"BACK TO NATURE."

Otago Witness, Issue 2902, 27 October 1909, Page 42

"BACK TO NATURE."

A dappar little man with brown hair and beard of foreign cut, he did not 100k — as he leant negligently against the bulwarks of the Ruapahu out in mid-harbour — very much like a reformer or the lcaier

of a strange cult. But he did look interesting, his appearance seemed to indicate that he had a tale to tell, and tc the New Zealand Times reporter mo\ot up closer. " Excuse me," said he, " but are yoi Dr Schwarz?" " That 16 my name — Dr Schwarz, of Ber lin." was the reply. '* But it is not nij only name. I have this in broken sen

tence — see !" and he wrote down in full, "Dr H. Schwarz (Zam Busch)." "And who am I?" he went on. "I will tell you. I am the president — no, rather, the leader — cf one section of the Society of Life R-c formers It is not a German society — it .6 international. Do you not know it? Roturn to nature — that

■ , is what we aim at," rejoined tiie doctor. - ' But how ': ; ' "Ah! that is it. I will tell >ou. We 1 ido not s*ck culture. Oh, no! We try to ' get rid of all tlie "' i i Superficialities'' " Ye«, that is it. Wo w ant to do away - i with the superficialities of life. We are • | tired of artificiality and, I will say, ex- - I trerae civilisation. We want to be free.

in fact, we are a sort of branch of the Freemasons and ■ I am accredited to them he»re." But, how? In what manner do you seek to get back to nature? Is there anything out of the way or extraordinary in your method* ? "Extraordinary? Xo ! (with emphasis) Nothing out of. the way at all. We will

just live in the open air working at fruit ' culture, poultry-farming, honey-raising, or tilings like that." You will live, put in the Times man. Then the reformers are not properly under way yet?" '"Oh, no! I am — shall I say? — a pionoer. I have come out to look around and find a place for our colony. But others are- j comingr soon. Yes, people from Germany, '

France, and Switzerland will follow mo when I have found a place where we can establish ourselves. I am going up to Auckland now and afterwards to the Cook group and the Society Islands, but I do not quite know where 1 will finally settle on the land for our people. " You see, ' he went on after a pause, •" we must nave a fine warm healthy eh-

mate for our colony, for we do not behove in wearing ordinary clothes. We will onl> have very light things; indeed, the minimum of clothing we will wear. Again we get back to nature there as much as j^ossible." And why has New Zealand been selected for th.s purpose? Have >ou been here before? " Yes," was the rejoinder. '■ I was lieve

15 years ago on a short visit. Since then I have been all over the world, but I have decided that here, north of Auckland, is about the b:-st climate for us. One of our friends, too. a Berlin professor, was here five years ago, and he found it very nice. One reason why the people in my country want to gee away is that there they are under too many restrictions, and especially

bpcauso our luler is not quite what we want. But v. c will obey the law, oh, yes! i We only want a democratic government." As soon as {,< ssible, added the doctor, li" was going on to Auckland to get into ! touch witn the authorities, and make mi 'juiries about the disposal of land. He also I informed the report-er that he had studied medicine and law at the Berlin and Bonn ! 'diversities