Page:Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913).djvu/102

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There is a great deal of the same sentiment everywhere in New Zealand and Australia; the people believe the labor unions have become more exacting than circumstances warrant, and that some day, somewhere, the limit will be reached. . . . This has been a very enjoyable day, because there are no sights to see. Fortunately Thos. Cook & Son didn't want us to go to the South Islands to see the glaciers; they say we haven't time. We have walked about in a leisurely way today, and, living far from the sea, the docks attract us everywhere. This afternoon we engaged in conversation with an officer of a ship sailing to London by way of South America, and he took us all over it. He said sea travel is safer now than ever before, because of the "Titanic" disaster; that every seaman is more careful. . . . Last night, two bands went by the hotel. The players were neatly uniformed, and there were at least sixty men in the two organizations. They were Mission bands; the Mission is a rival of the Salvation Army, but a little quieter in its methods. The Salvation Army also has a large band here, and both play in the streets every evening. The papers give advance notice of the location of the concerts, and large crowds gather to hear the music. The bands are very creditable; nothing amateurish about them. . . . The men who work in the slaughter-houses here are on strike, and the papers of this morning say that the Farmers' Union has adopted resolutions condemning the slaughter-house employees for failure to accept arbitration. . . . In this country, when a newspaper prints a telegram, it prints the day and hour the telegram was received, as a guarantee that