Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-01-27
The WORLDS WONDERLAND
1t Is New Zealand, According t.
the Rev. E. g. Guthrie.
hect"red Last Evening in support q,
HIS Claim and rncide ntnIIy Argued
IN Favor Of Universal
Suffrage.

| The Rev. r. G. Guthrie last o,.or,
gave an illustrated lecture in the nor,ss
mousse Of the First Church n, ">-a,r
Zealand. the Wonderland Of tho World :,
The title seemed TO assume a pood aoa,
FOR New Zealand, but before tho Iec,u,o
was finished everybody was u,,,,no -
concede tho assumption and a,nos,
everybody wanted to 20 there
The lecture was given under tho
auspices Of the First Church brotherhood
and DR.. G. r. Dalton announced tia, tho
brotherhood had made future plans N,
social and educat onal work in the citv
Lecturers will be secured from time e.
time who will speak In OUTLYING nar.s -,
Burlington. possibly in some OF the
school houses
Mr. Guthrie said, apropos Of ,be mir
lures which were shown n, mo das
clusion OF the preliminary lecture ,h,,
In way he con stdered himself an euor,
FOR the New Zealand government, az
that he would he glad to give fur,ba,-
and detailed information TO anvone u,,o
wanted TO emigrate. The pictures wore
given to him by the government. The
cost Of transportation 10 New ze,,,,d
by the way, is only $40. second class
teresting as It Is possible to imagine
ihey showed the mountains. the plains.
the great sheep ranches and the wheot
ne'ds OF rho two islands, a large mum
Der OF the views were Of the voIcanic
region. showing geysers in action.
picture of one Of the birds TIM,
ooht ny was thrown on the screen.
IL looked like something that had
started TO be a muskrat and turned
into bird at the last moment. Pre-
sumably the wings have become afro
phied and rudimentary through long
ages Of disuse There are no quad
! rupeds native to the islands. with the
| exception Of a species OF black rat.
THE LECTURE.
Tho lecture largely was concerned
with statistics as to the history ard
present condition Of the country. Tia
Islands. together. have nearly as much
coast line az the United States and are
about as large as England and Scot
land. combined There are now abou-
100000 white Inhabitants and 1900
blacks. The Maori or black, popula-
ton came originally from the caster
portion Of Polynesia and It is one n,
the best primitive races in the world.
New Zealand was discovered in 1912
by Tasman and in 1859 Captain Cook
took possession for tho British. In
1910 colonization began. when tho best
type Of En- glishmen began to go 70
the new country. In 1870 the govern
ment started to develop the country
and 100000 people noated a loan OF
SO. 100000. 80 great was their faith
in its future
The government took charge OF tho
railways and there was. therefore. no
trouble about freight rates. Many
poor children were carried to school
free of charge. Mr.. Guthrie said the
New Zealand railroads had the Rut-
land and the Central Vermont beaten
to a standstill in every way.
The government does about one
half Of the insurance business. sup
ports a postal savings bank and acts
as trustee for the estates OF minors.
great deal has been done to equalize
the distribution OF wealth; there are
few millionaires in tho country and
almost no very poor.
There are graded tax laws which pre-
vent land monopoly and the government
has entered into the coal trade. Between
capital and labor there Is a compulsory
court OF arbitration, composed Of one
representative OF each and a supreme
court Judge It's decisions are absolutely
final and there has been only one strike
In the last 10 years Old age pensions ara
given 10 all who have been in the colony
for 20 years and who have reached tho
age OF e years.
In conclusion, Mr.. Guthrie spoke
strongly In favor OF universe, suffrage.
that is. the vote for women as well as
men He said that II had done wonders
In bringing to the fore the humanitarian
motive IN New zesland's government.
There were a good many mods and smiles
from the feminine half OF the audience
at this Juncture
10 say that the lecture was instructive
seems too little. An audience which COM
pletely hlled the parish house listened
closely to every word from beginning to
end. To most II was probably revela-
ton about an unknown land. which
proved to be a political and economic
El Dorado.