TOUR OF THE FAR EAST

Taranaki Daily News, 4 August 1934, Page 9

TOUR OF THE FAR EAST

WAITARA RESIDENT RETURNS IMPRESSION OF JAPANESE RACE. POSSIBILITIES OF THE FUTURE. Having heard so much about the flowers of JApan, Mr. F. W. Matthews, Waitara, who has just returned from a four months trip to the Far East, expressed himself as very disappointed when he visited the country. Though he saw numerous parks and several nurseries he did not see any flowers to equal those of New Zealand, he said to a News reporter yesterday He was just too late for the cherry blossom and the wisteria, the former of which is to be seen in avenues in the cities and the latter on pergolas and in parks, while the chrysanthemum season had not commenced. Mr. Matthews said that the flowers he saw could not be compared with those of Waitara.

The country appeared to be very rough and hilly, but it was noticeable that the Japanese had made use of every piece that was usable. Passing the numerous isles in the inland sea he could see the hillsides were terraced until they looked like so many slips leading to the top, where it was too steep to terrace. The wheat and barley crops looked good, even on the terraces, and when he saw them harvested they were good, too. All the harvesting was done by hand and the flats were all parcelled out into small paddy fields with water all round them. Mr. Matthews did .not think New Zealand nor Australia need fear wool competition from Japan, as they could not grow sheep there and the people did not eat mutton. He did not see any good European pasture grasses but only a kind of rat tail. There were a few cows round Yokohama, where he saw plenty of cream, but that was the only place that he did see cream. Strawberries were very plentiful. The potatoes, however, were not though Japan exported some to Hong Kong and the Philippine Islands. Carrots parsnips and onions all appeared to do well, while fish was very "plentiful and good. All fruit seemed to do well, but -it was very carefully tended, each separate fruit as it grew being encased in a paper bag on the trees. LITTLE NEW ZEALAND BUTTER.

Mr. Matthews did not see any New Zealand butter, though there was plenty of good Australian butter. The Australians appeared to have a hold, and he saw a number of Australians there doing business. The beef did not appeal, but the pork and bacon, which came from China, were fair. There were plenty of eggs and poultry of good quality. "The country was electrified everywhere, there being a network of electric railways. The power was chiefly hydro-elec-tric. The express trains on the main lines were. luxurious, the first, class being the best he had travelled in anywhere in tire world. There were observation cars attached to every express. The short distance trains had only second and third class cars, but the second class was far superior to New Zealand’s first class. The dining cars provided four or five course dinners in either European or Japanese style for about Is 6d. No signs of any depression were seen by Mr. Matthews. The few beggars he saw were all professionals. The country was full of tourists, as the rate of exchange was very favourable and American tourists were visiting the East instead of England. The yen was worth is 5Ad when he was in Japan, as against the par rate of 2s, but it had since dropped to Is 2Jd. The loss in sending money via London offset the gain on the yen exchange sale. There were many .good hotels rim by Europeans and Americans, the tariffs being about the same as in New Zealand.- '' ■ Mr. Matthews saw no signs of any military preparations. If Japan had any soldiers she kept them well out of sight. There were numerous aeroplanes always flying about in groups of five or six, but he did not know whether they were of military or commercial significance. “The Japanese do not want war.' They want trade, and they are very keen to obtain it,” Mr. Matthews said. “If they do go to war they will be absolutely forced into it.” Mr. Matthews was in Japan at the time of Admiral Togo’s funeral, which was attended by millions and was a most impressive ceremonial. EDUCATION TAKES HIGH PLACE. Education was taking a very high place in Japan. There were three types of school, kindergarten, middle and higher. Some of the schools were magnificent concrete buildings. English was a compulsory subject in all the higher schools and he believed it was also in the middle schools. Most of the teachers were Japanese. There were numerous private schools where English was taught and he instanced one case where a Methodist minister was teaching English to a total of 500 young men and women who had left schooL At most of the better shops either the proprietor or some of the staff spoke English. The Japanese' were very keen to speak' English and to gain information about England, and would seize every opportunity to converse with a visitor in English. If he saw a visitor perplexed' a high school boy or even a man would ask in good English, “Can I assist you?” Mr. Matthews himself met with a typical instance when a Japanese business man spent four hours showing him “the sights” and stated that he felt well repaid at having the opportunity to converse in English. He also asked to be corrected if he made any mistakes. The streets of Tokio were very wide, it having been rebuilt since, the earthquake, and there were some magnificent parks, including one of 500 acres in the centre of the city surounding the Emperor’s palace. The trams ran through the centre of the cities high on arched viaducts, while the trains were «very comfortable, large and very cheap, the charge being only six sen for any distance up to nine miles. Six sen at the present rate of exchange would equal one penny. There were magnificent buildings in all the cities Mr. Matthews visited, including banks, commercial and business premises. There .were also numerous large factories, but he was unable to gain admittance to. any of these as the Japanese were very jealous in that respect and would not allow any foreign visitors to enter them. Everyone seemed to work hard and all the hours possible. That, he considered, was where Japan would have the advantage over European countries in trading rather than' because of the lower standard of living. The’.standard of living was not so low. Living was cheap and the people, lived well. They were very industrious and appeared very happy at their work. Near his hotel at Yokohama there was a large school in course of construction, and work went on from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. He did not know if the men were on piecework. The shops, too, remained open day and night and on Sundays. Education would probably alter the conditions in Japan, Mr. Matthews thought. When thousands were educated and well read, they would realise what was being done in other countries and he thought some day in the future there would probably be an upheaval. He visited a dramatic school for girls near Kobe. It was a huge building, in-

eluding also a magnificent theatre, seating over 3000 people, with a stage 100 feet wide and very deep, where over 250 girls appeared at one dme. They gave a four hours’ entertainment, the ballets, set pieces and choruses and the dressing all being on a scale that would be hard to excell. He was very impressed with the Japanese people of the middle and higher classes, who appeared very quiet and reserved, Mr. Matthews concluded. Th®' children, too, generally Misas sest sJwcte