IN THE OLD COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 180, 8 January 1915, Page 8

IN THE OLD COUNTRY.

<A LOCAL RESIDENT'S TRIP. Mr. Clarence Davy, who has just returned to New Plymouth from a visit to England in connection with the exploitation of liis successful patent of a nonrefillable bottle, says that the New Zealand contingent who took part in the Lord Mayor's procession through London were a credit to the Dominion. Fine specimens of manhood all of them, with the bearing of trained soldiers, looking smart in their new khaki uniforms and crimson-banded slouch hats, tlicy "captured" the big crowds at once, and of the many thousands that took part, none got the hearing our lads did. The crowds knew them by their distinguishing badge, but they would have known them with'out by their weird Maori cries. The New Zealandcrs had since left for Egypt. Mr. Davy saw, near Suez, one of the greatest sights that could fall to a Britisher. It was the armada of 74 troopships, conveying the Indian, Australian, and New Zealand troops, with their ar-1 mored convoys. It was a magnificent spectacle, and ono which will for ever live in the memories of all who saw it on that memorable morning. In England, the colonials, said Mr. Davy, are thought much of. To be known as a New Zealander is a sulficicnt passport. In business he found this to be a great asset. On one occasion he visited the titled head of one of Britain's greatest businesses. He bad no letter of introduction. He simply told him he was a New Zealander, who had come a long way to see him. That was sufficient. He got the interview, and left the magnate on excellent, terms.

Not all Englishmen in high positions I are, however, so courteous. They are very stiff and formal. They look at you through a slide, ask you abruptly your business, and just as abruptly reply. They will not depart from the beaten trnek, not, by a hair's-breadth. Different with the German business firms lie had to deal with. They were very courteous, very obliging, and out for business all the time. The British business man since the war, however, is an improved 'man. He is less frigid, less conservative, and more bending, more accommodating. more of a human being. He is now after the enemy's trade with both hands, and, provided lie does not grow cool and indifferent to the needs of the jiublie again, he will succeed in building for Britain a mightier trade than ever. People in England, said Mr. Davy, did not seem to realise when he was there' the toughness of the proposition the Empire is up against in Europe. They went on in the even tenor of their way as if nothing untoward was happening. They certainly took an interest in the doings of their men a,t the front, and in ■the movements of the fleet, but it was of a passing character. They required something to shake them up, to bring them to a realisation of their peril and their duty. The bombardment of the eastern towns, cowardly and wanton as

it was, would do a lot of good in this respect. The men at the head of the nation were just the men for the emergency. Everyone had confidence in them, as they had in Kitchener, French, and the other Generals. They were quite confident as to the outcome —the Allies must prevail in the long rim. Mr. Davy is pleased to be in New Zealand again. "You've got to go away to appreciate what a fine country this is. Tti is truly 'Rod's own country.' And Taranaki is the brightest part, or, I should say, the greenest spot, of the lot." There were some pretty places in England, said Mr. Davy, but of ft type different from what we have here. New Plymouth, for the beauty of its setting and the surrounding outside features, could not be excelled anywhere in the Old World. It was a big thing to say, but it was true.