NEW ZEALAND IMPRESSIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12482, 13 October 1902, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND IMPRESSIONS.

By an Ex-Natalias. SUPERIOR IGNORANCE. (Natal Mercury, Sept. 1) We have been permitted to copy the following from a letter received in Durban from a former Natalian, now resident in Auckland, New Zealand: — Now, about this place and its people: Anywhere south of Auckland is rnfit for human habitation, as the cold is awful, except, perhaps, for a few wild stockmen that grow hair on their teeth —you know the sort I mean. This climate suits us well as far as health goes, and my wife is very much stronger for the change here, and so are all the children. The New Zealander proper is the most narrow-minded, ignorant being 011 the face of the earth—at least, 50 to 75 years behind Natal. We are callod " Boers" wherever we have been, as they never heard such a name before. The children are asked if they are not Boers, and is their mother a Kaffir? They have been told that they have picked up English very well, considering the time they have been here! Full-grown men have asked me if they knew how to make bricks in Africa, and, when I have told them that I once designed a house, they ask, quite seriously, if it was for a- Boer or a Kaffir; also, if there were any schools at all where English could be learnt? They asked if our father was not a Boer, still fighting, and our mother driving his waggon? If the children ever saw any white people before they came to New Zealand? Only two days ago a man came into the works to ask mo if there were any ironworks in Durban, as he thought of going over to make kitchen ranges, as there must be a large demand after all the houses have been destroyed. They all seem to think that they only have to land in Africa and they can pick up gold anywhere, as the people there are too ignorant to know the value of it. I have shown them some photos, and they seem quite astonished; they had ; no idea that the place was anything like that, and some look at me as if I was an awful liar. Only to-day one man 1 told me that ho had never heard of any railways there; they must have been built very secretly for the English Government not to have known anything about them. And Dick Seddon telegraphing here that New Zealand had nothing to learn from Africa about railways! Well, I have seen alt the principal stations, and they are 110 better than Pinetown in the laugest towns. The whole of the platforms are only Ift above the rail level, and one has to climb down from the carriages three steps to get to the platform; and the steps are all plumb one over the other, and one has to climb out backwards to be safe. Where one train passes another there is only one platform at the station, so, on the offside, there are little boxes scattered about, which 'Inay be near the steps of a carriage or may not, and if a stout old lady has to get out a fellow passenger has to get a little box for her, or she must fall out as best- she can. The only outlet to the carriages are at the end, so that all the getting in and out has to be done through the same doorway on to little narrow platforms at the ends of the carriages, which are mostly occupied by youngsters, smoking, and they do not care to be disturbed, and look at you as if you had no business to want to get out till they had come to 1 their journey's end. The seats are all along the sides, with your back to the window, which only opens halfway up, and then only one in five will open at all without a 10-ton crane tc help you. The guard walks right through the train twice between each station to examine tickets. The trains have been known to run as fast as five miles an hour on special ocoasions. Ten to 30 minutes is spent at all stations where there is anything to be talked about. Only a few -days ago the train passed the eight-mile post an hour and 20 minutes after leaving Auckland. A New Zealandet is a great hand at doing down a stranger, and talks of it the rest of his life. They have very little idea of the value of money, and, if tliey make £5 at a fci.ee meeting, it is a fortune. They can then afford to go 011 the " bust" for from three'to six months. The greatest industry of the place is horse-racing. There is usually a meeting Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday every week, 10 months in the year, with pony race, haok race, trotting race, or a coursing match between. Football or cricket must be attended to every Saturday afternoon, and yachting every Sunday, throughout the summer. They had a. plague scare here, and are now waking up to the faot that there is suoh a thing as drainage and sanitation. The first drainage scheme I can hear of was don© (or, I should say, not done) close here, where a man had a contract to lay pipes along a certain road. He broke the ground at the bottom and laid in 0110 pipe, He then disturbed the surface to the other end, and put in another pipe, got it passed, and got his money; and it was not found out for some time, till it was to be extended. Another had to lay a. drain through rocky ground, so, to save breaking out the lumps of rock that came in the way, the contractor knocked holes in the pipes, and laid them over, so that they looked all right from the top. Yet another, who did not get so far as to get his money, like the other two, laid about 100 pipes, .spiggot to spiggot, and flange to flange, alternately, and, when told to take them up and lay them properly, asked if the engineer wanted to ruin him. Those are facts. Tlie professional accountants here find it hard to get a living, as in most of the small places of business the books arc kept by the proprietor, or the man who drives the cart and delivers goods looks after the books at night. They are all very suspicious of strangers, and, if they can keep them out of the place. .are only too delighted, i The free schools here give a very good education, but most of them believe greatly in the stick for everything. Children here are fairly wealthy up to three or four years of age, after which they go as they please— eat all clay long, no regular meals, seldom in bed till 10 or 11 o'clock at night. Tlie boys smoke cigarettes, and generally loaf. The girls are out to any hour at night by themselves, or with another. The other night I was late at a board meeting, and on my way home, about 10 o'clock, I met scorea of girls, and one in particular, about 17

years old, was leading home a young fellow, not more than 20, if that, and ho was as drunk as possible, (iirls of 17 or 13 often frequent t-li-e opium dens of; Chinamen, especially if they happen to have been in Sydney." Should you decide to try this place, be prepared to do nothing for 12 mfmthe at leaf't, and also to become ft Freemason, Oddfellow. Forester, Wesleyan, or Roman Catholic, or, for preference, the whole lot; also a Prcsliyterian, and shout for King Dick, and never tiy and tell a New Zealander that there is any other placo in the world where a white man knows anything, or t!hey will get the sulks, and never speak to you again. I did not know how ill and ron down we all were till we got- here, and tho last few months we have gained strength wonderfully. We. look back with horror at tho dreadful heat of Durban, and think of the restless nights, and nasty, lurking, loathsome Kaffir. Here the Maoris do not interfere with the whites in any way. Most people here believe Seddon is to be Governor of Africa!