IMPRESSIONS OF TRAVEL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 19 September 1907, Page 3

IMPRESSIONS OF TRAVEL.

AFTER A SEVEN MONTHS' TOtiK.

A "Bally News" reporter the other (lay sought an interview with Mr M Eraser, who has just returned from a seven months' visit to England, Scotand and Ireland, returning homewards by way of the Kastern United States nnd Canada. But he declined to he •'interviewed' in the newspaper sense 01 the word, and the "impressions" reI eoiil.'d here are merely memorised from 1 a very interesting chat with Mr Fraser and his son, Mr Gordon Fraser, two very oliservar.i travellers. Undoii, in the ojiinion of Mr Fraser, is an uninviting place. Dusty, smoky), foggy, » 'great sore spreading itself over and obliterating Nature's handiwork. The roar and hustle of Loudon life, its slums, its decrepit and starving-, poor ma,-le nn impression that could' not he oll'accd by ~11 the grandeur of it* buildings. ,(s great historical records its wealth of fashionable life. ' Among the sights was the Tower. »usf,v, dirty grimy. The dust, of ages hovering anW hiding mos t things ot interest, and in nianv parts the. old originals replaced l>y sham articles for the delectation of the sightseer Westminster Abbey, containing in its :.rehes some of the finest sculpture in the world, Was equally gloom v. The fogs and smuts of London haul covered seats and pews and pillars with black gnt; and the breezy colonials felt inclined to fling open the windows for air ' and to order a liberal application of soap a,nd hot water. The air was almost poisonous, as could easily h 0 understood from the fact that below and all round are the decaying an f l decompos ng remains of our great poets, statesmen, and folk of great wealth including royalty. Brass tablets sunposed to set forth who "here lieth" did "« niig of the kM. for the appalling « had almost effaced the in^f

tended „t the House of Commons during the Parliamentary sessions. And like a lot of other people, J„ ey were disappointed with the. representatives of the '.free and independent'' electors of i V",'? 1 , Kia X< hm - Tt seemed an almost lifeless Tlouso. The debating powers were not of a very l,Mi o r,lei oorlflinly no Letter than 'in our owll ' l.miso ot Representatives. The four ■nori who shone out clearly in advanec of then- colleagues were Messrs Bin-cll •John Morley, Lloyd George and As' quifh. who struck Mr Fraser as beino ""•n of groat power and understanding and earnest and sincere in their con-' notions. Most of the leaders were listless, apathetic creatures, who seemed to w'k on speoeli-ymaKing as a bore and I "inking as a most unpleasant and unnecessary duty.

I llill ™. v ;„ mi - superb, and gives a pleasure not achievr !" ; ln - v oth «- ™untry. .It has in, England reached perfection, and no one ■ whose railway travelling has been confined to this colony can form any idea i of the comfort and luxury of the'trains' in the Old Country. Considerable surprise was expressed at the condition of the laborers in Fn„ Bri.il rf k '" H" C ° loninl ~ro,1 '«. 0» Knli>h laborer does not regularly read "s paper, lie is really the slavo'of the I ».g andowner i„ whoso hovel he dwell, i>< vols that would not be considered good enough to house the landlord's m ™»?»t pet dog. And he jogs alon. working along in the same groove ye" "• and year out, ignorantlv content "1; Ins lot, for his grandfather K m the same place in the same way and l-.lt.c same rent for the same ,eW ;<<'!. novel and did the same work ail '.'l' 1 1 ", t ": s "'»o way as this man wo fd d.o and his son after him, but for B which is now slowly b * il.out-an awakening by the s to the gross unfairness of fh . ( « mont; an awakening by the classe ' «•* f-t that the Ls^es"are * ;, „: and worthy of humane treatment, n ' Z*uf\*"\ th ° reli S io <* world to the fact-that the -clergy, who from time rnimemor,:* have been the friends o7 the poor man, now find it. to their a* vantage to be the friends of th rich ™>n and the latter finds then, useful i„ poaehmg contentment to the peopl" ane'e and r ° f th " ir '« anee and the,,- rights. This brought ■ - ronversat.nn to "class distincti™, " V 1 T V T' , " nr!c "'' »' conservative England. 'Travel 11,, made a Radical "f '"", remarked Mr Frnser. "Wo hev, .no,deah ere of the eh a rly def, ne*

*S *,T" m ; mth > wcro s|,Mt * •™'" 1 ro, " 1( l t'" l western shores !" ; '' smM> stoanior, in at n ll the .' ' !l ""nrt. Everywhere was 7 a " tlf ; l! "tilliipss, not. tho faintp«;t-jopl-vr stirring (1,0 glassy wato ot "• 'lays. Th, people ,-„ thMc ™ worn mostly i„ I(nv c „. r or now and again thl . ; •*~I S . It was not "the Mrf , J •it th, min.Htnrt house. There. as cwlmro. the Minister of the Cos,* f.»"l like a l, Blng of sup( , rior . 1 I'or some weeks t]]py sf Strathspffor. a fashionable health wort ami watering-place. Hundreds eanie thorp every snmmor to "drink tho wafers." fl,o water from tho springs in tho looality containing a form of sulphur, most efficacious i„ the cure oil rheumatism a ,„i s i,„;] ar ailments. The' visitors included nil thp ear anil fash-' ionable v.'nrl,l. and tho wealth „Vrosented was rlazzTinp. Whilst (hoy «-erci there tho North Sea (loot arrived, and' thorp wore great festivities with "Jaek-a-dioro."

Crossing from Old „-!gJaiid to w York. one foil that not n„lv had one erossod the broad .Atlantic, but nad replied n world peopled l, v „ different and higher humanity. fir hemitv of tho architecture and its entire depart, "i"> from all European si vies, were very striking. Streets of buildings runni'il' up !o fortv-fivp storevs were, entirely without smoke. The nir was'' TOTfoelly pure, and tho building* lnokj 0.l almost now in tlie al'soneo of tho< i/i'l/ny smoke, this bofng the result of. the prohibition of coal-burning in ibtf huh of the city. New York crcafod av I von- fivornble impression. i Tie- Messrs Praser then 'travelled through to the Niagara T'nlls, whose waters are now being harnessed to supply electrical energy for liiaiiufaelurinoi imrpo-es. Hard bv is tho model cifv of MaL-ara. with its e*phaltod streets shaded by limes, oaks and ash (roes,, carrying their soft spring foliage. Tho Canadian side has not yet been bni){ upon to any great extent, hut the Americans hire made a model city which, gives promise of the millenium; where) there are no fences, and no gates audi house after ho.-,-- ,),,.>ds on the contra-, nous well-kept |. •■.■„. sloping down to the street, not <-,.,.r;„, ,7 to one house but belonging to all the houses together; where the eye is not nfl'ondej by advertisements: ' This spot, where' Lake Erie tumbles itself into tin- Ontario is not only the grandest spot Nature has shown us, l )n t man Ins (hove tone all that is possible in keeping wbh the surroundings. "

American ra ; Uny travelling was found to he exceedingly good, hot in Canada owing lo the great rush of people to' wirds the North West, much income mence liad to he experienced.