The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED MONDAY, JUNE 24, 1918. CONDITIONS IN AUSTRIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 149, 24 June 1918, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED

MONDAY, JUNE 24, 1918. CONDITIONS IN AUSTRIA.

■ I, For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance. For the future in the distance. And the good that we can do.

Recent rioting in Austria seems to have been due partly to economic causes and partly to political agitation. In Vienna itself the food crisis has been acute for some months past, while in Bohemia and Galicia recent events in Russia have caused much uneasiness. Even the soldiers in the Austro-Hun"a-rian army have suffered from lack of sufficient nourishment, anil it is the rule that the wants of the army have to bo attended to before the wants of the civilian population. But not only do the men suffer from their own lack of food; they suffer still moro acutely from the news whicli keeps coining to them of the privations endured by those they have left at home. The wives and families of the soldiers have in many cases suffered from actual starve tion, and the scarcity and clearness of provisions havo pressed very hardly on families living in the large cities, where the cost of rent adds very much to the already high cost of living. In Budapest. Vienna, and other large cities there arc to he seen the same long rows of people waiting for their daily rations that are to be seen in the streets of Berlin. But the food is even scarcer and dearer than it is in Germany. Not only so, but the daily allowance made to the wives and ' , families of soldiers is much less than in Germany, and would bo quite inadequate ill times of peace, and when prices were normal. . , I With things as thoy are, the wonder is 1 that the families who are without pri- 1 vate means arc able to exist at all. In ' Budapest the wife gets sevenpence a , day, -while in the provinces the allow- f ance is from flvopence to sixpence a day; I but in the provinces the peasant often ;' owns his farm, or at any rate is able to j supplement his food allowance from the! ' produce of tho place. Each child receives , : threepence a day, so that a woman with 11 four children would receive one shilling I and sixpence a day, or about ten shil- 1 , lings a week, out of which to feed, house I* and clothe live people. Rent and fuel j in the cities would take at least a shil-! ( ling a day, so that the five people would I' only have about a penny a day each out of i ' which to provide food and clothing. The ' rise in the cost of living may be judged h from the following figures. The ordinary < restaurant meal, which formerly cost jl from 1/8 to 2/1, "according to the class I s 1 of establishment, costs to-day from 6/ 1 to 7/0, and even at these enhanced , prices the quality of the meal is much | j inferior to the meals supplied at the ' i lower figure in times of peace. Prices 1 have risen enormously in the last twelve ' months, and are still rising. Rice, which j in times of peace cost sixpence a pound, i cost in 1010 from half-a-crown to three s shillings, and to-day costs from 15/ to £1, ' Since 1916 coffee has risen from 6/3 to * £1, butter, which is almost tinobtain- , able, from S/ to 10/, bacon from 5/3 to « 12/, while beef costs 0/ per pound, tea i £1 per pound, cloth about £.2 per yard, 1 and boots about £4 per pair, and then ' most of the boots are made from substi- , tutes for leather, and have wooden heels, j Prices in Prague seem to have been i higher than in other cities, and much 1 hostilty has been aroused among the ' Czechs hy the cruelty of the Magyar troops towards the population. The < suffering lately has been terrible, especi- ) ally among the children, old people aud ( invalids, largely owing to the lack of \ milk and other suitable diet. A 6o- 1 called *' hunger-typhoid " has broken out ■ |in some of the working class sui-itrbs or !, Prague. In I'mliemia for some time past there has been a? strong popular anti- * German and anti-Austrian feeling, and the movement to obtain notional inde-!-, pendence has grown steadily among the f Czechs. The number of war orphans in s Hungary alone exceeded 400,000 at the i - close of last year. The people had three ' 1 meatless days in each week, and fats and '• butter wero lacking. Two-thirds of the ! ( cows were commandeered for the use of 1 the army, and there has been a steadily-j* growing milk and butter famine, which I e has told very hardly on the children.

Many people in Austria have not tasted butter for two years. Even the wealthiest familities are not allowed to heat more

than a single room in their abodes, and for people of moderate income the means of providing fuel for even a single room have often been lacking. Many articles are absolutely unobtainable, and it is often a question of what can be bought rather than of what to buy.

The last Austrian State Budget, for i the year ending June 30, 1917, showed a | deficit of £140,000,000, and the Minister j was not able to make it clear from what' source this deficit was to be made good in view of the crushing taxation already . existing. The total war expenditure to ' June of last year was placed at £2,291,----000,000, and the cost of supporting soldiers' families exceeded the whole of the Budget expenditure for the last year of i peace. The Minister intimated that the! only way to meet the expenses of the j war would be to levy confiscatory taxes j on property and accumulated capital, and to confiscate entirely the share pro- j fits of trusts. Austria cannot easily j raise loans, and the confiscation of capi- j tal may well spell ruin to such industries as still exist. In view of all these I facts, it is not surprising- to learn that ' revolt is rife, and that food riots are : increasing. Many Austrians are begin- 1

fiing to realise that their country has been made the tool of Germany, and that, win or lose, Austria will have to pay, and pay dearly. Their one desire seems to be for peace, no matter who. wins. 'I