IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 1039, 21 August 1911, Page 7

IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA

(By a Mastertonian.)

Writing to ithe Wairarapa Age, Mi' W. L. Falconer, of Masterton, who is at present on a visit to tho Old Country, says:— "We sailed from Wellington by the s.s. Moeraki, and, after an uneventful passage of four days, reached Sydney. The vessel wa's crowded with, young men leaving our shores on account of want of employment. Sydney is a beautiful place, with one of the. grandest harbours in the world. It has a good overhead tram penny section service, and narrow gauge railways. The streets are well kept. The buildings are of the most ■modern description—a good many of them, six storeys liig'h. The fronts are built of dressed stone and brick. My attention was specially directed to the Dank of Hew South Wales, Dalgety and Co.'s, and a number of others. Sydney has a population of over six hundred thousand, conse.quantiy./the residential part spreads all round.' A great part is on the opposite .side of the Parramatta I River, which is crossed iby penny '< ferry, boats every ten minutes, night and day. TJiey propose bridging the J mile of river 'with a treble ikibo- tunnel under the river for tram traffic and passengers. The villas are of a neat, comfortable and elegant character,with . nice gardens. On the town sidfe of the river they have very largo public' nxirks. and recreation grounds, and botanical gardens, which 'have all the- tropical palms and trees of every clime well kept, and growing luxuriantly, although the soil looks poor and sandy. All those / recreation grounds are on ground overlooking Sydney Harbour, ,and command a splendid view of the extensive shipping and good wharves;, which can berth ships of the deepest draught afloat at the present- time. I visiited their Museum, which contains the statues of the principal statesmen and celebrities of the present time. '

I am a passenger by it'he Orontes for (London, which is now taking in cargo, consisting of thousand's of tons of lead ar,d copper, also silver ore, from Broken Hill; 'and a large quantity of Queensland beef and Now South. Wales, frozen mutton, of ■an average weight of about forty pounds. The mutton, in the Sydney shops sells at 2d to 2£d per lb. The boef is also cheap, but of poor quality. The next place to called .at was Melbourne, which is also a- fine. city. It is more nicely laid off than Sydney. They have cable trams, but 3d sections, and wide gauge railways. This is the chief manufacturing centre of the Australasian Continent.

Meat i® cheap in Melbourne, and of 'better quality than, in Sydney. The Orontes board thousands of carcases of .mutton, mostly for the Continent, to be landed -at Naples and Marseilles. The last mutton averaged about 501bs per carcase. It was very thin on, the neck, loin and flank, 'and not to be compared with the New Zealand product. The Continental people are losing taste for their old horseflesh, and are .beginning to open their ports to our ibeef and mutton. 'Melbourne isi the seat of the Federal Parliament. After talcing in and discharging passengers and cargo we sailed tfbr Adelaide, and landed on a sandy strip of land putting out to sea. Shipping is small, and the town is sima|l. The buildings are good 1 ,, the streets wide, and splendidly laid off," the railway runs up the street, and has a. wide gauge. The peop'e and place seem to be doing well. Th* ibeef and 1 butter in the shop win 1 1 wa I was very prime, and of excellent'' quality. I had no time to a,9Cflrta:n| the price. Adelaide is said to be a ' splendid place to live in. We only stayed a few hours, and p:tssod oil to th'.' last town, of AusLm la, Fr<> rr'aritle.

"We did not get a oerih at tilt 4 wharf, (but we lay in, the s stream, and went adhoro 'by tend ;r la tFie rojt, ■which we had a look through anl took the train 10 Peril, :t «J H tance of. thirteen miles. The country between''the port and Perth is of a red kind' of sand of poor quality. The grass was of a dry, stunted and ■poor quality, and I should slay of poor stock carrying capacity. The native trees arc stunted gums of various kinds, with. short trunks, and of little value except for firewood. The undergrowth was stuntad scrub, with a little poor grass under. I saw two herds.-of" cows of about fifty each, with bella on,, of a poor Jen&ey crossi low in condition and little appearance of milk. The town of Perth is extremely beautiful, splendidly laid off, . and built of stone or brick. The ■railways are of the same gauge as Adelaide, and only three inches different from Melbourne. Western Australian land is leased in large blocks ifor a term,* of years at a low. rental, and when the lease f i expires they>ca.n. sub-divide for closer settlement. The gre&t country is J badly watered, and cannot givo ithe j ibest results, for pastoral and agricultural pursuits.