LIFE AT JOHANNESBURG.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 126, 29 May 1903, Page 4

LIFE AT JOHANNESBURG.

In a letter to a friend at New Plymouth Mr E. Russo, who left here some time back, gives his first impressions of Johannesburg as follows: " I have arrived here at last, and a queer place it is. Never in my life have I Been such a God-forsaken spot as this—dirty, filthy, dusty, and so horribly behind tbe times in everything. The post office, telephone service, and trains are simply antediluvian There is only one suburb where there are any trees, and that is D:onfontein. All the other places have nothing else to show bmt red dust. There are thousands of people here in search of work, especially engineers, and it is very difficult to employment. The people here have a trick of engaging persons in England at nominal salaries and when these poor fellows arrive here they soon find they cannot live on their pay. Bobbery and housebreaking are quite the usual thing, and and only yesterday two Customhouse officers were robbed in one of the mosi frequented streets at i p.m. Living is very expensive, about £2O a month being the minimum cost. Amusements are very expensive, and to become a member of a club costs .£6O. The church is about the size of that at Te Henui, but otherwise there is no comparison. I thought when I saw it that some third-rate livery-stable keeper had his horses there. There are no reserved seats, and the organ and the choir are bo'.h very bad. The | congregation is fairly numerous, but most of the women are very ugly, and of course very badly dressed."