A TRIP TO AUSTRALIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81837, 1 September 1906, Page 2

A TRIP TO AUSTRALIA.

CHAT WITH REV, T. G. BROOKE Rev. T. G. Brooke, of Whiteley Church, New Plymouth, and President of the New Zealand Methodist Conference, was interviewed on Friday morning on his return from a visit to Australia. The "News" man invited the rev. gentleman to tell something of his travels, and he did it, giving an interesting review of his "impressions." The Rev. Brooke, like bis predecessor, the Rev. J. N. Buttle, is a man ofJf.ffairs, who does not confine his attention wholly to his church work, believing his talents and observation can be made of use outside the immediate walk of the church life. It is not at all surprising, therefore, that he first mentioned the New Zealand International Exhibition. C.ossing to Sydney, and also on the return trip, he travelled with Mr Donne, in charge of the Tourist Department, and Mr Hill, conductor of the Exhibition orchestra, bot'i of whom were engaged on exhibition business, and each appeared well satisfied with the result of their week's work in Austra.ia. Mr Donne was in Melbourne for two or three (lays, and considered the prospects of Victorian representation vere unusually bright. Personally, the Rev. Brooke had a long chat with Mr Danks, the bead of ihe well-known engineering firm of that name, and he said In* was not going to I'e represented, preferring not to endeavour to interfere with the NewZealand firms, who were entitled to the business, and who carried on

similar work. Melbourne seemed to !):■ in a fairly prosperous condition, ;nd the head of a big firm told the visitor that business was never brighter. "The political atm-s-here I found r t'vr charg d w't i I'ght r.i g. cspccia'ly Vitotian po'itics, ' said Mr Brooke, who was specially struck with the way in which many people likened the Premier, Mr Bent, to our late Prime Minister, ascribing to Mr Bent many of the late Mr Sedden's characteristics without posscssijr the genius of our departed statesman. The general imprcsMnn in Victoria was that, poli tically. Mr Bent made a huge bti" der in calling the Rev. WorraU to the bar of the House on account of his r'marks on the Rambling question. Whatever the clergyman had said would have passed almost unnot'eed, but cabing him to ihe bar of thr House gav it a prominenc" that it could not have obtained otherwise. This action at once caused a pejudics against the Government, and gave the idea that the Rev. Worrall was a persecuted man. Men who were quite indifferent on the question of gambling resented what they termed the Premier's blunder, and ,Mr \Vurrail had secured sympathy amongst all classes. "1 had small lime at my disposal to •■islt any of the public institutions in Melbourne. 1 was th ie on business, and business held me in its grip fivm io in the morning to q at night the whole time I was there." The special business which engaged him was the consideration by the presidents of the various conferences of the administration of the superannuation fund, a fund which reaches to-day a total of ,£330,c00. Lengthy discussions took place as to the future policy, but the determinations o r the committee cannot be made public. The Rev. Brooke mentioned that the investments of the funds were proving very remunerative, the management being sound and businesslike. Dr. Morley, well known in New Zealand, where most of his ministerial life was spent, is th managing treasurer. Kriends of this noted minister will be gratified (o know that Iv retains all the alertness of mind and vigour of administration that always made him remarkable; but there are signs that physically he is suffering from the strain. "He manages for us magnificently,'' concluded Mr Brooke. The brevity of his stay precluded any study of church life in Melbourne, the only Sunday being spent at Bo : arnt. whero he conducted ser. vices morning and evening. Strange to say, he found himself in the midst of personal friends, or.e gont'eman with whom he had been closely ussocialed in Dunedin waiting for him in the vestry b<fore whilst another friend of 25 years' standing gripped his hand immediately at its -lost!. The Lidiard street Church, it which he preached to about 1200 i;eonli._t',c bui'ding seating' 15.0 wis considered to be the finest Methodist Church in Victoria outside of Me'bourne, and had given 16 Nov. Zca'and one of the best young men -ngagvd in the worjf, the Rev. A. Mcßean, now stationed at Invorcargill. Returning to public matters, the Rev. Brooke said the sentiment on the gambling question was live. "Men talked of it in the train," he said ; "you heard it at the hotel lunch tab'e; you couldn't pick up a newspaper without finding mention of it either in the letters or in editorial comment." Meetings were being conducted in Melbourne ;,iming at ihe suppression of gambling, and there were big attendances. As a suit of the action of Parliament, the Rev. Worrall had now such a notoriety and such support that a meeting' addressed |,y him in Sydney at onlv four hours' notice was packed, and he was accorded a great recep'ion. One thing that made a deep imi;ressi.,n on tltu mind of the visiter was the appearance of the men on the streets of Melbourne and Sydney the vivid contrast of wealth and poverty. There was a distinctly poorer grade of people in the strees than was ever seen in any New Zealand city. Unkempt and shooloss children plying the sa'e of matches and newspapers ifi the streets bore the imprint of poverty. The Chinese had ruined the furniture trade of the cities, and one gentleman had told him that il was almost impossible to persuade people to buy ri'a'ly subpt initial goods of English make. Trade was consequently at a low ebb, Rey. Brooke said fie enjoyed the trip very much, except that the weather was trio stormy for him, as a somewhat ind;'Terent sailor.