TRIP ABROAD

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 11865, 4 November 1935, Page 3

TRIP ABROAD

A Visit to Czecho-

Slovakia

POOR LIVING CONDITIONS.

(Contributed by Mr and Mrs D. Knowles.)

We left Berlin after a short but interesting visit, and set off South for Czecho-Slovakia, across the two hundred miles of flat plains which form part of the great North plains of .Europe. They stretch from the west coast of France right into the heart of Russia and miles of sugar beets and corn spread out to the horizon, with never a hedge or a fence to.break the monotony. It could not be called interesting country for a Saturday afternoon joy ride. It was a relief, when shortly before Dresden, the country began to grow undulating and gradually to develop into the foothills of the Erz mountains, which form the boundary between Czechoslovakia and Germany and over Avhich we bad to climb.

It was growing dusk when we reached the German frontier and were stopped by the usual red and white striped bar across the road. They made us declare our money, tell them how old we were, Avhere Ave were born, and fill in all the usual forms with which they pester you when you go from country to country nowadays. A mile or so further on, across no man’s land, was the nexi bar, and then the Czecho-Slo-vakian frontier and the same procedure to be gone through all over again, only this time they wanted to knoAv whether we had any German papers in our possession. We learnt that the Czechs and Germans write such rude things about each other in their newspapers that neither will allow the other’s papers into their country. We happened to have an Account of Herr. Stretcher’s tirade against the Jewjs and as we did not want to lose it, posted it to ourselves in England. It remains to be seen whether it will arrive or whether their curiosity will be too much for the Czech frontier guards! We learnt later that thousands of people live all along the frontier and earn their livings by smuggling food, as there is a gregt discrepancy in price between the two countries. They are shot at sight If they are caught in the woods by the patrols.

We reached Carlsbad late that night in pouring rain, but woke next morning to find brilliant sunshine and breakfast across the road on a little terrace overlooking the town under the shade of chestnut trees. Carlsbad is a charming .town and was formerly a great place for Edward VII, and it has all the charm of old Bohemia, a charm which is so painfully. lacking over the rest of Czechoslovakia. A rushing river runs through the town in the narrow valley and the houses climb up the steep sides with cobbled paths and terraces. It is a great watering place with a large regency pump room,, with the boiling water shooting up In the middle, and has many hotels and little restaurants under the chestnut, trees, on the sides of the river, where every chair is provided with a rug and everything imaginable done for the comfort of the visitors, most of whom are very fat, out of condition, and on diets. At seven o’clock every morning, the, whole of Carlsbad turns out to drink the waters and promenades slowly up and down, sipping it in tune to the band in the pump room. No smoking is allowed in the streets-and no cars at nights, so that the only sound is the soothing clip clop of horses on the coboles and the rushing river. 'After drinking the water, the visitors have to climb for half an hour in the mountains as part .of the cure and then at last eat a well earned breakfast in one of the many restaurants in the woods above Carlsbad.

On leaving Carlsbad we went on to Prague the capital of Czecho-Slo-vakia. The improvement in the Czech roads during the last five years has been phenomenal. Formerly, over the whole country, one used to crash and bump along from pot hole to pot hole at about 15 m.p.b., but now almost everywhere the’ roads are straight and concrete, lined with fruit trees, and one can roar along them at any speed, But if the Czecho-Sio-valclan.roads have improved, the villages are still the same messy, smelly old Czech villages, with flocks of geese wandering about, in and out of the houses, and pungent smells everywhere, with dirt lying deep on every side.

Prague, the capital; was formerly a beautiful, qld Bohemian town,' but having suddenly become the capital of a flourishing country, it is rapidly being ruined by untidy, shoddy modernism. It Is full of beautiful, stately, old buildings,, towers, churches and palaces, but popped down right amongst them all are now the most hideous, examples of modern architecture, quite out of keeping with the rest of the- town The outskirts are the most horrible, dusty, dirty, muddle of huge blocks of modern, flats, popped down amongst dust bins and dirt, and entirely lacking in any town planning ot any kind. The graft in Prague is said to be appalling, both in business and in the Government, and rewo brand new hugg modern buildings just collapsed into dust from lack of sufficient cement, right in the great main road in the centre of the town; incidentally killing a number of people.

' Czccho-Slovakia Is a brand new country. After the war, the Czechs were collected together from the different European states and given a country to themselves, for the first time in history. From having been a suppressed minority, and an unhappy race, they suddenly found themselves the owners of a large country and expected to play their part in the European medley. One might hav« thought that having known" what It was to be a Suppressed" minority for centurigs, they would have . treated the Austrians and "Germans, who now were unlucky enough to find themselves included in the new Cze-cho-siovakia, in a sensible and humane way. But not the Czechs' They are giving the peoples in their charge exactly the same treatment as they themselves have always had, if not even a little worse. They are denying them most of the civil rights pf the country, they are forbidding them to. speak their own: languages, ana, tpey are not allowing them any say m the Government of any kind or allowing them to take up anv governmental positions.. But they are allowing them to pay taxes! A party of Czechs came over to England a short time ago. for* a League of Nations Congress which took place in Wales. They heard the . Welsh speaking Welsh, and learnt that we did not even understand it and were astounded. "What?" said one Czech, "you allow them, a minority, to speak a language which you do' not even understand? But they may be plotting against you!""We. told them that as the Welsh ,are - ,-part of the British Empire and all the rights and privileges of British subjects, there ‘really is no need for them to plot against us, but the Czechs went away shaking their heads at those"mad dogs of Englishmen.” After a short stay in* Prague we set off for Austria and the lovely town of Vienna: The difference ’fn the two countries was noticeable immediately one crossed ths frontier The dirty, untidy, rather ugly; little villages were left behind, ahd one entered the cojjntrjf of a hagpy-go.

To rail at tobacco for thirty years and denounce smoking as a vice: and -then conclude that you’ve been ‘barking up thtf wrong tree’’ all the time! AV’hat a “right about face!” The,late Professor Huxley, the eminent . scientist, was an antitobaccoite for half his lifetime. One day a friend persuaded him to try a mild havana—and straightway he changed his tune? He found it delicious, and lived to admit “there’s no more harm in a pipe of tobacco than there is in a cup of tea.” But tobacco varies In quality just as tea does. . In both eases it’s a wise plan to; buy the , best but not necessarily, the most expensive. In the case of tobacco the best Is the. genuine “toastoq” which though quite moderate in price is matchless for bouquet and unrivalled for purity The nicotine it coutalas (common to all* tobacco) is eliminated hy toasting, and hence the Larmlesaness of the five famous braqds (,'ut Plug No, 10 (Bnllshead); Navy Cut No. 3 (Bulldog), Caveiulhsk, -Ttlvcrhead Gold aijd Desert Gold.