VIEWS ON AUSTRALIA.

Waikato Times, Volume 99, Issue 16653, 19 November 1925, Page 11

VIEWS ON AUSTRALIA.

A VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS. SMALLER TOWNS GOING BACK. "Australia is suffering from too much centralisation and while the big cities are rapidly increasing in size the smaller towns arc going back," said the Rev. Norman Webster, pastor of SI Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Christchurch, who returned recently from a Nix weeks' health-recruiting trip to Sydney and Melbourne. Mr Webster was impressed with the wonderful progress made by the two great cities during the past five years. lie came back firmly convinced that'' decentralisation was the wisest policy and that the 'large number of small, progressive towns in New Zealand was all to the benefit of the country and must spell a prosperous future. Mr Webster said that he arrived in Sydney on a race day and Ihe crowds were really wonderful. Sydney looked a very beautiful place and there seemed no doubt that the authorities had set out to remove some of the former ugliness. Millions of pounds were being spent in city improvements and in opening up blind streets. Work was also proceeding in connection with Ihe gigantic Sydney harbour bridge, which was to take eight years to build. The population of Sydney wss now i, 200,000 and Mr Webster said he could so/ it growing every day. Between Sydney and Melbourne, on the train journey, however, he did not pass through any towns of importance. It was only the two huge cities which were growing at the expense of thti rest of the country. Wonderful Melbourne. "As Mr Davies Thomas, a visiting British journalist, said recently, Melbourne is incomparably the most beautiful city in the Southern Hemisphere," remarked Mr Webster. The electric train system, he added,_ was something superb; it was really 'a magnificent system, and .was a monument to the wonderful ability of Mr 11. W. Clapp, the Chief Commissioner of Railways, for the State. Trains ran to all the leading suburbs about every four minutes. The 'bus system also was growing and was now very highly organised, while the, electric tramway system in the suburbs was very perfect. Cable cars were still running in the city area, although they were gradually being removed. Two of the St. Kilda lines were being taken up at present and meanwhile the district was served by 'buses. The doom of all the other cable lines was also sealed. On arriving in Melbourne after Sydney he was much impressed by the beautiful quiet. The cable cars were very quiet and comfortable, and were quite all right for the central portion of the city, although for long distances they were out of date. Irrigation, said Mr Webster, bad been a great boon to the country districts in Victoria, which were looking remarkably well and prosperous. Mr Clapp, the Railway Commissioner, had had slogans painted at all the railway stations, asking the people to "Bat More Fruit," "Eat Citrus Fruit," "Visit Buffalo This Summer," etc., and these had been of advantage to the railways and also to the farmers. The Federal Elections. "Victoria Is reaping the benefit o* having a stable Government in the State," said Mr Webster. "1 can say without any bias that it has the soundest Government of all the Australian States. With regard to the Federal elections, as far as I could see the National Government had the sympathy of most people in the big fight it is putting up against Com • munism. With the exception of Geelong and the irrigation settlement, very few, if any, of the other towns in Victoria were showing any signs of progress, said Mr Webster. They were practically the same as they were 30 years ago, except that some *had actually gone back. Geelong, which was only about 30 miles from Melbourne, was making tremendous progress; In Australia, as far- as he could see, no town had any chance of growing unless it was on the waterfront. Opinion of Canberra. Regarding Canberra, ho said that most Australians seemed to regard the Federal capital as aia expensive joke. They believed the whole thing was a farce, and yet next year, it was said, the Federal Parliament would sit at Canberra. The capital was put in the most inappropriate place that could be found in Australia, and although a tremendous amount of money had been spent on it many Australians hoped that it would never be used. Albury, on the border between New South Wales and Victoria,would, he believed, have been an ideal capital city. Sydney and Melbourne, said Mr Webster, provided a great contrast. Melbourne, on_J.he one hand, was a centra], beautiful city, with a cluster of beautiful suburban shopping centres around it, while Sydney, on the other hand, was simply one huge city. The suburbs of Melbourne were very wonderful, and they had some very beautiful shops. But it was sorry to see centralisation so pronounced. Last year the population of Melbourne increased by lens of thousands, but the population of the remainder of Victoria actually decreased by about 5000.