CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 June 1920, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor. Sir.—t read with some interest the Impressions of Mr. P. W. Gardi's visit to Australia which appeared in your Issue of yesterday His reference to Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, I wish to take exception to, for I can only surmise that from his affluent position his information was culled from hearsay. Having spent some weeks in Sidney quite recently, I traversed its suburbs unarmed, and found, as any intelligent person will find, that every congested city the world over has its poverty stricken areas, and usually liberally endowed with businesses that is an incentive to such. Sydney is the metropolis of the Southern Hemisphere, and the Government and municipalities are to be congratulated on its progressiveness, its fine buildings and parks, open reserves, emhellshed with the choicest of flowers, its art gallery, rouMMim, am' the lovely hays dotted round its magnificent harbor receive special attention by the Government and . civic authorities. Taic/nga Park, with its horticultural and zooJoglcal environs, when completed, will be 01 e of the finest in the world. Manley, Coogee, Bond!, etc., are all progressing in beautlflcatlons for the health and pleasures of the dti:ens and tourists and cheap access by fen-7 and trams Is provided. The sociability of its people is on a par with this Dominion, whilst Its democratic principles are In advance of ours. Tile workers are united mere. The Government encourages people to live in the suburbs, and a. sliding scale is charged for weekly tickets. Apprentices for a couple of shillings can travel every day to work and back, a distance of twenty miles doily. If you lire two or three miles from the city, !)d per week will take you in and out daily. The Government builds the workers' homes In brick to your own design. It completes the work to even laying out lawns and curbing them. The worker enters his cottage free from any extra cost. I visited these workers' homes, as General Blrdwood did, and .they aro Identical with the best modern bungalows that ar>: being erected In this town. The workers are not burdened with a huge principal snd Interest bill. A five-roomed cottage will cost the working man about 15s to 17s 6d per week, paid fortnightly, monthly or quarterly, with an option to pay off any time if circumstances permit. The above sum represents principal and interest on the capital cost. The social, industrial and political atmosphere of N.SYV, from my observations, rank with the best democratic countries of the world, and the prtsmt political administration promises to eliminate the cliques and Isms that have pointed its progress in the past. May we In th's fair land emulate their example. May I suggest, lu conclusion, that prominent men visiting Australia or elsewhere should personally investigate the bright as well as the dark side when solicited for their impressions. I am, etc, A. ,T. RICHARDS. New Plymouth, 2nd June, 1920.