IN WILD VICTORIA.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9426, 23 April 1909, Page 6

IN WILD VICTORIA.

The Rev. Robert Williams, in an address at Hamilton, Victoria/ last week (reports the Sydney Morning Herald), said that there were places in Victoria yet where the Gospel had never been preached, and in some cases degradation, filth, and ignorance abounded. Be desbrib.d one homestead, where the owner was a comparatively wealthy man, 'bn* the place was a filthy establishment. A family of nine lived in a bark hut of three rooms without door or window. In the front room the walls were hung with skins cf wild animal known in Victoria. Under the table were several oats, quarrelling over tbe carcase of a rabbit, and from a rafter was suspended a bag, from which honey dripped into a milk pan, and about 1000 flies and three dirty children were attempting to catch tbe drippings. Another child brought in a water melon, but there wee not a knife in the house, ao the eldest girl, abont 34 years of age, seized an axe, and broke tbe melon in pieces, which she offered him with her grimy hands. The remarkable faot about this case was that the man was tbe owner of one of the most magnificent place; in the north-east, and a bauk manager told him that he was worth about £30,000. Since his visit the wife of the missionary had effected great reforms, and a new house had been built.