THE COLONIST AT HOME.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4144, 22 June 1892, Page 3

THE COLONIST AT HOME.

Mutton and-l/lorak, t The following extract from an article written by a well-known resident of Masterton, and published in the Birmingham Evening Post of recent date, contains a word or two of critical observation, which is of sufficient interest to justify its reproduction, Thus comments the writer: —"And here it is my duty as a colonist, to say a word about the honest English butcher. The British butcher is, of course, immaculate, and in Birmingham be is above suspicion, but the exigencies of trade compel him occasionally to resort to practices which harrow the soul of the New Zealand grazier. The latter now and again takes a trip to the Old Country, and puts in much of bis holiday looking into butchers' shops. Ho diagnoses every sheep be sees, and when he finds that the well-known New Zealand carcase is ottered as English mutton, the inferior Australian wether sold as New' Zealand, and possibly the Bouth American abortion presented as Australian, he ,ge,t6 Borrowful, shakes the British v * dust off bis feet, and whan he gets back home abuses the land of his forefathers, Even the virtuous colonial butcher has a kick in him, All tbe best sheep are ear marked for export to England, and be good humouredly provides second class meat for the colonial household, but keeps up prices at the first class standard. In tbe good old days I have bought better mutton and beef at Id per lb than I can now procure atsa. Speaking of visits to England re» minds mo of another class of people who corao over frequently. The colonial working man often returns to l see Lib native village, and on hie return to New Zealand is apt to say "I cannot stand England," In his native village tbe working man meets men miserably poor, whom he once • knew to bo well-to-do. He sees al:lo. : . bodied men begging, and he hears ohildren cry with hunger, These things break him up, he is unused to experiences of such a character, and ; Wls unhappy till he turns his face once M more towards the Antipodes, Is tbe vitality of England absorbed by bricks and mortar 1 The Colony makes men, however rode their surroundings; but does tbe mother country mar them ? last Sunday afternoon a crowd of •"rougbß" was pointed out tome—l am not responsible for the expression "roughs," ;forwe never use it in the colony—but I noticed that most ol the men indicated were undersized, Is the Birmingham of the twentieth century to be a place of mammoth buildings and dwarfed men?" .;