ADDRESS AT RAGLAN.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17974, 20 March 1930, Page 10

ADDRESS AT RAGLAN.

BY MR E. HOWARD, M.P

SOUTH AFRICA DEALT WITH. Mr E. J. Howard, M.P., addressed a meeting at Raglan on the subject of the Empire Parliamentary Association. J Mr Howard said that this associa--1 Hon really represented the rank and I file of members of Parliament of the j self-governing parts of Hie Empire, j They adopted the same methods as the j Imperial Conference of Prime Min- | islets. They met every two years by : delegations in some part of the Em- | pire and studied Ihe particular prob- : lom of the part they were in. As a | result there .were in every Parliament ! some member or members who knew ! something about the other part of the ! Empire. It had been his privilege to I he sent to South Africa, and he under- ; stood some of the troubles of that country. The principal trouble, explained Mr Howard, was the fact that within the British part of that country there were 10,000,000 Kaffirs and only 2,000,000 whites. There were no restrictions on Ihe number of wives a Kaffir could have, and as a result, the black population was increasing at a rapid rate, whilst the whites were practical!y st,ending still. That was one of Ihoir greatest problems. He would not bother to explain all 'their problems, because time would not permit, and because lie wanted them to see the pictures of seme mysterious ruins known as Zimbabuc. Lantern Slides Shown. With the aid of lanlcrn slides ihe speaker took his audience through a diamond mine and a gold mine, and explained the method of extraction. The Vritewatersrand, said Mr Howard, or the “R00t.,” ns it. was termed .(here, was a low-grade reef extending for 60 miles in a north-easterly and southwesterly direction, with Johannesburg ! as a centre. That town was one of the most up-to-date that one could imagine, although it was termed of mushroom growth. From that reef £800,000,000 of gold had been extracted nnd it. was stilt going strong. South Africa still supplied 51 per cent of the world’s gold supply. The mines

employed 1 7,000 Europeans and 70,i 000 coloured people. When Cecil ; Rhodes organised his poincers to go j 1 o the north they had to fight wild ' men and wild animals. So they formed rallying places which were called “forts.” Seventeen miles in an easterly direclion from ihe first fori. Fori Yieloria, I hey came upon some ancient ruins. On Ihe lop of a hilt 'that, stood like a sentinel on the left as one enters a long valley was a peculiar hill, having some peculiar ruins on the top. Experts had named ibis the “Acropolis,” as it appeared In be a kind of a fort. The late Sir Rider Haggard, who was secretary to one. of the governors, had wrillen many stories around this hill, the best, known of these being “She.” Some thought that that nulhnr had simply 'shortened the word Sheba, because. one explorer had reported Dial this was where King Solomon had had his temple built, and that it was here vsiusKe. iadx visited.

interesting Ruins. On the top of the hill were many ruins. There was a large hole 170 ft long and 70ft wide with rough seats and a platform. There were also the remains of a reverberatory smelting furnace and some retorting furnaces which the speaker said were almost as up-to-date as those we used to-day in the recovery of the precious metal. The hill was 300 ft high, and in the valley below could be seen the remains of many ruins. There was one principal building termed the Temple, and this had a series of parallel walls standing 30ft high still in a state of almost perfect preservation. The walls had ,been built of granite bricks, each brick cut and slightly bevelled so as to make a good fit. No binding material had been used, and yet these walls had defied the ages to bring them down. The experts differed as lo the age of those buildings, and as to the people who had built them. Some said they were the lost tribes of Israel, others the Phenecians, Chinese, and almost every ancient race had been mentioned as the builders. But the only tiring they were agreed upon was that, they did not know who had done it. With the slides Mr Howard went through the description of what is known as Great Timbabwe. lie said that it was the method of the Labour Parly to demand that their representatives should give an account whenever they were sent as a delegation, and fie had always procured photographs for lanl.crn-slido -.making. On reluming to Christchurch he would he showing and explaining the Arapuni hydro-electric works and other points in this trip. The Labour Party also demanded that each of its members i should become an expert on soma sub- i ji'ot, so that in the group some member would he qualified to to instruct the others and to put the question before Parliament so that it could be understood. Mr Howard received a hearty vote of lhanks.

Mr W. Lee Martin, M.P., was in the chair and there was a good attendance.