The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, MAY 8, 1903.

Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 885, 8 May 1903, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, MAY 8, 1903.

MISS B ALGA UN IK’S VI FIB'S. The working man there is the anstocrat o[ the country.'’ That is the assertion made hy Miss Florence

Bulgarnie to an interviewer in Sydney. As that prominent temperance advocate is on her way home, via Queensland, .Japan, and India her impressions arc likely to he carried far and wide, and whether we endorse her views or disag-ee with them, il must be allowed that her beliefs will have wide publicity, and be accepted in good faith by a great many people. The full text of the interview is now to hand. Dealing with the land question she says : “ t go back to England with new views about the

land question. I see how" cjoscly allied it is with the temperance question.” Then expression is given to the belief that the scheme is not a good one, because greater facilities are not given to fax the farmer. Of course the statement is not put so plainly as that. “I do not think that the land settlement scheme as worked is a good one,” said Miss 13algarnie. Granting 199 years’ ■ cases without any increase of rcnl from the unearned increment, such as that bu.tight about by railways or drainage, seems to me to lie on tne wav to fetter themselves with old evils under a new naiufe. But the minted at t benefits are striking.” It .s a pity that the traveller did not take care to make closer enquiries before sin left the colony, and she. would have had a different tale to tell. When the farmer in New Zealand has; none paying what is set down as his share of taxation there is not much fear of his escaping the payment of a goodly proportion towards the luxuries enjoyed by' those in the centres of population. Contrasting the condition rf Sydney with New Zealand 1 lie following remarks are made : ‘‘ln the twenty-four hours since I landed in Sydney i have seen more signs of poverty' than l saw during the whole twelve months I spent in New Zealand. It almost makes me feel as

though I were hack in London again. For another tiring, you don t see in New Zealand the smart carriages and the grand dresses, while, on the other hand, you never see rags. “ When I speak about the poverty which I have seen concentrated m Sydney. I realise, of course, that New Zealand has no large cities; but it struck me how much better it is to have a lot. of small towns, with populations from 2000 to 5000. Perhaps one feels sometimes that they are small and gossipy, yet they do not offer the scope for the concentration of evils. Everybody knows everybody', and those who are in misfortune get almost too much sympathy.- Altogether, J have been greatly struck with the advantage of small towns.”

Excepting for the slight tinge oi exaggeration about those in misfortune getting too much sympathy—a startling assertion to be made by one

followin'/ Miss Balgarnie’s vocation—the description is an accurate one. Then comes the reference to the working man : “ You never see the working man in New Zealand sitting down by the side of the road eating with unwashed hands The working man there is the aristocrat of the country, lie has raised himself to a standard of comfort which I never remember to have seen anywhere else I have been the guest of working men and women. One of the prettiest little villas J stayed in helongci to a man who worked at a sash and door factory at. ten shillings a day. One of the most daintily set out dinner-tables was in the house of a railway gauger, who had saveu enough money to have a house and c(chard of his own. ami was at that ! : mc in receipt of lowered wages of (>nly ISs a week, which lie preferred t - have so that he might live at home. On the other hand one docs r.ot see the ext rentes of riches, 1 stayed in the house:, of some of the principal people, ami found

simplicity and naturalness of fife •.'.inch was altogether charming. For instance, the Chief Justice, .Sir Robert Stout, whose guest I have fro<tuenlly been, receives only .£I7OO «t year.” We are not told what would happen if a higher salary were paif, t r whether Miss Balgarnie would advise lower salaries so as to ensure simplicity of life. “ There is not, 1 continues the lady, *• tiic aloofness and separateness between classes so noticeable elsewhere. 1 have been impressed with the simplicity of life, J hey take people more for what the> are thin for what they are worth. Worth • presumably means lit; value of possessions. The following reference is made to 1 lie polling a:

Gisborne, where Miss Balgarnie wav located on election day : “ I stood onlside of a polling hoollt during the whole of election day, ami was much interested in the number of women Wlio polled. Some of the women stood literally packed for hours in a narrow space like the entrance to the pit. of a theatre in their eagerness to vote.”