UNKNOWN

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 311, 30 December 1908, Page 3

UNKNOWN

| l;FTUl!-\ OF .rfiX FULLE!!. I lie name of Fuller £ well knuwn ill New Zealand iu eoiiiieeyon with llie profession oi the stage, arffd its notoriety dates from tile <lay= of Fuller's ilyriol'ama. The busiuuso. grew and prospered, and nuw "1' uhnv' ywn their own i lie;; ties and lm\ <■ engage-im-ms in the toiu iißres. ,U r . dolm Fuller, sen., the pupiflur tenor oi noi so long ago, was i.i SJiw Plymouth yesterday with .Mis. aj.d iliss Fuller, re-

turning home frum all illl- months' tour of tlie globe. Till'v -lent tile d.ty wiUi uieir daughter, .Mis. Uodduin, uud It it for Auckland fast ui-iii. -Mr. Fuller ,was liit'onually ''interviewed" yesterday afijruoon by a rqir-.--seutalive of this journal. The veteran was iii the best of health and spirits, and apparently delighted to be once more 111 the land oi his choice. ilr. I'ullei' slated that lie left tlie Dominion 011 the March last, and went Home via Sydney, Colombo, Suez, and the Mediterranean to .Southampton. In lie found grea t changes, whicli was not to lie wondered at, seeing that it was twenty years since lie hail shook the dust of old England from his feet. Many of the old theatres and halls of lii.s time in London h.id disappeared, but tlie numbers hud increased, and the new buildings were amasiiig in their elaborate furnishings and appointments. One thing that particularly struck him was that the architects hud so designed the buildings that every Meat commanded a full view of tlie stage.i The scenery and general stage appurtenances surprised him 110 less than ttyc brilliancy of the seven or eight converging limelights whose beams enveloped the figures of the leading artists in the music-halls and theatres. The Meet, he said, could hardly be imagined lor described. The passing of .the horse and the cause—the coming jof the motor—couiil not fail to impress the traveller. From end to end of London, was now only a few minutes' jouj-uey in electric ears, which were run. underground 011 the conduit system, whereas in his day the old omnibuses would iiieed an hour or two. He iwas very enthusiastic concerning the London electric tramway system, which lie thought was the finest in the world —certainly the finest he had seen in his travels. There wjas no jolt or jar, hut tlie motion was u beautiful glide, like skating. The Americans, lie said,had very complete tramway services, but they could not compare with those of London. .Motor "buses were also daily supplanting the old-style vehicles. Speaking of the change in the conditions of living, Mr. Fuller was emphatic in his statement that in the East End there was not the same squalor and poverty to be seen us in his younger days. lie_had Iven in that portion* a good deal during this visit, and it was quite a rarity to lie accosted by a beggar, or even ask«;d to buy—wliich was, after all, only begging. When he livid 1 in London it would have been impossible to walk a, hundred yards in that quarter without having poverty forced upon his notice. In fact, (he roughness then existing secuied to have died out, a:id the working man mas living 011 a higher ' plane. In his nine weeks of life ill London he had not seen a single ' drunken man, ''Why, twenty years ago,"' lie said,' "every .Saturday night ! every working man had to get drunk, just to show that he really was a working man." /He discussed this niatt«r ' with several' theatrical managers, and 1 asked the reason of this general uplift- 1 ing. Various reasons were advanced, ' but the most feasible of them, to his 1 mind, was that it was largely due to the; vast improvement and consequently increased popularity of the variety theatre. It was there that the people spent tJu:ir evenings, in preference to drinking. They were able, for twopence, , threepence, l'ourpence, and up to a shilling anil eightecjipence for orchestral 1 stalls and circle, to obtain two hours' ■entertainment by the very best artists, ia fine, theatres. The old-time popu- i larity of the music-hall was gained in j great measure by the presence of the j liquoi-liars. The new halls ivere not ] licenced, and in those that still catered for that trade tlie business i\vns very j small. Twenty years ago it was tlie j custom to order liquor and drink during the- evening. Now the stage kept the , audience fully employed and amused, * and there was Jio meed for the imlul- , gence in liquor to till up the evening's ( fun.

/ "London lias certainly refined itself in the matter of drinking," said Mr. 'Fuller, and it was due to the people becoming move enlightened. They were not such fools as they used to be. One of the representatives of the great Bass firm of brewers had told Jiim that the eon* timi.il decrease in the consumption of alcoholic beverages was becoming a very serious matter for some of the lire.v-

cries. He noticed that the public parks, which there were ill plenty, bail been greatly improved, and l fine militaiy bands' supplied music there on two or three evenings a week. Heats were obtainable for a halfpenny. Tennis-courts were also provided in some of the parks —a thin" never dreamed of in his day. At Margate lie had seen a public bowl-ing-green, wlherc a charge was .made of a pennv per game, bowls provided. The party spent ;i week in Paris. a:id toured Switzerland, Belgium, Scotland, and Ireland, spending a week in Dublin and some days in the Killarney lakes district. Killarney, in his opinion, was an immensely over-rated place, although undeniably beautilul. Whilst J<ew Zealand's show places might equal it in some respects, we were quite unable to produce grass of such lovely green as was seen in the pastures of Ireland and England, and Killarney in particular. Mr. Fuller was not one whit etiauioi'ed of the country population of Ireland. He remarked that the journey from Killarney to Jtantry was made, by coach, the jouriK'V being completed about noon. I The harness of the springless carts that carried tourists to pbices of interest was "eneralk ?rv dirty, and the men, who iL on an average four hours a day, complained that they Iwd no time to clean it. In the country districts the "gintleman tlint pays the rint" appeared still to bo an honored guest, and no attempt seemed to be made to beautifv the homes. CiM>ssi;ig to Liverpool, lie noticed a vast difference between the shiftless wharf hands of Dublin and the more cleanly and businesslike English, whilst the early morning holy stoning of tlie front doorsteps 1)V almost •every housewife was a restful"treat, evincing some interest i'.i life.

The "herriiig-tpoud'' was crossed in the Kron l'rinz Wiliielm. the trip taking less than six days. But the spneel was obtained at tin* sacrifice of comfort. The vibration from the engines was such as to make reading almost impossible, and certainly painful. The first feature of New York life which struck him landed in the region of 3(ia pocket, a cabby collecting tilie equivalent of 17s (id for driving the three passengers without I luggage to their hotel—fifteen minutes' journey. Hut right through the States the charges were excessive. At the Herald Square Hotel in New York the charge was two dollars (Hs 4d) per day for eacli bedroom, and meals extra. Almost every American that he spoke (o had some knowledge of No\v Zealand, and evinced an interest in what was termed our socialistic legislation, particularly our labor laws. From Sail Francisco, a towu of record

expensiwmess, Jie went to Yokohama, and toured Japan for three week*, a I the <'ii(l of which time lie had arrived sit the. unalterable decisiou tliat Japan was (In l most over-rated country in the world from the tourist's point of view. Tile principal illl s iW'erc temples, and they were alt alike, and the novelty soo'll wore oil". The women were all llat- failed, ai:d all dressed alike, ur nearly so. Houses were all of the same pattern, and the streets in the eities seemed as like one another as two peas. The hotel charges were very high, lint the M'i'viee was good. The much-vaunted lieauty of the Japanese girl was a fraud. As for the women, nearly every <me of them, and nearly every hoy and girl in the street, seemed to hav« a youngster strapped on their hacks. They struck him us an energetic people, hut not hustlers. The coolies and working men generally weroed able to draw remarkably heavy loads in their earts, and tint women had to take a. hand also at tins, from Japan to Shanghai, and then to ]long Kong. Manila, Thursday Island. Townsville] Brisbane, and Sydney, then home to New Zealand. Mr. Fuller said he would be glad to get to Auckland anil to remain there for a few years. "Then you're salUilcd to get back?' queried the interviewer. There was an undeniably genuine rin» about his oft-repealed "yes," and lie added. "There's something about this country that makes, you welcome when yon step ashore. It s a good little place to be in." Mr. Fuller and pi.rty left for Auckland last night.