NEW ZEALANDER ABROAD.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 304, 22 December 1914, Page 8

NEW ZEALANDER ABROAD.

W. L. KENNEDY'S IMPRESSIONS.

On leaving the shores of New Zealand last April by the good ship Niagara, as we sailed out from the delightful harbor of Auckland, 1 was reminded of the impression it had made on Rudyard Kipling, when ho wrote:

"Last, loneliest, loveliest, ex- , qnisite apart On us, on us, this unswerving season smiles. Who wonder 'midst the fern why men depart To seek the happy Isles."

There is, I am sure, no place that can charm mind, heart and eyes like the land of my adoption—the land of the Maori.

The Voyage across to Vancouver

was a delightful "picnic, broken as it was by a six-hour stay at interesting Suva and beautiful Honolulu. On reaching Victoria, the'capital of 8.C., the t firSt stage of my sea journey was practically ended, and here I spent three very pleasant days in T.his picturesque and artistic city that is full of retired Canadians. The residences are very fine and the architecture quite unique; in fact, all the surroundings go to please the eye. There seems to be a very elaborate system of town planning in existence. The streets are planted on each side with trees. A great number of the residences have no unsightly fences in front of them, the lawns beautifully kept right -out to the edge of the footpaths, and where there is grass outside of this it "is kept in perfect order. Times were not so good with them during the past year. The tightness of the money market was .effecting them, as.it was in all the towns of the west. A great number of unemployed were in evidence everywhere. Here and in Vancouver we are having a good opening for our dairy and other produce, Yet the ignorance that Prevails

with regard to New Zealand is deplorable, and the slackness, of our public men in this respect, as elsewhere, is something shocking. I had a chat with the Chief Librarian of the Victorian Public Library, who was very interested to learn anything about oilr country, and especially in literary matters. Here books are lent out free, to all ratepayers or to those recommended by a ratepayer. The only New Zealand paper was the Christchurch Press. From Vancouver you pass along the Eraser river for a good distance before you start to ascend the Rockies. The salmon fishing season was just opening, and here millions of fish are caught every season,.'when they are taken to the canneries and packed up for export. Huge rafts of timber are being floated down this river to the sawmills, at tho coast. •

The Majestic Scenery of the Rockies

will live long in one's memory. The tow.ering snow-clad peaks, the dark fir-clad canyons, the .snow sheds with the dangerous glaciers overhead—all make a picture indescribable. After stopping at" the great glacier for a couple of minutes we pass the "Great Divide," where the waters rush to the Pacific on the one side and to the Atlantic on the other. The moon is high in the heavens, the light and shade of mountain peaks with their glistening snow mantles, the dark

foliage, of the sombre Douglas pine, the weird fathomless gorges all pass as in a, cinema room, as we rush down past butting cliffs and over steelspanned viaducts to the prairie land below. We are roused from our sleep at 2.30 a.m. by the bustle of passengers getting off. at Calgary with its 70.000 inhabitants who since have "struck oil.'' Looking out of our sleeping car window we are struck with

The Brilliancy of the Street Lighting,

and the same applies to all the prairie towns. (Quite a contrast to the streets of Stratford.) As day breaks wo are rushing through the v.ast wheat lands of the west: Just now ploughing is in full swing. The country is very disappointing to look at. It is only a fortnight since it lost its whiter covering of snow. Snow fences are erected all along the line to protect :it. The thermometer goes down as low as 50 to 70 below zero, so I am told by a farmer. No sign of stock of any kind. A great deal of alkali appears in the swamps. The villages and farm houses are all cheap, box-like structures, with agricultural machinery lying all about unhoused from the weather; of course this is not the best of the. prairie land.

Thinking I had seen enough cf the Canadian Prairies,

1 derided to stay a night at Moose Fair at the junction of the "Soo" railway. This is a town of 30,000

inhabitants) well built, wilde, and long straight streets, perfectly flat, no streams. Irrigation is the only means they have of watering the land. Labour hoing now required on the farms, there seemed to he a great influx of unemployed, many of them the scum of the western cities. T never saw so many drunks anywhere, and some of them nasty-looking desperados at that. The country takes 'on a different aspect as one enters the States, when you begin to get into older settlements. As vr« enter the State of Dakota the bar is closed on the train, and no liquor is obtainable, it being a prohibition State. Passed

through St. Paul (230,000), and 'Minneapolis (330,000) great industrial centres

On to Great "Dirty Chicaga" I Where I visited its great stock yards, where the hogs are slaughtered in thousands every day, cattle and sheep being brought in by special train loads. After witnessing the not very attractive sight, one is almost inclined to become a vegetarian. With Mr and Mrs Wilfred Perry and Mr J. Hislop, 1 spent a. couple of days at Niagara. The first impressions of those mighty 4 waters is disappointing, but after one has viewed them from the various viewpoints the magnitude and grandeur grow* on one, so that when they leave, an impression has been made on the mind which is unexpressible. The. morning I was there a poor fellow with his boat was carried over the falls. He had been seen about a mile above having apparently lost an oar, and was therefore at the mercy of the current. He was standing up in the boat waving his arms for help, but he was beyond human aid. Those who were watching saw him as he disappeared from view drawn jinto the mighly vortex. About nine hours in the train

Brought us to New York, via Albany.

The train travelling 50 miles an hour including stops. Here the magnitude of everything impresses one with the wealth everywhere in evidence from the sky-scrapers of fifty-six stories to their palatial homes and magnificent department stores, their elevated and underground railways, and the motor craffic. Everything is of colossal magnitude, even their annual police parade which I had the pleasure of witnessing from the 4th story window of a large boot store, 7700 policemen (out of 120,000, the number of the force in the city) with 15 bands. All traffic for the time was diverted fram jth Avenue while they passed, which :ook an hour and a half. They are a fine body of men. The horses of the mounted men were superb .animals, all of one color, a light bay. I'lie day was gloriously bright, and every coign of vantage was taken all along the route by hundreds of thousands in gay summer regalia, such as' -an only be seen in New York. Landing Safely at Southampton, I took the train right through to Edinmrgh, with the object of fulfilling a promise to be present at the Bannock, mrn celebrations. I was fortunate enough to have a seat in a carriagt just behind the Lord Provost of Glasgow in the procession, which was headed by the Grand Marshall, Dhief Constable Nicol, and the Pipe and Stirling Bormgh Bands, and the horsemen in the indent costume of the times of Bruce. The standards of the nobles who fought .vith Bruce, namely, Earl of Moray Keith (Earl Marshall), Walter the ■Stewart, Edward Bruce, Lord of the Isles, and Douglas. After this came >ne of the bailies of Stirling dressed as Bruce, with his esquires and gentle•nen, followed by the pipe band of She Morays. The procession took an hour and a half to pass a given point, and it is estimated that 50,000 lined "he streets from Stirling to the Boreitone\ (Bannockburn), where Bruce planted his banner. In the evening there was a banquet, at which Sir Jeorge Douglas, Bart., proposed the mmortal memory of Bruce and Banlockburn in a stirring oration of over in hour's duration, at the close of .which the Scottish Societies presented lim with a jewel in commemoration of ijie event. Sir J). Stevenson, Bart., proposed the toast of "Scots Abroad," to which Mr'Jas. Kennedy, of New York, and myself responded.

From Scotland, I went to Ireland, and spent some time visiting friends in the North, spending part of the time with prominent Unionists and Home Rulers, the Home Rule question lieing the burning topic. In all towns and villages volunteers were drilling avery evening. I was often asked my Dpihiori on the question, and invariably replied if they agreed among themselves it would be the best thing for them. I saw much improvement in the condition of the holders of the land to when I left 3u years ago, the fact that very many of them had acquired the freehold of their holdings seeming to give an incentive to farming as it always does. Leaving Belfast at the outbreak of hostilities, I journeyed to Edinburgh for a couple of weeks, and on the way to London stopped two days with -Mr Monkhouse, who wished to be remembered to Stratford friends. While in London I had the pleasure of being in the House of Commons when the final passing of the Home Rule Bill took place, the Unionists leaving as a protest.

Through the Courtesy of Mr D. Mann,

one time of Dunedin, and for 2-1 years in Smithfield Meat Market, I -was shown round the market and introduced to several of the prominent dealers there. These meat markets are huge affairs. One stall—and it is only the size of a small shop—cost some years ago £II,OOO for the goodwill, of which really there is none, as they are only weekly tenants of the London County 'Council, and lie pays £ll per week rent. Here was meat from all parts, of the world—Argentine chilled beef 'which is better looking than our own New Zealand) and mutton, which is large and coarse, American meat from Chicago, and Australian and New Zealand mutton. Some of the lamb had been badly blacked by coal dust, but Mr Mann assured me there was only a very small percentage which got so discolored. The best of the meat, however, did not go into Smithfield, but is distributed all over the country. A great deal of meat, chiefly large fine ve. 1. conies from Holland. Fine Scot-

tish beef, also, but very inferior lamb,' in fact one New Zealander said he had\ fed better to his dogs. The wholesale J price for our lamb was then 6Jd to "d j per II)., and the impression was that it had reached its maximum, as the workers cannot afford to pay more audi would rather do without it. On Octo-

ber 23rd,

Mr Kennedy sailed for Sydney on the! Oohir. He had previously booked to sail en the 11th September by the Grama, which was commandeered by the Government lor a troopship. An incident of the voyage caused some excitement. When oh hours down the Thames, J U! >t as the dinner bell was sounding, we came in collision with a buoy. Whether there was anything under the buoy they did not know, but shortly after 'l6ft. of water was found in. the hold. Pumps were set going- and the steamer put back and was drydoeked, ultimately sailing on the 28th. Some of the passengers thought they had struck a spent mine, and were rather nervous, British mines being laid in proximity to the track. The rest of the voyage was uneventful,*, until past Colombo, when they sailed'with lights out, and after leaving British waters, no wireless Avas sent or received, with the exception of news' of the smashing of the Emden. ,