New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-10-20
AN AUSTRALIAN TOUR.
WHAT AN ACTOR TELLS OF 1T.
HOW LITTLE LORD FAUNTLERoY AND HIS
GRANDFATHER TRAVELLED ABOUT
THE COUNTRY.

THE COUNTRY.
Many people have been interested Of late In the
accounts given by Joseph Jefferson Of Australia as he
found II on his visit years ago In connection with
ths' both Interesting and Instructive to note the
present condition of the country o. described BY an
other actor who has just returned from It, Harry Ed
wards, WHIP has been well and fsvorably known on the
stage botn here and elsewhere for many years. has
spent about year In Australia and tho nedghborng
islands and has returned home within few weeks.
He gives IN account Of bis journey for the readers OF
The Tribune a follows
I'VE went to Australia to play Little Lord FAINT
ierey,' leaving San Francisco the 23d Of August,
ana stopping at Honolulu. From there 10 was voy-
ase Of seven days to TutuilA. one OF the Samoan
islands 1t interesting here to see natives come
to tho ship in their canoes 10 sell fans. beads clubs
ana other curioeties OF their own making. They are
the finest race of savages the Pacific and have some
Of the hsndssmest men ] ever saw. They think
nothing Of jumping overheard when they have sold their
wares, and swimming TO their canoes, even though
may be q considerable distance. 1t was seven days
more to Auckland and the sea was Is smooth as glass,
fully ustifytng the Of Pacific. For hundreds OF
miles we sailed on without seeing the slightest sign OF
Life; not q bird not Q fish, anywhere. We stayed In
Auckland for one day. Lived here and managed
theatre some years sgo. The place has increased
much 1t has fine docks, and from 20 600 to $4,000
inhabitants. From Auckland We went to Sydney BY
steamer in five days, through exceedingly stormy
weather
"sydnev has about 400 900 inhabitants, having
than doubled in population within the last twenty
wears We went 10 Melbourne by rail. about 600
miles There are thousands Of miles Of railway in
Australia now where there was none when was
there before On this journey the roadbed Is excel
lent and the carriages good for those who like Eng
fish carriages. The custom houses cause great deal
Of ANNOYANCE TO people travelling from province TO
another in Australia Tie provinces all have separate
governments and they have different policies Of pro
lection and free trade. They ought all TO be united
under some one system, and no doubt they Will be
eventually.
BEGINNING THE TOUR OF THE THEATRES
eve formed our company at Melbourne. Only
few Of the members Of 1t with including little
Olive Berkeley and Miss Winthrop, Who played
Dearest Oracle Hopkins came to us later from Kan
sas CITY and played the little lord. 1t was an ex-
cellent COMPANY altogether and don't think really
that the piece has been played better than We
| nlaved IL. We opened in Melbourne in October and
plaved for ten weeks with tremendous success.
Evervbody came to see u.s. and everybody was de-
lighted We then went to Adelaide by rail. 500 miles,
pass,ne through what the Malice Desert when
was there before II took its name from tree that
rrew there Now they are recaimng the land and
IL proves productive. The Chafee brothers are dong
GOOD work In retaining and rrieating The railway
ON which we travelled is excelently conducted: they
use boudoir cars good any in the world and the
roaobed IS the best ever on. There Is no noise
and No Tar We PLAYED In Adelaide for two weeks
and had excellent business, in spite OF extremely not
weather The mercury rose to ia degrees more than
once while we were there. and one day IN the sum- IL
registered 1913 degrees
adelaide is a lovely city. 1t is in the form of
o+ q, basin or mphitheatre with the range of Mount
lofty on the one side and the other side the sea-
7. has fine botanical garden, and. by the way there
is hardly a town in Australia that has not puonc
GARDEN and museum. This one at Adealoe Is
wonderfully beautiful and well kept. We next went
hack along the road to Balarat. mining centre IL
is from here that the large export OF gold has always
taken pace and it is about the only place where the
rold sin keeps up its Yield. Excellent wines ere
mace here and in fact all over Australia. Ihey are
mostly white and 5 good as ever crank ooine VI
them l like even better than the Rhine Wines we
nlaced here for about two weeks and then went 10
Castlemane and Sandhurst There was great rush
IN Sanahurst at the time when l first went TO Aus
trala as the surface gold was found there
had q small claim myself and worked 1t for nVe or
SIX weeks and then sold 1t at pront.
AsEA STORM AND RIVER FLOOD.
aFron sandimrst we went back to Melbourne. playing
at Geeong watering place about hundred mile from
Melbourne Then we made u long Jump to sydney ana
played there for month to good business. lhers
was much rain there. Australia has Wet and airy
season but In this what ought to have been the
dry season wet lived In sydney years ago. anu
now | found my self quite among oId lTlehuS' VIC
pent NEXT by steamer to Brisbane, In Queensland and
on the way We had a tremendous storm. which oesah
az soon as we got out the Heads Of sydney IL WAS
90 severe that the journey, which is usually made ID
from yGve 10 forty ght hours. took four DAYS ana
nineteen hours. At time We gave ourselves up d.
lost The two feet deep III the sa!ooh, anu
several people injured by being thrown ABOUT
The actor who played Hobbs the grocer, was not able
IN act again for four weeks. Brisbane 10 on the River
Brisbane. When we got there Hood was coming
down the river and could not make head against It,
A little river steamer came down anu Uooh
rs off and carried us to the town. when We
arrived We found the city flooded and the river sun
rising II rose so that all the lower parts Of the CITY
wcre pnder water From the windows OF our motel
". could see stables and haystacks and cattle anc
sheen all coming down the river together. 1t was
the worst flood in that part of the country III
wears and the destruction Of property WAS extremely
lase m nT'DA All the gas and electric lights
mi ont and we were idle fol- four DAYS waiting lor
npen the peopie came to see in shoals, in spite Of
the recent losses and msfor1aes OF the e opper
Dssa a for 3o sU back Sset o sHS nave
Alter two DAYS in sydney we went TO New-zealAnd
eleven DAYS While there it rained plight and
day without ceasing There Is grand pnoIc nsraIy
old books and from ! 900 to 1900 valuable Autograph
letters We TOOK another steamer from here ana WelI
.oath and called at Osborne where we were put on
in steam launch going thrGus wave, .hsd , Ters
one night our next place Napier, on the east
C.Sst oue NJ the lovelest in the world where
we ulaved two nights going next by rail- to Wellington,
witt single night at Psmersion WHERE we ptived N
lan tina; half pulled doTn WIN no seeneiy III Tu,
wsshedout landscape wcn hAd 70 ,erv "a Snn"
Far IirS Erro's parlor In WORK and inc Earl o!
Dorinconrt's library. On the way 10 Wellington we
snt nv coach for fourteen miles ard hy train through
tine hUsh The scenery Is exceedingly hne. WIN
inxuriant vegetation Of palms and tree ferns, WIN
pines that are valuable for timber we piaved , Ip
iyyo weeks I'm Wellington 70 enormous business Inc
CITY is the CT pt of New zealand and has me pay
II, is surrounded by hills. Tho coast range Eoine>
down to the that the town must Dave 'pafH-
ground Of mountains
CHURCH OF ENGLAND CITY.
ave wont next Clristchurch. settlement f"uhoei
thirty i've years ago By clcrgymen OF England hcsdN
-ahLiehar NJ Inrtorhnrr AL the streets