Russia before the war started, and I only know what I have been able to gather from the newspapers." ' "What do you think will be the ultimate result 01 the war?" . "That is very hard to say, and it is difficult to predict how long it will last. Much depends upon the, financial resources and the credit of the two countries, and these : are matters on which it is difficult to form an opinion." . -