VISIT TO AUSTRALIA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 216, 12 August 1937, Page 8

VISIT TO AUSTRALIA

CHANGES IN 36 YEARS. RECOVERY FROM DEPRESSION. There was a definite air of prosperity in New South Wales and it was evident that the State had made a good recovery from the depression, said Air E. Fisher, of Palmerston North, when interviewed by the “Standard” on his return from a holiday in Australia. Mr Fisher is an Australian by birth, but has lived for 36 years in New Zealand. He has made four trips to the Commonwealth and on each occasion has noticed big changes. “When I left there in 1901,” he stated, “most of the country round Tam worth, my birthplace, was clad with hush, and on my return in 1910 the busli was going and there were huge sheep stations.” It was, however, between 1910 and 1925, Air Fisher added, that he observed the greatest transformation. The big sheep runs had succumbed to the call for closer settlement, and hundreds of small farmers were going in for intensive agriculture, in 1933, Air Fisher paid bis third visit to the State, which he found in the throes of depression, but on the occasion of his recent visit, lie said, slump conditions had given way to better times. “The change was very noticeable in Sydney,” he added, “in every quarter the people appeared to be well dressed and happy. Industrial organisations were busy, and in Newcastle the big steelworks were going day and night and had an annual wages bill of over a million pounds.” Air Fisher said he was very much impressed with Sydney’s underground railway system, which was definitely relieving the street congestion. He had seen the plans for the extensions to the system, and it was evident that the civic authorities were planning for the future. “Sydney is growing by leaps and bounds,” he declared. He had done a good deal of bowling on various greens, on which play was possible all the year round, and even in the evenings, the Palmerstonian added. The hospitality of the Australian bowler left nothing to be desired. New Zealanders were made very welcome in Australia.