SIR ROBERT STOUT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 758, 5 March 1910, Page 10

SIR ROBERT STOUT.

HIS VISIT TO THE HOMELAND. IMPRESSIONS AND VIEWS. BRITAIN AND GERMANY-. After a pleasant visit to the Old AVorld extending over 12 months, the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) returned to "Wellington yesterday, it is gratifying to record that Sir Robert's, health has been thoroughly re-established as a result of. his holiday. There were numerous callers to see him throughout the • day and tho evening, but Sir Robert very courteously spared a little timo to afford a representative of The Dominion an interview on various subjects of general interest. V"

Referring to his trip, Sir Robert said that it was dG years since ho first left Home,, and , tho , journey , washis first thither since his youth.... Upon his arrival in London about the middle of April, he waited thcro for ■ some weeks. He nest .visited France,- but again returned to London before visiting Switzerland, part of Germany, and tho north of Italy... Next he. went on to Scotland and Shetland, and. thence to the Lakes district—Cumberland, and "Westmoreland. Before leaving Homo, ho also, spent some time in various towns in 'tho South'of; England. Sir liobert was not.at ; .all impressed with the ; climate at Home, but ho explained that, the. summer was; reported to have ib.een .belqw '.tho-. average. No other l: country he visited . had- such a splendid climato as that which, obtains in Now Zealand. Whilst' in England Sir Robert underwent a very sucoperation for an internal complaint at the hands of Sir Watson C'heyne, ono of the foremost surgeons in the world. Lady Stout, who accompanied Sir Robert, will remain at Homo until towards the. close of tho year.

The Colonies Through, English-Spectacles. "Did you find that much interest was taken at Homo in regard to colonial affairs ?" Sir Itobert was asked. In reply, ho declared that, the press of .Jingland hardly ever contained a lengthy reference to the colonies. He added: "Vou won't- find a'paragraph relating to Sew Zealand more than onco a month in tho leading journals. As a matter of . fact, Now. Zealand does not loom so largo in tho eyes of tho English people as we imagine. What happens in the .Dominion—and Australia, too—is only of interest to those who have relatives and friends in the colonies, or those people who make a special study of the conditions here. On the other hand, J. venture to say that if one took up a New Zealand paper one-would get as much foreign news and genoral news as in any London paper. Of course, somo of-the Home journals have-special correspondents ivlin send lotters and an occasional cable from various parts 'of the Empire, but in regard- to ordinary messages, such as .we. deseriho as. 'cables,' one gets to know more of what is passing in tho world. in a', colonial , newspaper than in a. Loudon journal. Whilst I was speaking at tho' London Chamber of Commerce annual dinner, I emphasised the point that tho colonies wore not.-much regarded by the press of England." . '

Effect of the Dreadnought Offer. - .Referring ,to New Zealand's, offer of the. Dreadnought, Sir Robert said: "Our offer .had,;a very-good-.,effect on. tho attitude Ot-. the-.-English .-people to I>.ew Zealand. They tnought that it was a haudsomo. fjitt, and appreciated tho loyalty, shown. It was certainly a . grand advertisement for. New; Zealand—in fact, it would be hard' to estimate the good which it accomplished. "Some of' • the New '-i4ca!:inders J,, at "'Hoino' ? : tlioii£ht that; the goffer nvas - too' largov'-' Pefsonal'ty' I think it had a good effect-on the' Continental nations, as showing what the colonies were prepared to do on behalf of the Empire, ' it seemed-to mo that the Conservatives were very desirous of utilising tho fact of the development of Germany as an aid to their party campaign. Still, there can be no doubt that tear exists, even among the Liberals as to Germany's intentions, but-thero are those who think that too much is made of the matter. As far as I could see from the Germans ; I met! there is as strong a party for peace in Germany as m England, but no , doubt\ there are reactionaries ' iii " Germany ' who are - very powerful. It will, .however, take a long while before the people will become members .of a peace society. ;• The -idea" i&' growing, however, and at quite .as great a rate on the Continent as in England." Is England Decadent? ' . Questioned as to whether he saw any signs of decadence at Home, Sir Robert remarked: "I- think the Old Country isvery vigorous.' Thero is an enormous increase, .in everything that ; proceeds from wealth. Of course, the people in the manufacturing towns iiave not the physical vigour and .strength that you see in the colonies. ..In fact, I did not see the equals; of our. people anywhere except in the far north of Scotland. It is my opinion that the lot of the people of Now Zealand is better than that of tho inhabitants of auy other country that I visited.. Wo. may not have the ' wealthy people that they have at Home, .but we' do not have the same extravagance.' '■ Fancy dinners costing from to £50-per head! I hope that we may never see such a thing in the colonies. Then again, take the number of .women who now smoke; Why, at one woman's club to which I was invited at least one-third of the women smoked cigarettes—a practice which undoubtedly tends, to lower the physical health and certainly the intellectual acuteness .to a very great extent. In regard to liquor, the number of conVictions is 110 guide as to the sobriety of the people, for the police are not so strict in the matter of arrests. I found, however, that the English people consume three times as much liquor as the colonials, yet I. did not see much drunkenness.. There, is a stratum in the big cities—in -the slums—that we- -have not got-and for,that we ought to be'thankful. In Middlesex Street, formerly Potticoat Lane, , for instance, I saw numbers of half-starved people. New. Zcalanders Certainly have the best country I have ever seen."

"To Advertise New Zealand." "Is sufficient being done to. advertise New Zealand?" was the .next query."Tho best way to advertise ourselves," commented Sir Robert, ■ "is to show that we can keep high-class people , in our midst, and there is no reason why that cannot be accomplished, if we only look after ourselves. During riiy visit 1 saw a good deal of New Zealand produce, which was highly-spoken of. We 'seemed to be doing a good deal in the ,way of advertising, though perhaps not so much as Canada, which is a vast country compared with ours. Whilst I was at Home a good. many people camo to ask tjio about tho Dominion. I think that wo could get large numbers of suitable immigrants if we took the opportunity to try and get them. As far as I (saw, tho High Commissioner's oilico is very well managed, and affords a great deal of useful information. It is not situated in such a busy part of the city as, say, the Victorian office, but people seem to be able to easily find it out, because ,it has become well known. Each timo I visited tho building there were cj'uito a number of callers there—some making incjuiries and others reading tho papers. .The young people who go Homo are also a great advertisement for tho Dominion. I saw a number of them at Guy's, several' at Edinburgh, somo ,at Oxford, and others at Cambridge, and from what I saw and hoard I should say that they have 110 difficulty in holding their own. I also met so'me young Now Zealanders who lire engaged in various trades and professions, and they all seemed to be doing exceedingly well. Of course, thero, may be failures," but 1 did not come across them." Views on the British Elections, Touching upon the Home elections, Sir Robert'remarked that great activity was everywhere shown. Hoardings bearing 'comic'illustrations were 'erected iu' mosr, ; of the towns, and literature'was circulated

freely. Some' people took a great interest in tho questions of tho hour, some were totally indifferent, but on tho wholo ho would say that just as • much interest was evinced as was tho caso on the occasion of elections in tho colonies. The fact that tho voting was restricted mado a great deal of differenco. On this, as on other questions," the English people were slow to move. What was needed was a proper redistribution of seats on a population basis, a better mode of registering the electors, and the extension of tho franchise. It was his opinion that iu throwing out the Budget tho House of Lords acted unconstitutionally. The constitutional issue did not got emphasised owing to the number of side issues raised. He thought that the rejection of the Budget on tho part of the House of lords was a blunder, as it had raised tho question of tho right of hereditary legislators, which 'would be settled in tho near future by tho lessening of the power of tho Lords. In view of the issues which were raised, he was not surprised at the results of tho polls. ■ Somo peoplo relied on Tariff Reform to give the Home Country a fresh impetus, but he did not think that would help matters. The remedy was to build up'tho strongth and character of the people.