AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW.

Otago Witness, Issue 2412, 24 May 1900, Page 10

AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW.

RETURN OF MR J. M. RITCHIE. A representative of "this journal called upon Mr J. M. Ritchie,' who has recently returned from a visit to the Motherland, and requested an interview. Mr Ritchie at once disclaimed the idea that he had anything of interest to communicate to the press, but we think that a reproduction of the remarks he was good enough to make regarding some of the matters that came under his observation during his trip will be read with interest, and regarded as valuable. Those remarks were as follows : — On the way to England I visited Holland, and made some inquiries there- about their agriculture. The people are chiefly concerned in the raising of cattle and dairy produce. In the 'first place, I noticed that nearly all the land they used had been more or less reclaimed from the Eea, and was surrounded by artificial dykes to keep the sea out. There was water everywhere, and few fences, the divisions between the fields consisting of ditches full of water. Very largely, in consequence of this state of things, the whole of the .land is useless in winter, during which period there is no live stock in the fields at all, the cattle being housed. So far as I could make out, the people do not get much i more for their cheese than we get for ours — say, from 4cl to 5d per lb, according to description and quality.— and yet 1 believe the farmers there do very well, and the land sells at good price? — say, from £25 to £35 per j acre for rural land. I was told that it has been for some time in contemplation by the State to reclaim the whole lof tho Zuydor Zee. about a million and a-quarter ueras, at an estimated cost of •*10,000,q00, and thai, judging- by the Haarlem Zee, which ha& been reclaimed, and is now all meadow land, it would pay handsomely |to do so. It seemed to me, from these figures, that the New Zealand farmers ougnt^ to do very well indeed, considering that here they have, more or less, the use of their land all the year round, and that the | value of it is a good deal less than in I-Iol-!1, f. Oi , course > fl ' om all I could find out, ! the Dutch farmers are more economical than are the colonists ; they spend much less, and are contented with much less than the farlrers in New Zealand, and so in that way they are enabled to save more out of their opeiotions. They are a clean, hardy, healthylooking- race the Dutch, and there is a great look of neatness and cleanliness in all their f 7t ited Ami3Lei '^m, The Hague, Delft, and Alkmaar, at which last town there is a very large weekly cheese market The Boer war had not begun then, but we were m the midst of the preliminaries, and the Dutch were even then not at all pleasantly affected towards the English, although, the greater part of their trade is done with us. 1 hough the Dutch arc so shrewd, industrious, and commerical a racs, they are quite unable to comprehend our methods towards our colonies, and treat their own rich colony of Java very differently, making all they can out of it. As to our frozen meat trade, the only thing to be said about that is that our meat seems to be "able to hold ito own. Whenever stocks are diminished, or there is a probability of that, it shows an inclination to go up in price, I and evidently is a thing which now cannot be done without. I have not been able to discover on this visit, any more than on previous ones, that there is any particular plan of operations for selling in London which is likely to give better results than the present, I even if practicable. The main thing is to | keep up the quality, and have it delivered regularly in good order. Wool wenl up to a great price last year without any good apparent reason, and now, as I almost expected, 1 it is going down again. Most people think

that it will noi again go as low as it was before, but I believe, it will "keep upon a considerably lower level than it was last , year. Thera is every sign of prosperity, atfout New Zealand, looked at from fie oulside point j of view of the Home country, and one" soiiiej times sees things affecting tha colony from I different points of vie>v n.% Home, and muchmore clearly than ous does when living on the spo|. From that standpoint everything points to very considerable prosperity spread over the whole colony. J think the people at Home have given vp the old foolish id»a-3 about this colony marching to 'ruin and all that sort of nonsense, and little is heard about our debt ; and while we by no means require encouragement in this direction, I may say that J was astonished at the growing taxation at Home, especially munieipa 1 . It is quite j common to hear of ss. and 03 per pound in . town rates. There are a good many people who have an idea that -.this colony ba^s not done right in con-ne.cl.i6n. with the Midland railway, but usually it is found they have |, not got- hold of 1 the . correct facts, and are surprised when .they^do^ It seems to me that our Government, ,so far as they have gone, hav9 done "what" is perfectly right/ though 1 can imagine vhat it ,may be .politic, when 1 a complete settlement is finally made, to- stop short a little of exacting the full leafal pound of flesh. 1 I visited the.-House of Commons now and then, andy, heard Mr Chamberlain's great speech in defence of the war. "It was a very interesting, clear, convincing, and splendid " speech : but, as most of Mr Chamberlain's speeches dp,- left a flavour of something approaching ' irritation, as of one who was too cocksure, too clever, to see any sids but his own, arid who treated those high affairs of State too much as lie"might a large commercial transaction. "With not half the power or eloquence, either of the brothers Baifour generW»7ly carries -liis hearers with him more completely, and with more satisfaction at 'the finish. I can quite understand how it is that so many people think Mr Chamberlain has mismanaged the negotiations ending in th.is war. and say that he irritated the Bosrs too much, and created complete distrust of the English ,m -their minds. 1 daresay it might have been" Otherwise, and belter in some ways, if a man like Mr Baifour had had charge of the negotiations, and the wiiting of despatches and fo oiv. - I, had grave doubts, like manyothers at Home, in my mind for some time as to whether the war was just and right, but as information gradually increased, it became evident tbat it was inevitable, and I believe great good will come out of it, and that it is a righteous war. The stupid thing in connection with if would, appear to be that steps were not tak.en to prevent the am.a-- ! ment of the Boers ' after the r.iicl ; but the ! shame of this wretched affair for a year or I two paralysed our dealings with the Transj vaal completely. T.he .way the colonies have ■ come forward has been a' mopt extraordinary revelation 10 everybody at 'Home and abroad. It was never deemed possible to tlie extent Ito which it lias happened. Ifrhas strengthened the bonds of the Empire enormously, and the principles upon which the old country has for so long been dealing with the colonies. There , is now at Home t!>e very highest opinion of ; the way in which our Premier, JMr Seddon, ' has acted throughout the whole business for ' New Zealand; and quite justifiably so. . I I think he has done splendidly, and has shown ' a fine, big, statesmanlike spirit, i I was in London on Ladysmith Day, and a most extraordinary day it wap. It was very cold, but the crowds marching through the streets had nearly all got their hats off — they' had thrown them away, because Ihcy wanted their hands for flags and drums, and as they were always singing '■ Go"d save the Queen" they could not do so with their hats on. I Pall Mall was crowded till 12. 0r 1 o'clock ' at night, the people thronging round the [ Prince of Wale&'s house, cheering and sing-* ing. Up to that time there had been no" demonstrations, the people being extremely quiet throughout the whole of the reverses. , Men complained "of depression, but the people I as a whole were very silent, and appeared I simply to harden their resolution to see tlio , war to a successful issue. I admired the s=elfcontrol of everybody, and their silence. The newsmen, or policeman, or 'bus drivers, and» such like, with whom now ond then one might have discussion, were- all alike. Silence, or as near as might be, about the reverses and mistakes ; but loud anxiely about the despatch, of troops and all the munitions of war in I the greatest profusion and with the utmost , speed. Some newspapers were hys-terical, and ! foolishly so; but the dignity and resolution of a great Imperial race of men were far I more in evidence than exciting screams. The only other matter referred to by Mr 1 Ritchie in the course of the interview, the j substance of which is given above, was concerning the postal service, and regarding this I he said: "When one is travelling about tho ,' world it seems a great pity that the Australasian colonies should be the only ones that have not the ' pfeasy If I had to

iM'ite to V\e Cape the poc.age wac a penny, to Cai aJa- a penny, to India.?- penny, but if 1 ■urote io Australia and New Zealar.cl it was the old twopence halfpenny."