CANDID BOSTON MAN ON OUR WAYS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1675, 15 February 1913, Page 8

CANDID BOSTON MAN ON OUR WAYS.

"LIVE" REMARKS. RAILWAYS IN PARTICULAR. "For twenty years I had my nose to tho grindstone, trom 6 o'clock in the morning until 7 at night, and then I had a 'phono olongsido my pillow to answer calls during tho night. Now, I figure out that I've enough money to do me for tho rest of my. natural life. I've neither chick nor child—and I like to travel in comfort. You don't call that burninK money?" Tho speaker was tho wealthy American visitor, Mr. A. M'Qucstion, of Boston, for many years closely associated with tho fortunes of a large lumber and shipping firm in "tho city of culture," and was made apropos of tho mention of his habit of travelling by the train do luxe between that city and New York—a distance of 250 miles, which is covered in 4 hours 20 minutes. This is a luxurious train, beau-

tifully appointed, tho seats of which aro disposed of days before as seats are booked for a theatre, and no more than there are scats for aro allowed to travel by

tho There aro similar trains running between New York and Washington and Philadelphia. ■ '■'■' j "If a man wishes to travel by such a train, why not? Ho pays." The American believes that a man should bo able, to get anything that ho is prepared to pay for, and in his own country tho idea holds good, but travel in these parts soon knocks all that out of him. Mr; M'Qucstion likes' Now Zealand, and confessed that the peoplo were "quite nice." He has enjoyed himself so much during a fivo weeks'' tour of tho North Island . that ho is about to tour tho. South—West Coast tourist route, Christchurch, Duncdih, Cold Lakes, Bluff, and away. Being tho soul of amiability, tho visitor did not car© to criticise. It was, ho said, hardly fair to criticise when one did not know th'o conditions of a, country, but.ho judged that there was no great harm, in making, a few remarks. . .

"Got Out! Got Out!" He "thought, for instance, that do good a country, should at this stage" in tho world's history (when distance counted for naught, and both the Poles had been discovered within a couple-. of- years), the population of New Zealand;should.bo ten millions instead of one. ■"•■'■■

"As far ns I can Bee," said the visitor, "tho land is not being opened up to settlement, and there is. not sufficient inducement to keep people from crowding in the cities. Get out! Get out! That's what tho country wants. -1 have 1 travelled a' good deal about New Zealand-- during tho past few .weeks and 6ecri big territories of land, practically unoccupied.' "Railways," continued the' traveller, "aro the only thins that will do it*— that and little inducements such as Russia is offering, in tho country round Vladivostock,. as Japan is offering for the peopling of her volcanic lands, and as we had to offer in America. The country is good, the climate- beautiful—yet youhave these big territories of unoccupied lands and a very slowly increasing population. Men want an inducement to go out and break in t tho land—they have never done it without an inducement, for man is a social being.'He's an animal with a higher form of intelligence, that's nil, and you don't find'animals wandering about by themselves. Railways mean being in touoh with one's fellow manit's a live wire to the city. "Throw out a railway into an unoccupied territory, and you'llhnvo prosperous farms stretching out on each side in no time. It's being done 'every day in America.

"There you have tho population! "And there you would have the population if you did it. You certainly won't if yon don't, for . any country depends for growth on the development of its resources. America has got, and'is still: wtting population because she is making life possiblo to the.man with tho hoe., What with'i'railways, ' telephones;.',, the I daily papers, and rural, postal deliveries, he is often more in with'the world'tban many who live-in mid-city."

• i .' / Candid j-emarks on Our. Railways. "Talking about railways, your feeding .arrangements aro not gbod. : We got in tho train at Arainohont 12.28 p.m.-the other day, and when lunch was announced we who wero bang up against two engines had.to. walk through eight ; or nine first-class, second-class cars,\ smokers and sinokerless, until wo arrived at the dining car. Wo waited in a long queue, as tho dining-car was. crowded, ana eventually reached tho car after 2 p.m., when wo were told that lunch was off. '

' 'bo I judged tbat they were not there to'feed the people on tho train,' but only to servo food lor a given time. There was no consideration for the unfed, only for tho dining-car servants. ' "Now, •I. believe in. a fair thinp, and think 'that the working man should bo treated/with 'respect, but if their hours anv restricted' by'.meal times on. crowded trains, :"thenther© : should bo others'te take their place, .'or if tho train promises to bo too crowded break it up into* sections, and give each' ono a dining-car. "In America & person who purchases & car ticket is entitled to a scat. That custom does not appear to exist here. To each car there is an attendant, whoso business it- is to attend to the' requirements of all passengers in that carriage. Anything in reason is .'obtainable, from tho attendant. I' don't pretend to suggest that you could go so i far here, but there are lots of things that are crude to say tho least. Tho rush to tho refreshment rooms, and the' elbowing which has to bo done before a cup of coffeo can be obtained : is' hardly edifying, and certainly inconvenient. to everyone.

"No Porters Hero." "Tou have no porters here—that is a mistake, I think. What you call porters in connection with your railways aro really' baggage-men.. By porters, I menu the men, usually in uniform and licensed, which meet every train in America, England, and on the Continent, and do those trifling things which ineari so much and cost so little—help one .with hand baggage, engage'a cab;or car, get possession of checked : luggage; ' These' men, under a proper system, in which there is no touting, aro invaluable, especially to ladies and elderly travellers., Nearly everyone in' New Zealand carries and attends to his own baggage, but that is n»t 60 in America «r Europe. There they have a corps of civil,' helpful yeung men ready to aid and guide, and answer qucstiins, usually employed by tho railway company, and who between trains are employed in cleaning work about the station and platform. These who would do-this work are, I understand, debarred ,from coming en to tho platform, and they aro really no good anywhere else. . ■ I "When I arrived in Napier, I a«kod an official who had a gold band round his hat as broad as tho Admiral of tho Fleet, if I could got a porter. He replied curtly that he didn't know and dismissed mo from his mind. So I approached a. policeman. Ho was better disposed; nnd went off and got a young man, who did everything that wjjs wanted smartly and quietly. I am'sum if there wore a few of these men, licensed and under control, on each of tho larger stations, that it would be a great convenience to tho travelling public, nnd after all tho more convenient and attractive travelling is made, the more will travel. The New Zealand railways suffer from lack of co'mpetition,"