BRITAIN AND NEW ZEALAND

Otago Witness, Issue 2829, 3 June 1908, Page 15

BRITAIN AND NEW ZEALAND

& TOURIST'S IMPRESSIONS AND [ COMPARISONS. By D. M'Farlane. I have now almost come to the end of & most interesting visit to Australia and New Zealand, and before returning home ■would like to express" an opinion on the people of thds prosperous colony and the conditions under which they live. Since my arrival questions such, as the following have been repeatedly asked me : "Do you heat much, about New Zealand at Home? Are the people ignorant of this country?" etc., etc. In reply, I*-- have always admitted that the Home people are riot sufficiently acquainted with New Zealand* but one cannot blame them, as it ' is only on a rare occasion we read of the : Dominion's doings in our newspapers. It cannot be forgotten thai we are distatit 12.000 milee, and the cost of cabling is expensive — far too expensive The vital importance of getting more reasonable terms, which would be a great achievement in furthering the interests of the Dominion in bringing it more prominently before the British public, cannot be too (strongly impressed upon the Government. I have noted, however, with satisfaction that in the meantime Sir J. G. Ward has ' come to an arrangement whereby three messages of 100 words each will be cabled 1 every week. Now, this is a step in the j right direction. The population is etill comparatively small, but I ccc no reason v/hy the trebling of the present date's , total should not be realised in the next i 0 or 15 years. Going into statistics, in 1806 the total exportation to Great Britain of frozen meat -^ amounted to .£2,877,031, while butter had a turnover of £1,489,622, which averages, spread over the Britioh population, about Is 5d per head for the former, and only about 9d for the latter. These figures chow there is considerable room for expansion. One j never hears at Home of New Zealand • butter, and, as far as I can gafcfe&r, it is placed with our Danish importations, as j this is the country on which we depend for our principal supplies. No doubt, as New j Zealand butter increases in quantity on tlie market, it will stand by ite own name ; — it is a pity such is not already the [ case, as it is only right' we should give i every encouragement to colonial produce. t Employers are greatly hampered through t dearth of labour, but, with a little more • " push " on the part of the Immigration , Department, the number of " new chums '" should be greatly iricreased. The emigration irom the United Kingdom for 1907 ■ amounted to- 395,447, out of which the proportion for Australasia was 24,777 — ' only 6 per cent. I do not know the figures for New Zealand alone, but 2 per cent, cannot be far wrong. An idea which has struck me may be found to be a feasible one in assisting immigration. A few sets of lantern slides might be j.re- ( pared by the Tourist Department, showing various views throughout the Dominion. These could i>e cent out on loan by the High Commissioner's depart- ' ment in London to responsible bodies, preferably in country districts. A handbook could also be oompiled for the lecturer's «se, stating the resources of the country and other inducements to t migrate. * Such a method as this would ciitail practically no coat, yet bring vividly before the forming class and others the chief features of New Zealand, and aid emigration ' in no small degree, especially in inducing a percentage to come who would otherwise join the multitudino js army contiaually flowing to the United States and Canada. I understand there is considerable aversion shown by the trades unions towards immigration. A more 6hort-sighted policy it is difficult to imagine. If the country were over-popu-lated, one could mnderstand such an attitude, but, as it is, they are only standing in the light of progress. Capital and , labour must always go together, and "where there is a superabundance of the former. and an ever-increasing market for the country's produce, wages will not fall. It is an oft-debated point as to whether the : working man in New Zealand, with his ' increased wages and enhanced cost of , living, is better off than his brother at Home. In New Zealand practically everything is much dearer, so that the purchas-. ing power of 20s is only about equal to that of 15s '6d in the Old Country.. One of the -things that strikes a new-comeT '• most forcibly is the enormous rent-s ruling in the principal towns — nearly 100 per cent, above those of Britain, "where the j working man does not pay more than, say, 7s 6d per week, and in many cases less. Rates and taxes vary so much all ovtr the United Kingdom that it is difficult to make a comparison, but when doing «o the difference in rental must be borcw in mind. That is, an assessment of 6d in the pound, is ' equal to Is at Home. From a monetary point of view I therefore do not think the working man is better off to any appreciable extent. You certainly have the pull over us in the conditions of the people, and that is the potent factor in life. The man in the hurry, bustle, and worry of our city life has got to write off a greater amount for depreciation at the end of each year in calculating his expectation of life. Taking comparisons of the death rate of 1905, New Zealand shows the lowest of the principal countries of the -world— viz., 9.27 per 1000; while Scotland reaches 15.9, England and Wales 15.2, and Ireland 17.1. It has always been my experience that the larger the town the more marked in proportion is the miserable existence led by many of the people. FoF«its size, New Zealand is well supplied with seaports, and for this reafon the population will, no doubt, always be well spread cv«r the country, thus obviating the danger of huge towns with their all attendant evils. We do not require to go beyond the colonies for an example of this kind. One has only got to look to Melbourne r.nd

Sydney, •where tlhe great percentage of the population of Victoria and New South Wales is to be found. Many things might be done for the amelioration of the poor of the Empire, but the great point is to discriminate between deserving and un- ' deserving cases, and the unemployed and unemployable. There is no getting away from the fact that drink and gambling cause more poverty and crime than it is possible to conceive. These iwo vices ha7e always stood in the way and impeded the progress of reform. I have been oftan j asked if the slum 6in out large cities at Home are as bad as they are painted. In j .many injstanoe& they are, but quite 90 j.er j cent, of the cases can always tj pointed to as the result of drunken habits. I have viewed with great satisfaction the progress of local veto in New Zealand, having visited two or three of the prohibition districts. Of course there is no , doubt a lot to be desired, bait there is ' no gain-saying the fact that the prohibi- ' Won communities have greatly benefited by their no-license vote. I made inquiries from business gentleman in there districts and find tradesmen can get their accounts paid more promptly, commercial travelers admit money is more plentiful, while saving bank deposits are very gratifying. The testimony given by the Mayor ami 100 leading business and commercial gentlemen" in Invercargill speaks fot itself. At the same time I am afraid that local veto, as applied in New Zealand, would ' not work at all well in the Old Country, ac we are too thickly populated to give | it a fair chance. Last session in the House j of Commons a Local Veto Bill was brought in but fell in "the "Massacre of the Innocents." I do not think you can give us , points in regard ' to gambling, wihich is co 'extensively earned on in New Zealand. On Easter Monday I -went to the Ellerslie races at Auckland, and while I was to a certain extent prepared for it, I was astounded at the amount of betting thai took place among colonial, Chinaman, and Maori alike, the women being as keen «<s the men. In fact, in the racecourse and out of it betting was the sole topic of j conversation from early morn to eve : Especially in Scotland, the middle classes { do not gamble to any extent — it is conI fined more to the poor of the working classes, with the resultant poverty of tne ! home, and the wretched existence of wife and children. ; The working man out here has the ad- ! vantage of shorter hours, but the conj ditions of the two countries have got. to , be carefully considered in making a oomi parisqn. Many of oiu^ industries depend ' on gaining foreign and colonial markets, so , that an eight hours' day "would not be practicable *if we -wished to retain our position in the commercial world. At the 1 same remuneration for the decreased number of working hours a great many factories would require to close down owing to our present fiscal system. L^ss employment and increased co^t of living would be the inevitable result. - The conditions in Germany are totally different, where a great deal of labour is done under sueatI ing conditions — long hours, low wages ; not to mention the prevalent uneconomic principle of dumping. In Germ my the working week is one of 60 hours, while United States averages 55 hours. When I arrived in the colonies in " January, I found most people thought the tariff question at Home was dead, and the press seemed quite apathetic. The results r.f recent bye-elections have shown it is very -much alive, and gaining strength day by d«iy. No great question of such importance and magnitude is generally carried at the first attempt, and there were so many other issues at the last general election that Mr Chamberlain's scheme did not meet with a straight fight. The present Government is undoubtedly tottering to its fall, which cannot be far distant, when this omnipotent que&tion will be the predominant feature of the election. Tariff reformers look to the colonies to t!<fm what support they can in attempting to further strengthen the bonds of unionism and draw closer together the Mother . Country and her Dominions Deyond the seas. It has been most interesting watching the Blackball strike developments, and the utter failure in practice of the Arbitration : Act. It would be quite superfluous for 'me to enter into any criticism, as the , case has been alieady thoroughly threshed out in the press, showing the ridiculous position in which the men have placed themselves, and the somewhat ludicrous situation with which the Government is faced. It is very likely political parties at Home will m-ike capital out of the incident. I cannot conclude without alluding I to the scenic beauty of New Zealand, and the great progress that has been made in the last 60 years. When in Dunodin I had the pleasure of being prevnt at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in the Early Settlens' Hall. It was most intpu»6ting to see co many old identities —^en who had , pioneered their way under greatly adverse conditions. I leave for London shortly, and I go Home greatly impre=<;od with New Zealand and New Zealamlers in general. The healthy out-door Mo. the glorious climatic conditions, and many other important features are ai>s3ts not to be overlooked in con.-ddering vvhat is the ideal life, and should be the emy of our city man.

Two thousand deer were shot last year on one sheep-station in the Wairarapa simply because they were in the way. A fanner told a representative of the Dominion that the deer were a terrible nuisance on many farms. A resident of the New Hebrides, writing to a friend in Christchurch, cays-: — " This group is under the dual control of England and France. As you know, dual controls have invariably proved a failure, so this may be the exception which proves the rule. There will be a British and a French constabulary force under a British and French officer respectively, and both parts will work in unison. It willbe run on military lines. The proclamation of the New Hebrides Convention was, though a small function, still a very impressive one."