TOGETHER AGAIN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20609, 9 May 1935, Page 3

TOGETHER AGAIN.

Brothers Parted Thirty-two Years Ago. After being separated for thirty-two years, two brothers born in England, were together again in Wellington recently. One went to East Africa. The other joined a sailing ship and eventually came to New Zealand. The East African is Mr P. L. Fenton, until recently manager of the Standard Bank. Uganda, and the other is Mr L. Fenton of the Marine Department, Wellington. Mr P. L. Fenton arrived in | Christchurch this morning from Wel- ! lington in the course of a world tour i The brothers left England within a ; few days of one another, thirty-three j years ago. Mr P. L. Fenton joined the i staff of the Standard Bank and Mr L | Fenton signed on the crew of the l County of Kinross.. I Shortly after Mr P. L. Fenton ar- | rived in South Africa the County of j Kinross called at Cape Town, and until i the last few weeks that was the last I time the brothers saw one another. !Mr P. L. Fenton arrived in South j Africa only a day or two before peace was declared at Vereeking, ending the Boer War. When he resigned his post as manager of the bank, he was a member also of the Legislative Council for the Protectorate. Prosperous Uganda. Uganda at the present time, said Mr P. L. Fenton, was more prosperous than many other countries. It was dependent on the cotton crops, mainly grown by the natives. Ihe native population was 3.500,000 roughly and the white population was about 2500. Bombay and Japan were the major outlets for the cotton crops, though a little went to England. The longer staple of the East African cotton was much in demand in the East Last year 286,000 bales were exported, averaging 4001 b each. Their value would be £8 to £lO a bale. Coffee and tea were other products. Uganda adjoined the Belgian Congo and Kenya Colony. In Kenya the opening up of the Kawamaga gold mine promised to be one of the biggest things in its history. The prospects were most en couraging. South Africa was enjoying most prosperous times, chiefly owing to the increase in the price of gold in recent months. About £6.ooo.Goo’s worth of j gold was produced there every month “ South Africa is about the brightest place in the world at the moment.” said Mr Fenton. “It finished up the j year with a surplus of £3.000,000. in ; spite of the fact that war loans to the j value of £8,000,000 were paid back to j England.”