BY OTHER EYES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7569, 29 November 1902, Page 2

BY OTHER EYES.

AmerioMi Tliitor. The following acoonnt or Hew Zealand manners and customs is supplied to the New York "Sun" by an American whs. recency made • tour of th* oolony. Tho writer tells ns much we woro not previously aware of:-!- ' : A POLITE YEQJPM. : * New Zealand can boast of other Aingo as remarkable as its labour laws that com-, pel shopkeepers to close on' every legal holiday and ehher W*adnesda,y or Safarday afternoon, and fix the lowest wagee that can be paid to anyone at Idol 25 cent* per week. For example, everybody U jjojit*, extremely, almost painfully polite. A train steams into the station at WtU lington, the island's capital. " Wellington, please," tho conductor gently announces to bis passengers. After thanking the conductor for gobbing them safely to their destination, tbo travellers disembahrk. " This way to dinner, pleas*,* tbe stntioa attendants politely sing. The train makes ready to start. - "Seats, please; but don't hmrf"'-* tho trainmen's admonition. And the conductor waite five nutates after the gates are closed for everybody to get comfortably seated before -whistling to the driver to start. Even law-breakers are treated with unctuous consideration. Tho policeman carries neither club nor firearms with which to hurt anyone's feeing*. Whenever he finds himself compelled to make an arrest he almost begs the prisoners pardon and invariably takes him to gaol in a cab. There is no rough handling; even- tho prisoner is courteous. The time lost in being oewmonious is made up by the Now Zealander by word trimming. No one says "Til make a memorandum of it" ; it's always "Til memo." "One pound sterling" is universally boiled down to "quid," and even Premier Seddon calls a shilling a "bob." This cutting of words is carried to such an extreme that a stranger really needs tho service of an interpreter the first week or two he is on the island. The right man for the traveller .in trouble over the lan- - gaage or anything 41se to seek out is tho postmaster; NEW ZEALAND'S LEADING OTIUTT MAN. New Zealand's postmasters como pretty near being the whole thing. They are registrars of births and deaths. They collect all taxes, municipal and govemntestal^ and all customs and internal revenues. They insure their fellow citizens in tho. Government's life insurance company, and receive their deposits ia the Post Office Savings Bank of New Zealand, also * Government institution. This bank - has 212j436 depositors, and the money deposit- . ed by them aggregates 32,000,000d0L Over one-fourth of the island's population keeps its money in this institution. But ifc is as a performer of wedding ceremonies that the New Zealand postmaster is most fondly regarded and most famous. There is neither fuss nor flurry in the ceremony that the postmaster performs; neither does it cost a penny. A month beforehand the swain fills out a declaration of intention in the presence of a postmaster. At the expiration of thirty days he and his blushing bride seek out the official, and, in the presence of two) witnesses, sign their names in a court register and to their own znaxriags . certificate. j And that's all. there is to it. Custom doesn't even demand that the bride shall let the postmaster kiss her. Th* postmistress who holds the record

for marriages is a maiden lady in an interior town. The lads and lasses of her district will have none of preachers, beoause it ia a tradition that every marriage at which she officiates is a happy one. New Zealand postmasters hold their jobs long enough for tradition and countryside saws to grow up around and about them. Onoe a New Zealand postmaster, always a postmaster, for only misconduct on his part can separate him from his life's job. New Zealand's leading utility man is easily tho postmaster ; his closest competitor is the railroad station agent. As the Government owns the railroads, it demands of its agents that they attend to all the wants of the people that the postmaster can't conveniently look after. Hence, when a farmer decides to sell poultry, ho carts a few hundred fowls to town and turns them over to' the station •gent. The agent kills them and dresses them, freezes them, packs them in refriger*tor cars, and sees them started on their way to Auckland, Wellington, Australia or London. The Government acts as the fanner's commission man__ free, all the way through. Tho Government tries in every way to encourage the farmer. It will lend him. money at low inter est 4 and sell him rich land for a few dtollars an acre. It even forbids the railroads to whistle at country road crossings, so that John DobbinsV easy-going mar* won't get frightened and try to run away. CUBING DRtnCXABDS. One Governmental undertaking as the sanatorium and hospital at Rotorua, the island's chief health resort. It is for the benefit- of all indigent persons throughout New Zealand. If a man has broken down under the strain of too much work, or has contracted a b»d case of gout or rheumatism^ and Ihas not money to -pay for treatment, the Government gives him three months of free treatment in the sanatorium, with free access to all the mineral baths. If at the end of three months the patient is 'still in bad sha^ he gets another three months' treatment. ' The sanatorium has tho island's foremost physioiane at its head, a corps of graduated nurses and splendid clinical and surgical facilities. The most famed of the baths of Rotorua is the Postmaster's Bath. Its reputation is that of reforming for all time the most confirmed toper who bathes in its all but scalding waters. Every New Zealand ootmmunity has its citizen who has been made a teetotaler by this ispring. The fact is t there are not many drunkards seen in the islands z and the patriotio New Zealander always declares, and hauls out statistics to prove it, that less spirituous and malt liquors are consumed thero than in any Other part of theworld. Perhaps the Postmaster's Bath is to blame. Perhaps the Government's edict against bringing snakes into this snakeless land exerts an influence. If the Government arrests a circus owner who tries to slip in the creeping things for commercial profit, wouldn't it also nab a citizen bent on- securing wrigglers and' collars for mere amusement's sake? **new Zealand's chief vice. New Zealand's chief vice is horserace betting- A dyed-m-the-wool New Zealander would rather bet on a horserace than make love to the prettiest girl in sight; and the women with peach-blow complexions are.plentiful. • - Like the men, they are enthusiasts, over fast horses and spend their holidays and all their spare time at the race courses, betting and shouting themselves into a state of hysteria. Everybody bets, for everybody, from babes in arms to tottering grandparents,. thinks it's all right. Another queer thing about New Zealanders is their honesty. Nobody tries to steal from you. v Hotel room dodfcs are never locked; many have no locks. Hats, coats and valises are left around indiscriminately, and the owners always find their property where they put it. Neither does the waiter, nor the bellboy, nor the chambermaid hold up the traveller. They do everything asked of them, and do it cheerfully, without expecting tips. Tipping is a lost art there. As there are no indoor robbers, neither are there many highway robbers, and the percentage of murders is very smalL Then again, women are much more sought after matrimonially, for they axe outnumbered by the men two to one; There is no need for a woman's becoming an old maid in New Zealand exeppt from choice. NATURAL WO&DEKS. This butt end of the earth has many natural wonders, among which is a geyser that started business only a few months ago, but, neverthless is said to be the dargest in the world. Its name, Waimangu (the Black Water), is appropriate^ for its water io certainly black.- The geyser's steaming surface is about 200 by 350 feet. When it is in eruption the entire surface is lifted 1000 feet into the air, and hot, black, seething, mud and rocks axe "thrown about and great clouds of steam envelop everything. The periods of eruption usually last five hours and are very frequent. This great geyser is near the heart of Maoriland: Soon it will be" the land of the Maoris no longer, for they are rapidly dying off. . . They are now a peaceable people and are proud of the fatet that one of ; their number, fames Carroll, is a member, of New Zealand's Cabinet. The island's Premier, Richard John Seddon, has called this fullblooded Maori "the most gifted and eloquent orator in New Zealand." Mr Carroll's tribesmen have generally adopted European dress, but the costumes of their forefathers still obtain. If you're at work on ai building and fall off from \ any cause whatsoever and are picked up a corpse your widow can surely collect 500dol from the building's owner, and often three times this amount. Her claim becomes a lien against real estate and title even ahead of bond and mortgage. If you're, an American, publish the fact ; you will be royally received and entertained, while a Londoner is left cooling his heels in an ante-room. With all this, it is to be noted' that the national debt of New Zealand amounts to 3fiodol per capita, more than four times as great as that of the United States, and is constantly increasing.