MR SALA AT THE GROSVENOR HOTEL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 3456, 26 October 1885, Page 2

MR SALA AT THE GROSVENOR HOTEL.

(by okb of his intebviewem.) . If lam not mistaken, it is about twelve years since I first saw Mr Sals. It iv at ■> pretty Thames-side village called TeddingtoD, within a ploasant walk of the famous palace at Hampton Court. It was one very hot Sunday m the height of summer, and it was ' a great relief to turn the eyes from tho dusty road ond the fervent sky to the 0001, broad, placid boeom of the river, and the green fields and leafy trees on the other sido. I There were a few of us, mostly newspaper men, m a boat-builder's yard giving on to the river, while outoide the favored enclosure the 1 road was packed with a good-humored, nutI cracking, orange-eating Cockney crowd, who were alternately looking anxiously down the rivorand besieging the modest little inn hard by, known as "The Anglor's Hotrea*," and evidently quite flustered and put out at having euoh extraordinary demands made _ upon its accommodation. Inside'tbe boatt yard wasXhe burly proprietor, an cx-obam 5 ) pion sculler, and now rejoioing m the dis- • tinction of being the Quean's Barge-master, £ whili- gathered around him were a trusty band of Q.ueon's Watermen, wearing their red coat* :' nn.d quaint badges. Tho event which wo D were nil waiting for was the 1 arrival of the Sh ill of Persia, who was expected to come up tho river m stato and to visit, if I recollect • rightly, the Due de Jvcmouro at hit house m 7 Bushoy Park, whoso famous avenue of oheotnuts was within ten minutes' drive of Teddington ferry, where 'wo stood listening to • tho cool plashing of the river as it fell orer 3 tho woir, and wondering when His Majesty ' would deign to put man appearance. 4s it r turned out, we were fated to be disappointed. r The Shah -in-Shah — "the King of Kings," to r give that mighty potentate his full title— was; i arbitrary and erratio m his movements. No r matter what plans he made, and. how much ! other people might b» inconvenienced by

those plans being thrown over, he liked to acl od wh*tover impulse seized him at the lusl moment, and on this occasion he took it intc his hea4 that instead of going to Bushey Purl to visit the Duo de Ne'raours he would go t<. the Zoological Gardens to see the lions fed If report was to be believed he had been treated to a prize-fight pot up for his pleasure at Buckingham Palace a day or two previously, and after this excitement the proposed trip to Teddmglon was probably far too lame for him. Needless to say the newa was hailed by the disappointed f rowd gat' ered by the river as another most flagrant instance of the perverted ta»te» of " barbarians," and Hia Majesty was denounced as a person utterly wanting m discernment, and totally unworthy of tho confidence of the British public It will, of course, be assumed that as the Shah didn't come, the reporters had nothing to write about. This was tho view taken by some of those present, and most of the London papers contented themselves with « paragraph mentioning the fact of the distinguished visitor having been expected, and the disappointment caused by his non-arrival. There was one journalist there, however, who had a different view of his functions, and the Daily Telegraph the noit morning contained a columu-and-a-hslf of graphic description of that riverside scene, which formed far-ond-away the most interesting faature m the paper. The humors of the crowd, the dress of the Queen's Watermen, and all the details of the tableau were hit off with a nicety that- made the article quite a photographic word-portrait. I feel - pretty certain it was Mr Sala whose jovial remarks kept us m good humor as we were fretting under the delay, and I don't think any other pen thun bis could have written such an enteitaining description when the event which he hud been "told off" to deseribo did not take flace. I could not help thinking that it was etterTor the journal and for its readers that the Shah did not put m an appearance on that occasion. At any rate I can answer for it that there was one journalistic neophyte among the little band assembled together 'by the sido of " Old Father Thames " who learned a very useful lesson viz., that it dues not by any means follow because you have nothing to say you should not be able to say it m a manner that shall interest, divert, and even instruct your readers. From the Angler's Betreat, Teddington, to the Grosvenor Hotel, Timoru, is a far cry. Nevertheless I found Mr Sola as genial as ever, and, m spite of a touch of asthma, opparently just as eager and able ia the matter of work. There is a dulness about the eyes that speaks of concentrated mental labor, and a plentiful consumption of midnight oil, and there is a quaint ness about his facial expression which strikes you at first, although you find it hard to define. It is, however, essentially a kindly face. You know, of course, from his writings that Mr Sala's pen although used vigorously enough against wrong and. injustice, is never employed to stab or annoy, and you feel convinced on looking at his faca that you would have known it if you had never read a line that he had written. One of his chief characteristics is that he quickly puts you at your ease, and we were soon engaged m a pleasant conversation which the fresh views of a man who had eeen so much of the world and of the chief ch4racters that loom large m the public eye mode to me exceedingly interesting. Mr Sala commenced by expressing his gratification at the notice of his lecture and the "Note" about his antecedents which appeared m the Timaru Herald, and showed me a pile of copies of the paper which he was posting to a number of his friends — political, private and journalistic— at Home. I did not aek him what he thought of the colony, knowing that the question must at this stage of his travels have become to him almost maddening m its iteration. Somehow or other, however, be was soon giving me his impres■ions on the subject. " I think the colonies," he said, " are far before England m some respects. They are far before us m the education given m the State schools, m the use of the telephone, and m the extent to which business men employ the telegraph for commercial purposes. But," he added, "you are behind us m some other natters, to which you have not yet had an opportunity of giving proper attention. I refer more particularly to culture — especially art — and also to cookery." I suggested that m course of time, we might improve m these respects. "Of course you will," be replied ; " we must recollect that the colonies are yery Toung yet. As to art, New Zealand, with her scenery, is bound to make great progress m that respect. The scenery is timply magnificent. Why, even at Ashburton, which is uninteresting enough m other respect*, you get a glimpse of alpine scenery which is (imply exquisite." As to the future of New Zetland, Mr Sala spoke m the highest terms. He shook bis head at our large debt, and expressed tbr opinion that we were sending too much money out of the colony, but he added, "New Zealand m the future ought to become the Venice of the Pacific. With her geographical position, her splendid harbors, her timber, and her other resources, she ought to grow into a great maritime country m the future. All that she wants is a hardy race of fisher* and sailors." I suggested that the expansion of the Union Company seemed to »bow that New Zealand was peculiarly adapted ss a maritime and trading centre, and with this idea Mr Sala agreed. He also expressed the opinion that the Company was doing good service m training up a fine body of sailors such as we wanted. " New Zealand is quite different from Australia," he continued, after a pause. "That is a point which I shall have to make clear at Borne. It is more Enzlisb-like. The towns are different, the buoh i» different, the climate is different, and the people are different. The New Zealand children are more ruddy-looking than those m Australia, and more Englishlike. They are not so colonial-looking and weedy. The speech is different. In An»tralia I notice they say ' tew ' instead of •too.'* One of his visitors had been giving Mr Sala some particulars about M. de Harven's mission, and he thought the Belgians would pake capital colonists. They were frugal and industrious, and could live on as little as a Chinaman. They could support themselves by growing cabbages on the sido of the railway lines. He commented on the curious absence of patriotism among the Belgians as compared with thetr neighbors, the Dutch. " The Belgians," he said " have no country ; they know that any day the land where they dwell may again become the cockpit of Europe." As to the Dntch they were passionately attached to the country they had won with so much toil from the sea. They knew if they were invaded they could open the dykes and drown the enemy as they had done on previous occasions. The »jstem of national education m New Zealand seems to have especially surprised Mr Sala. "It j, f ar that m any other country," he remarked. "The education given m the common school, of America is not to be compared with it. The next generation will, of course, show the result*. I asked Mr Btoat, whom I found an exceedingly plea«ant man, if 7 ou were not going too far m the matter, but he replieH « not a bit too far.' Still Mr Btout i», as you know, an enthusiast m the matter of educa Hon." Subsequently Mr Sala laughingly remarked — "I om, m you know, a Liberal; I only hope I shan't bo a confirmed old Tory when I get Home. Here you see democracy m full bloom. It is not that ' Jack fs «a good as his mast-r,' but Jack won't acknowledge that ho has a master. You are all absolutely on a ierel. Yon respect a man's office — you respect a magistrate as a magistrate — bat you have nothing m the shape of status. Still the people are most kind and hospitable, only —and here the traveller smiled aznin — " you mustn't put on ' side.' That is tho one unpardonable sin m their eyes." I inquired after an old acquaintance of mine formerly on tho staff of tho Pall Mall Gazette, and this led Mr Sala into a most vigorous denunciation of the recent action of that journal which has caused so much talk. I wouldn t mind venturing a heavy wa?<r," he remarked, " that they got all their information from th« 'Prostitution 1 volume of Mayhew s ' London Labor and the London Poor. That volume wo» suppressed noon aftor it wim issued, and you can't get it now except by paying a very high price for it. I am only glad for the credit of our craft that the Editor of the Pall Mall is not a regular Journalist." Referring to the prospccU of the English general election, Mr Sala laid that although a

1 Liberal he wasiettingob the Conservatives. It was very difficult to f-irin an idea, however, at this distanco from England, without having read tho English papers lately. It .all depended upon the action of the unknown quantity the enfranchised Two Millions. As to the Roumeliin difficulty, Mr Sala was emphatiealh of opini m that it was instigated by Russia. .-i'O saw we were prepared for her m Inri : a, and so the endeavored to stir up the trouble m Eastern Europe. "It is better of course for. us,". b$ .■ added, "that she should transfer her operations to that quarter. There we shall get some allies whom we could not have got us long as she confined; her attention to Asia." . At to the result, Mr Sala thought that for the present the Powers would unita m localising the struggle and preventing the partition of Turkey. The e»d of the ' Sick Man " howo»er, he thought was within measurable distance. If the Republic Were done away with m France, and the Monarchy restored with ono of the Orleanist princes on the : throne — whioh seemed quite a li-ely contingency — then, if not before, the carving of Turkey would lake place. Perhaps Constantinople would be mado a federal oity.like Frankfurt, and some sort of modus vieendi might be arrived at m this way. In reference to the federation of the Austra-' lian colonies, Mr Sala's visit had convinced him that a great deal of nonsense was talked on this subject, and that it was further' off than people at Homo imagine. "You are not ripe for federation," he eaici. "Are^ou prepared to adopt uniform laws relating to Customs, shipping and co forth ? No. What has New Zealand, or what has New South Wales to gain by Federation P Absolutely nothing. It would rather tend to weaken you. You might have some sort; of union for defence purposes, but that is all at present" In reply to a remark that except m Victoria there was absolutely no interest taken m the question m these colonies, and that we were surprised at the enthusiastic way m which it had been ttken up at Home, the rete>an journalist lidded — " Precisely so. Victoria is the tadpole of the Australian colonies, and wants to swallow up all the rest. In England a good deal of the aeitation it fostered by old eoTonisls, who speak at public dinners and like to dwell on the union of the Australian colonies as a subject that i« cure to take well. If you had federation to-morrow, tho colonies woiild soon bethinking of secession." This did not exhaust the whole of the interesting tulk with which Mr Sala was good enough to favor me. Some of his moat piquant remarks about public men were of a OMasi-private nature, and it would be hardly fair to give them to the public. Suffice it to say that I have rarely spent a more pleasant or instructive half-hiur than I did m Mr Sala's company, and I am prepared to testify that not only is he a moat well-informed and agreeable writer as everybody knows, but he is a model of conversationalists and raconteurs to boot.