AN AUSTRALIAN ON TOUR.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1888, 24 October 1913, Page 10

AN AUSTRALIAN ON TOUR.

li ENGLISH AND AMERICAN CONDI- I TIONS. I — li Mr. 'A. W. Pearse, who represented J tlio Meat Freezing (Companies of NewZealand and Australia, and who was '' also the official delegate of the Com- f mcnwealth Government of Australia at the Third International Congress of Re- - frigeration at Chicago, was a passenger by tho s.s. Marama, which arrived si Auckland oil Tuesday. h He left Australia early in April, and P before proceeding to the United States £ spent three months in Great Britain, t During this stay ho visited all the lead- « ing manufacturing districts and many t of tho factories. Ho also visited, in- d spected, and wrote full illustrated ac- t counts of the London, Southampton, Bristol, Hull, and Manchester Docks, r These are being published in tho "Pas- P toral Review," of which publication ho b is editor. C ! Great Progress. v Asked as to the condition of thingj in tho Old Land, Mr. Pearse stated that business was never better and never sounder; that almost without exception all the works were fully booked up with orders months ahead. Ship l B ping yards, motor works, engine works, ironworks, woollen, mills, biscuit fac-t-orieSj and in fact every kind of busi- 11 ness was crying out for more hands. Bradford alono wanted 2000 girls for Ji the looms at wages up to 265. a week (permanent). Edinburgh wanted 1000 r in her biscuit factories; in fact, everywhere was the same cry, "More labour wanted." This is no boom, Mr. Pearse c ' says, it is the result of generations of good work. British manufactures may u not be as showy or as cheap as those n of other nations, but they arc tho most '! economical becauso of their high quality, s Anyne who states that Groat Britain C is decading is tolling an untruth. Sho t was never moro prosperous. P Live Stock and Agriculture. I'he enormous number of live stock in those little islands is always a surprise to Australians and New Zea- a landers. The amount of crops raised c is also very large, the 1912 figures wero e —Wheat, 0,680,847 quarters, or 28.68 c bushels per acre; barley, 5,542,405 ( quarters, or 30.44 bushels per acre: t oats, 9,145,690 quarters, or 35.30 r bushels per acre. Beans and peas, turnips and swedes aro largo crops, and cloves and meadow hay was harvested to the amount of 8,125,000 trtns. ' After a motor trip of nearly 4000 t miles through Great Britain, Mr. 1 Pearse considers that the farmers there i are very much up-to-date, and are rfcr- i ta inly doing well. The most modern 1 labour-saving plant is used throughout, < and this largely accounts for the falling < off in the amount of rural labour em-i 1

ployed. One mnn docs tho work which three did twenty years ago. Stud Stock. Britain's stud breeders have had a record season, tho demand for tho stud stock lias been enormous. Argentina, Canada, Uruguay, Rhodesia, British East Africa, South Africa., Chile, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand, besides other countries, have been largo customers J'ra/.il, for instance, ia now buying largely. Cost of Living. Asked as to his opinion regarding the cost of living, Mr. Rears© said, he considered that food, transport, and clothing in Great Britain cost about liaif what they cost out here, and, in addition, the quality was better. Ho considers tho Old Country one of the cheapest places for a family to live in ho knows of, and that with an experience. of 40 years' travel all over the world. Refrigeration Congress. At the Congress of Refrigeration, which was held at Chicago, Mr. Pearse says he met with great hospitality. Over 200,000 dollars had been collected by tho American Association of Engineers with which to entertain tho delegates. Reception committees metthem at New York. _ After two days spent in. that city, being received by tho Mayor, taken all round tho sights, and given a, banquet by the Engineers' Association, the delegutes were taken in a train do luxe to Washington, where another Reception _ Committee awaited them. A reception by tho President of tho United States (Dr. Woodrow Wilson), "where each delegate was presented, and a banquet ball after, with a trip round thu beautiful city, and then off by traiii de luxo to Chicago. Here they were met by the Central Reception Comiiiittee, who took them in charge. Nine days were spent there, during which a trip to Milwaukee on Lake Michigan was made. Banquets, luncheons, and water ' trips took place daily. A _ visit was made to the vast Union Stock Yards, 500 acres in extent, and the delegates were shown over, the works of Swift, Armour, and Libby. Convention business occupied several hours each day. Mr. Pearse read a paper, "Australia and New Zealand as Sources of Meat Supply." This was published in four languages, and distributed all over tho world. Unique Dinners. Two of tho banquets he says were unique. One was the Meat Packers' Annual Dinners, 600 guests were present, all in scarlet hunting coats provided for the purpose. During tho dinners a man on horseback and a pack of hounds were introduced, and patrolled the room between the taoies for a short time. At tho farewell banquet given the delegates at tho Sherman Hotel, White City (about nine miles' out of Chicago), 1200 guests sat down. The dinner was entirely composed of refrigerated foods, and the history of each dish was printed on the- menu. During each course two cooks, perambulated the hall pushing a hujjo block of ico on wheels, with the food similar to that being eaten frozen in the centre. At the conclusion of the banquet a ball was held in the adjacent magnificent ballroom. Cost of Living fn America. Regarding flio cost of liying in America, Mr. Pearso considers that it is not so much tho high cost of living as it is the cost of high living, that is tho troublo. He says that the waste of food at hotels ; in the trains, and at all public places is absolutely awful. That instead of giving a guest n small helping at each course, the plates are heaped up with sufficient for a whole meal — most' of tins is wasted. One complaint he makes is of the stuffiness of tho hotels, trains, and houses. A high steam heat is kept up, and it is difficult to get fresh air inside. Americans delight in steaming themselves. However, Mr. Pearse cannot speak too highly of the kindliness and hospitality of the people. .No trouble was too much for them to take. The Meat Trust, Asked as regards the Meat Trust, he said it may have been a trust some time or the other, but it certainly isn't now. Tho various firms aro fighting tooth and nail against ono another in Argentina, and giving such high prices for cattle that they must be losing from fiv© to seven dollars on each beast. Two other American firms are thinking of opening up in Queensland. All good, ho says, for tho producer, but against the interests of existing meat companies. Canada. After leaving Chicago, Mr. Pearso passed through the best harvest on record in Canada, a three hundred million bushel croi) being expccted. The C.P. Railway is spending twenty million pounds sterling on duplications, improvements, and new connecting lines, and a vast army of men is employed. He considers that Canada is wiso in having kept clear of a Stateowned railway monopoly. Nothing, in his opinion, stagnates- a country morethan that. Nothing will keep population from increasing more than that policy. Peoplo will not come to a country where railway facilities aro bad. The Panama Canal. In reference to the Panama Canal, lie thinks it will do more harm than good to us at first. It will bring South American frozen produce in quick time to. the Pacific ports, where so far we have had a monopoly. A large trade is bound to develop in frozen produce, and our rivals aro keen as mustard after it. Mr. Pearse heard nothing but good reports of our meat and butter, especially of tho latter. New Zealand butter is quite the luxury of tho West Coast. The next congress of refrigeration will bo held in 1916 at St. Petersburg.