A VISITOR FROM SOUTH AFRICA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1686, 1 March 1906, Page 2

A VISITOR FROM SOUTH AFRICA.

AN INTERVIEW WITH A JOHAN

NESBURG MINISTER,

We have bad the pleasure of an interview with tho Rev. J. R. Flynn AndersoD, who is visiting this oountry on furlough for the purpose of gaining health and information. During the late war in Africa Mr Anderson acted as chaplain to His Majesty's forces, and shared the perils and trials of the troops in the trenches and oq the veldt. Since tbo war'he has been engaged in church extension work along the railway lines, and .also among the many camps of tho prospectors and miners scattered about in fho groat up-oountry districts of South Africa. He was the first cleric to preach on the now .famous Premier Diamond Mine, whero tho biggest and richest diamoed in the world was discovered, Io pursuing these duties he lias travelled thousands of mil s, and his present breakdown in health is due to the ravages of fever centiac ed du iDg his travols. He is to preach in St. Andrew’s Presbyteiiau Church next Sunday, and arrangement) are being made for him to kct’j'O next week on IPs varied expediences.

Me Anderson thinks that South Africa is “ Not understood,” and that instead ol bsing a country for the white man to keep out of, it is a land of golden oppoitunities —a country for young men. Thera is a great contrast between the atmosphere of general prosperity which one meets with in New Zealand and the feeling of depression which has for some time past s t ied upon the new colonies and tho Capp, yet for all that the clouds ore lifting, and the prespeots, both minoial and agricultural, aro daily growing more hopeful. The very greatness of the country makes its progress slow, but its possibilities arc wonderful. Great developments have been made, greater Btill require to he made. The land is only jus*' beginning to really epon up! and every year will ECO, with an increased population, an increased prosperity. The charm of New Z aland, to Mr Anderson s eyes, lies in what it now is—the spell of Africa in what it some day will b\ It is not the'E 1 Dorado some have eixp c ed i to hr, but the mineral weaLh of tbo country is great indeed, and for genera tions to come ibe gold, diamond, and coal mines will effef eVen more oppoitunities than now. 11 “Bains ahd water' 1 'are changing the face of the f irming question. In the place' cf ancient 1 grandfatberly farming, up-to-date methods in dealing with the land are’ alfering the oeuntry ; instead ojf waiting fer a chance rain fr urn ' fmey are boting for certain water: dowpbrjow. Wi 11s apd springs are bubbling over with wpslth making ptreerps where yeft-s ago the dust blew thick upon ironrotk and withered laud. “We have 8 continent, not aoountry, to Icpk after and emflry. Beoauee of the vastmes of the task,” says our visitor, >' tho work is bound to be eJow, but wait ard you wijl find that petiencs shall have her pptfpei werk, and Africa become a hr mo for aDy man whose heart is in the land, end whe so hand ean guide the p'ougb,” B* plying to tha query whether he could recommend tbo country for immigration, Mr findetson says " Ye?," but qual firs his answp'. ft ip no place for a mariid man to go. For a s'pgle fel'ow the opportunities are great, but a manw’th otheia d.pendent upon b ; m is handicapped. Africa is $ ygung plan's country, for evcryihing yet is in the making. A siogle man can get fairly good board pud )odg ing in Johannesburg for £lO per moDtb, a married man will have to pay that for a lip poof colfge of four rooms. A man t > get cn there must be willing to start 8t tho bottom rung oi tha ladder and work bit way up, It is foolish to go out expecting work to lock for you, a man must watch for tho first chanco of an opening, aDd bold that until something better comes along, Johannesburg can hardly be called a 11 Sunday•sobool City,” for al* its sports, race-meetings, etc , take place on a Sunday, aoa tho seventh day of the week is practically a bank holiday. Drinking and gambling are very prova'c-nt bincng its people i at the same time ihcro arr many lives bsiDg lived out there 03 nowhere exsamples unto others, 11 I have no sympathy," says Mr Anderson, “ with folk who would class the world of men as outcaets and hratben, I believe in churchrs and church orginis ilion, but after five years’ oxptrioDce with men in the rough, I havo learned to find good in unexpected quarter?, and do not h.sitats (

to sfli-m that the average man is not a bad sort of aft liow. Johannesburg is a city of men, and a minister of tha Gospel must prove himself a man to teach them.” As in a’l big cities, there is a amount of poverty aod distress, wbi.ch f 3 often much exaggerated, The~olimate round the is very bracing, the attityde being between five and six thousand feet above the seq level, The city itself is rapidly g.owing, buildiugs nine to eleven stories high beiog put up in the business portion of the town plat e, the population of Johannesburg be : ng nearly a third of the whole of New Zev laud.