A NEW ZEALANDER LOOKS AT QUEENSLAND’S RAGTIME CITY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20425, 2 October 1934, Page 6

A NEW ZEALANDER LOOKS AT QUEENSLAND’S RAGTIME CITY.

To-day’s Special Article

Where Theatres Run Lottery Nights and the People have Stopped Reading.

By The Wayfarer.

Brisbane, with its salubrious climate, offers such a contrast to New Zealand in the winter, and its life is so entirely different that the first impression comes with a shock . Imagine being whirled from Christchurch with its frosty mornings to a town of beautiful vegetation, where the trams are run wide open—the conductors wear white peaked hats—where the houses are propped up on stills, the atmosphere is still, and where there is generally a don t-give-a-darn attitude towards serious life.

r j'H 1J POPULATION is approaching the half million mark, but compared with Sydney and Melbourne, or even the major New Zealand towns, in conduct and control it is, 1 think, just .like a big bush town. A visitor away from home nearly always makes for the public reading room, and here in Brisbane a real shock comes. Brisbane from the library point of view is the worst city I have been in, in any part of the world. Mr Munn, a representative of the Carnegie Corporation, reporting upon it recently, said, “ The public library has been starved ever since its beginning and is now dying of dry rot.” Professor J. J Stable agreed. Last year only £lO was spent on iiew books, less than many individuals spend on a home library. The staff consists of seven persons, counting the bookbinder and the errand boy. There are 37,000 volumes described as “ mostly out of date and woefully weak.” Clearly, Brisbane has not a reading public. Street policeman, compared with New Zealand standards, are slovenly in dress and manner, and there is a general air of lackadaisical methods. This applies to all public services. Uncomfortable Railways. The railway service covers great distances, but railway travel is not comfortable. especially on the narrow gauge lines, and it is often very cold at night, especially on the high levels. Footwarmers, old type, are employed. The carriages are more suitrble for summer travel. Brisbane is handicapped with two railway stations, on account of the different gauges. Big ships coming up the river have to swing, and delay before berthing. but boats up to 10,000 tons can berth right in the town. Queensland Lotteries. To a New Zealander, the blatant invitations displayed all over the town tu take part in the “ Golden Casket,” weekly lotteries, are an eye-opener. All sorts of shops are agents. Many of the signs are amusing: "Trust your luck, Buddha, lie's lucky, all right. Why go to work, when you've got strength to lie in bed ” is a sample. Then follows the table of “ shares ” from Gd to Is. “ Why not have a lovely sea trip, Is shares, rapidly filling.” From clay to clay, posters tell the passer-by the numbers selling. anti the “ Hurry up ’’ sign is always out. Betting shops are not legal, but on race days the queues at counters, both sexes, tell their own story. And so clo the loud speakers outside. “ Running round to the Four, passing the Five, etc.,” tell the story of Queensland. Loud speakers and all sorts of broadcasting gags are employed at all sorts of shops, and, as you pass along, your attention is drawn to “ the smart young men. inside,” who will “ quickly wrap, lovely fillets,” etc. Sometimes outside *' spruikers ’ are employed, and the din they make, shouting against one another, across the street, often in the. same line of goods, savours of a fish market. Let Customers Scramble. Queer things are done with fish, too. Often it is piled in the windows, heads, tails, fins and all. Queenslanders eat a ldt of fish and meat. The latter is very cheap. Chops scl (loin), half-sheep 3d, steak 34cl per lb. About half New Zealand prices. In contrast sugar is 4id and butter is Is per lb. Meat is strikingly cheap, but nothing else is.

Some shop-keepers hold out their hands for the monev before passing over the goods, and often take the money leaving the goods on the counter for the customer to scramble for. It is often a question of the loudest voice and the longest reach. It seemed to me that an attempt was always made to get a little more. Instead of six collars being Is, they are Is Id. and, when you ask for the explanation, it is often funny, as in the case of the collars: “We always charge that, five arc semistiff.” Theatre Ticket Prizes. Picture shows are a month or two behind New Zealand generally in timetable, one notices just as much coughing, etc., in spite of the warmth. Winter is just as real to the natives as ours is, and they wrap up accordingly. Some theatres run lottery nights when your admission ticket can win anything from an overcoat to a box of groceries, and always a few shares in the Casket. A theatre in Toowoomba deais with over 100 prizes each Wednesday'. Naturally in a town like this, the various begging gags are numerous. Some of the street musicians are good, but more often, not. 1 saw one playing a violin while a “ home-made ” fag dangled from his mouth. For a big town the footpaths are atrocious, and the lighting poor. Off the main streets it is as well to have a torch so as to avoid the broken and patched places on the side walk. The Domain and Gardens are a delight, the tropical plants and trees are simply wonderful. Here, in the gardens, the mentality of the people is seen again. Any day the largest crowd of people is to be found around the monkey house! Aits are neglected. Florists’ shops are conspicious by their absence, and so are picture shops. Brisbane has been described as “ spiritually dead.” Car Dealers’ Paradise. Brisbane might offer a mecca to Christ-«.-hutch car dealers, with “ heavy ” and “ open ” jobs, because the ordinary tourer is easily saleable. A heavy open car is priced at say £75, whereas the same car in Christchurch would be unsaleable at £4U. Generally cars are much dearer, and so is registration, etc. Closing hours for shops are “ ragtime.” Some never close, seven days a week. Some trade signs are amusing. You read of ” Nu Shuts ” and ” Kleen Kups,” while the everlasting “ air advertising ” and broadcasting keeps pace with your footsteps. . I hope New Zealand never has radio advertising. Of thirteen classified advertisements, one day I noticed, eight dealt with euchres and old-time dancing, nearly all in connection with churches. Land outside and about the Darling Downs is apparently cheap, and one imagines, much cheaper than in New Zealand. Also the farmers have a much easier time. Climatic conditions are so different. The people who come into the towns on market days look better, brighter and dress better than do the townspeople. The roads are in many parts simply terrible, and out west a car trip is a real adventure. Even between Brisbane and Toowoomba, a town 101 miles west, with a population of 26,430, the road in places is a test for car springs. Compared with Sydney, Brisbane offers very little in the wav of day trips. All the same there is plenty to see, and wonder at, in the town itself. Summed up. I would say: Queensland, land of sunshine, warmth, long distances, “ ragtime ” and “ golden caskets.”