WHAT A NEW ZBALANDER SAW IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2279, 13 November 1889, Page 2

WHAT A NEW ZBALANDER SAW IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

We are indebteded to Mr Alfred Harrison for permission to make the following extracts from a letter received by him from an old New Zaalander, who is now doing a tour at Home and on the Continent. He writes under date September 18, 1889: — We were travelling by

THB MIDIAN* BOTJTB THBOUOH MGttA!»_D, the wheat and other orops were very badly laid everywhere owing to tho very wet weather, so that I. think the farmers both In England and Scotland will be very badly off thia season. Even where Branding, tha cropß do rot appear at any placo so good as nur average In New Zealand, so that without doubt tbe farmers iv ihe colony aro much better off than thofQ m England.

■BHB COST OF TaAVEI_I_INC_ ON THE CONTINENT

At London we t )ok tickets or coupons from Cook, the tourist agent. These coupon 3 are very usefui, especially to thoso who are un.b'e to spaak the language of the oiuatry they propose to vißlt. You are told by Cook the exaot amount you will be charged at the hotels, the railway and steamboat charges, etc. You pay bim your money ond receive m exobange conpons which you use as cash for all disbursement!— hotel oharges, rail tickets, eto. The charges ia Paris were moderate, £1 a day covering the cost of bed, bre kfast, dinner, lunch and tea, and the sight seeing oomes to about 33 6d a day more. But tha tipping of waiters, servants, eto, totals up to a big item, both m England and on the Continent, You must do it because everybody does. Tbe fallows get no pay — at lcait m most cases they say thoy don't. You generally give the licensed rail porter 6 J for putting your luggage In the train and showing you your carriage, and 6d for taking your laggage out to your cab. The cabman generally overcharges, At evary meal you hava to pay tha waiter from 6i to la ; if he only brings yon a glaaa of grog you pay him 2d. Then como the servant girls at the hotels and the hotel porters, while baths and every little luxury are also paid for as extras. In Earopo, lo faot, you cannot travel and see anything nnder £2000 a year at least.

TO PABIS VIA NEWHAVEN AND DIEPPE.

la travelling through France en route to Paris I noticed that tho land appeared very good IrdeoJ, acd muoh belter farmed than m England. The Frdnoh farmer cultivates In - Btrips, say 150 y*rda wide by a quarter of a mile long ■. whaat m one atr p, beana m Ihe next, potatoes In the next, then oats, eto, eto, and bo on for miles. There do not appear to be any dividing fences other than boundary fences to about every 160 cores. Tbe women are oontlnually to bo seen In the fields, doing the light work, and I bellevo on the Continent the meat of the work. Tho French are a fine healthy-looking poople, not quite so tall as the English race, but I think quite as strong. Tho French peasants, Indeed all the French poople, live principally on red wine and a ocarse kind of bro&d, and eat a good deal "f pork. On the whole Franco looks to mo a great country, and its people would no doubt be very rich If they could only keep from revo'ufoDß. The nation ia without doubt prospering under the Republic

THE EXHIBITION.

We did three long days at tbe Exhibition; It was the grandest sight I ever saw In my life or expect ever to Bee again. I doubt whether any nation ever has ot ever will exoel it. I saw co much splendour there tbat everything 1 see now appears Inalgnifioant. France tskoa the lead la everything, her display being really wonderful. Her colonies alao make a aplondid -how— -Aeaam, Tonquin, Cochin China, Cambodia and Algeria, The dis* play of cereals grown m Algeria, nearly bb good aa those of New Zealand, aatonlshed me. The English section la roomy and elaborately decorated, with a very fine display of rare and oogtljf exhibits. Tlotorli ia not weli represented, neither ia Tasmania, New Zealand ivarat of mil She Is only represented by some wool, timber, a little flax, some mineral exhibit?, and a few second-rate photographs, indeed the New Zealand court seems to me a amall and inferior remnant of the Melbourne exhibition. If it bad not been for a group of primitive Maoris m wax, % question 'whether It would have got anyone to look at it, and but for the discourtesy to France it would m my opinion have been much better for New Zealand not to have exhibited at oil. The Americans make a fair ah.ow In toe liberal arts but exoel m maohlnery. Their exhlblta In this direction are grand, particularly Edison, the Inventor's court, which ls something wonderful to see. Other foreign nations, j except Germany, are. well represented. The aupreme efforts and effects of Frenoh taste and skill are well displayed In laying out of tbe gronnda, and the decoration of the Exhibition itaelf la beautiful In the extreme. Then there Is everythlrg to be seen tbat it is possible to Imagine.

TIG EITF-tL TOWER la alone a marvel well worth the trip to Paris, It la an enormous undertaking, a monument Bur passing anything the world has ever seen. It contains 6500 toga of Iron, and la so skilfully construct >d that the pressure on the fouud&tlonls only 31 lbs to the square mob, There are three platforma m the tower eaoh having resturanta and fashionable lounges and ono oan lunch comfortably 300 ft above fern* finna, The aeoond platform is 376 Et from tbe ground aud the third no leis than 863 ft; A oharge of 5 francs each is made for ascending to it and thero are thoussnda going up every hour, m fact you can hardly get near it ho great Is the crowd of people wishing to aaoend. The tower ia erected m the Exhibition grounds, which also enolose the Palaoe •nd Gardens of the Trooadero. The Exhibition can ba reached by river steamer, tram, omnibus or railway and would lake thirty days to sea It fn proper detail.