ENGLAND AS SHE IS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 171, 19 January 1914, Page 6

ENGLAND AS SHE IS.

Ai'XLK i'UKTV Yi-JAUS. j ■ •SOilii LYIKIKSSIOXS COIIRECTEI). j A Daily Xows representative ■bad an interesting chat yesterday with Mr. F. W. Marchant, v. ho has just returned from- England, wliich he had visited for Hie (h'..J time alter an absence of -(0 years. Mr: .Marchant left England when iio was 21 years of age, and this was his lirst visit since then. The lir.-it tliiii.".; which struck hint was th.U, those people who had told him that London had changed so much' were entirely wrong. Of coarse there were many new building*, but the greater part of London, was unchanged, and lie had no diriicullv in finding his way ) about. | XO DEUEXKRACY. 'The. physical degeneracy of the average Englishman,'' said Air. .Marchant, "is a favorite colonial catchword, with very \ litlie foundation. Nothing is further from the, truth. This fact was brought home to me most forcibly when 1 was attending a memorial service in connection with the Titanic disaster in Whitfield's Tabernacle. The service was for men only, and there I saw thousands of the small trader and shop assistant : class. It would take a, similar hody of : colonials all their time to match them ;in physique. I believe it is true that ; there is u certain amount of degencr- ' acy, hut this is in the'large nranufactur- : iiur towns where child labor is employed ■ —not in London. The manners and ! speech of the children of London arc an example to the colonials. One never gets a. rude answer, and seldom hears swearing." In the matter of drinking, too, remarked Mr. Jtarchant, there appeared to nave 'beeji n change in the spirit'of the people. He had seen fewer drunken men in six months in London than I he had on on Saturday night in some Xew Zealand cities. And all this witli- } »out prohibition. j Speaking of the slums, which he visit- ' ed very often, Mr. Marchant remarked • that while the slum dwellers might not he very clean or smartly dressetf, still it was the exception to see a really cruel face. Everyone in England was very kind to animals. In fact, the society ladies were decidedly 100 ikind to their dogs.

KNOWLEDGE OP NEW.ZEALAND. '"Yes," said Mr. Murchant, "the people of England really know very little about Xew Zealand, (but onfe lias only to say lie comes from X'ew- Zealand to receive kindness and attention. If a Xew Zealanclcr in England will keep his own knowledge to himself lie will learn much, but if he talks of what he knows he will , not be listened to '.and will be shown / little- At least, that is my experience." HOME BULK Mr. Marchant spent, some time in Limerick and in other pirU of Ireland. In his opinion the Lister opposition to Home Rule would not actually come to «ivil war because the various parties in Ireland realised that civil war would only react on the country. lie thought that good sense would prevail. At the ■seme time he remarked that Ireland, as far as the farmers are concerned especially, appears so prosperous that he doubted whether Home Rule had as much justification now as it. had when I the movement first began. The wages and laibor people in Ireland hack Home Rule because they think that in an Irish Parliament they would have a majority and would be able to ride the country to their own advantage. iln this they are not .unlike the colonial labor parties. There are so many parties in Ireland. The Nationalists, the clergy, the Laborites and the landed proprietors are rJI pulling in dilVereut directions. However, in conversation with the more responsible classes of the commiinly he began to .see that with the change in the land policy the opposition to Home Pule will not ibe so .strong. The wages people are certainly underpaid, but the farmers arc prosperous. In brief, he thought that the opponents to Home Pule think it unnccessarv, but will make the best of it. .Mr. Marchant was disappointed with the land settlement policy in England, which wa» not so' good as that in Ireland. England was too much burdened with a. sentimental regard for the feudal system, and the -dead hand" still hau a strong grip on the laud. English politics were very conservative and their legislative measures were cumbersome. The Insurance Act. for instance, had done nothing but raise a stormi of objections from ;tll clas-es and support all. army of ollicials. It, was a well-meant but cumbersome measure.