A TRAVELLER ON "TRAVEL"

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1513, 6 March 1885, Page 2

A TRAVELLER ON "TRAVEL"

Some very good speeches were made at the luncheon give to Mr Fronde, the historian, by the Mayor of Melbourne. Not the least interesting wa3 that of Mr James Kingston, who, with others, response I to tlie toast "Travel." He said:—

Travelers in times past have beeu very bad characters. (Laughter.) They ha* ■■•■}, unhappily, been sti-»_aatised as the tellers of lies—" travellers r tales," as they are called in proverbial language .—(Laughter.) It originates, I believe, from the book of Job, which is generally believed to be the oldest book in the world. Thereiu we have prominent mention of one who may be taken as the prototype of all tra veil era When asked on his appear ance among a uuni-l-er of good mon what lie hiid, been doing, Satan answered. "Going to and* fro upon tinearth, aud walking up and down therein." — (Laughter.) This plain, straightforward reply contains the condensed essence of all that has been done by all travellers up to the present time. — (Hear, hear.) The earliesttravellers to Australia were children of this early father of all travellers. They wen* of those whocime this way at the expense of their country, and against their will.— (Laughter.) Travel to them was spelt as *' travail " —

(laughter)— and found to be all labom* and troubit. These were the Australians who, on their return to the Old Count!}-, got for all oohers a bad name and on their account it was tint for a long time the plate was put away, and the coats and hats ia the hall looked af*.er when a returned Australian vi cited the house. — (Laughter.) Those who came hither of their five will have found really no necessity for travelling farther.— (Hear, hear.)" If they returned if was mostly to bring out their wives? and families to the good home* they had founded for them. Then reports wtre incentives to others to follow, and led to the emigration or *' their sisters, their cousins, and their aunts." — (Laughter.) Those who had no such iuJiiccioeut to go back stayed here. They hid enough of travel It coming hither. — ( Laughter, i Four* months of a se;i voyage is a very satisfactory time of it. These who ha**.-* experienc -d it understand to the full tho " smh sorrow'" mentioned *>y S';akes_*ea.re in " The Tempes'.."---(Laughter.) They have mostly only f.vo desires toward- the e*:i:l of th voyage — the first is to get ashore, and stay th".n — (laughter) — and the second is to punch the head of the m.tn wh > wi-oi-* tiie joyful song of " A Life ci tlie Ocean Wave." — (Laughter.) Tlm author of" Home, Sweet H->m?," is k lovu never to have had a horne — 0 I'igiiteri — and it is my belief thatth* writer of *' A Life on the Ocean Wave.' w_s never at sea at ail — (Laughter) Australians have really nothing whatever to travel for. —(Hear hear.) They can, in the their mind 7s eye, s^e ad the world in the accounts of it sup pi .-ii to them through the Piv*;s by ti.O**- who follow the fpOt->tep_ of Joo •» traveller in going about the earth, for, it is to hoped, better reasons. Tuey have no need to travel for change cf climate — the climate changes often enough here. — (Laughter.) Ot" scenery Australasia supplies every so*t, and all of the finest samples. — (Hear, hear.) mountaineering, why there is enough for the Alpine Club on the snow-covered peaks between Beechworth and Gipps land, and anything further wanted iv that line is to be found in Mount Cook aud the vast glaciers of New Zealand — that grand land for the picturesque. — (Applause.) F-r coast scenery there is no eq'ial in the world of that of the West Coast Sounds.

; and for lakes it wiil be hard indeed if j the grand ones of New Zealand do not I satisfy. — (Hear, hear.) For sfcrangß ■ people there is no need to se:*k out jof Victoria. Its million of population , | comprise varieties of tlie human rac? i i from all parts, and good samples too - , the pick of tbe world's basket. — (Laughter.) For fortune there is no , i occasion for the Australian to g» [ j further afield. If he can do anything he can do it to best purpose in Victoria. ! and if he can do nothing he is as weli 'or better off here than anywhere. — (Laughter.) Any man can make his fortune in Australia by the siuipl--raethod of minding his own but*ines.< -(Laughter.) The Australian nosatisfied with the land settled in, would likely not be satisged in any o' Mahomet's seven heavens. He would be always wanting to explore the other six. — (Laughter.) It is of Australia and such dissatisf'e I ones of Ka people that Monckton Milues, the poet, had in mind when writing: A man's best things are nearest him — Lie close about his feet ; But 'tis tlie distant and the dim, He ever strives to greet. — (Hear, hear.) Such people are as inquiring in their way aa Mrs Hemans' famous child in its anxiety as to the wherealioutsof the " Better Land." (Laughter.) Having no faith that they have already found it in Victoria they i go hence on some vamped-up excuse or I other, really peeking if there h* any | better place than Vict ma. That they all come back here is uiiswereuough to all such inquires. — (Hear, hear.) If these Australians go abroad by the overland route, they see, in Ceylon and India, Crown colonies which teach Uieui the value of tbe free colonies of Australia. — (Hear, hear.) Tlv-y see their lean fortunate kinsmen toiling andperspir ing in a tropical sun for fortune, while tin.i-e in Ai*-*..tii,i •-• i ■ make here both i..;^ue auJ I'zmv i:; Ceylon and

India there are no Parliamentary ■onours to be got— no LSOO a year to begin with, and £ 1 500 a year to follow -Then a fellow gets into the Ministry. — 'Laughter.) N-.-it.her in those Colonies, nor in all America, are any titles to be got such as we get here when we -Attain to the Chief Secretaryship an' t-» the Chairmanship of either House of Parliament. All the titles to be got n America are insignificant beside ■.rnigl.thood. Who cares to be called ; ».-i almost everybody is in the States, -.-eueral, colonel, or "old hoss"? — J Slighter ) The returned travelle • Ti-om Australia comes back to it a viser and gladder man. — (Hear, hear.) M« Srfes how imperfect his education >ih,9 b-*en, how little he knows, and how mult hi-* his to unlearn of th"> nonsense stuff -d into him in early days . — (Laughter.) He has seen that >;3 beliefs, prejudices, and preposses•'•*ns are all mutters of education, and 'lit hul he b-*en left a bady in India he mi_-!it have been brought up as a -nod Thug, or if left on the Cannibal Islands hive done as cannibals do. — •■Laughter.) He has had the self con-'-■-it knocked outof him, and has gained nstivid a self-respect which teaches iiim • respect others and those distinctions r ch-i'-acter which ha had befire --h-m; it to be hut heresies, faults, and Uii^". —(Hear hear. He has been a TiiifiLC storm in his travels, and fiiid3 ■■l'tt it is not moss, but polish, tiiat ■„'ives a Kto:*e any value. — (Hear, he ir.) lie has seen in China that there is 'ouch cause for a Chinaman calling •>• -' liM-b'iriatH." — (Laughter.) No Oliinaruan having a station would turn :iis sheep out to grass and trust t > Providence alone to water his fields ■md pastures. — (Ilt-ar, hear.) The f'binaman and the Hindoo save the rain water that falls, conserve it care -iiliy, and carry it by irrigating channels through miles and miles of fields --[Hear, hear.] I have said that there is work in Australia for everybody who ::rn do anything but I do not wish to falsely raise the hopes of our distin ■-uisht-d visitor aud guest — [Laughter.] /ictoria is tlie happy place, and Australians the happy people who have no history. — [" Hear, hear," and ap lause.] Although there is no work Here for the historian, there is plenty for one who can write " short essays ipon great subjects." — [Hear, hear, and laughter.] Australia is a great subject, and the shortest thing to be said about it is that those who come to it know well indeed the advantages of such travelling as they have already done, if they never travel further. — [L; , .ig')t;*r and applause.]