NERVOUSNESS IN EUROPE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21974, 24 December 1936, Page 7

NERVOUSNESS IN EUROPE

PEAR OF WAR SEEN BY N.Z. VISITOR "GERMANY A NATION ON THE MARCH" Ii'KESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) AUCKLAND, December 23. "One cannot help being impressed by the nervousness of Europe over the possibility of war," said Mr T. D. Hall, clerk of the House of Representatives, who returned to the Dominion by the Orford. He was speaking of the impressions he had formed during a recent visit to France and Germany, and said that there was no general desire for war, but the newspapers were so frequently referring to incidents between nations that they tended to make the people nervous. "My own impression is that the present circumstances are such that they cannot very well evolve without some conflict," added Mr Hall. In Germany, Mr Hall was mainly impressed by the renewed confidence of the nation and the continual marching of people, including boys and girls, which he described as most impressive and menacing. "I could not help feeling that here was a nation on the march toward something," he said. "There seems to be a marching rhythm in Germany at present and it must lead somewhere." Besides visiting Great Britain, France, and Germany, Mr Hall spent nearly four months in Canada and the United States as the guest of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Corporation, which invited him to visit American art galleries and museums and study their administration. He spent much time looking at art collections, interviewing directors andsuperintendents of buildings, and gaining material on methods of display lighting and administration generally. The presence of armed guards with orders to shoot in case of trouble was an unusual feature o'f some art galleries in the Middle West of the United States that Mr Hall visited. He mentioned that while in Chicago he was disturbed one morning by a fusillade of shots and discovered that the museum guards were merely having some shooting practice. These precautions were necessary because of the large quantity of gold and silver art treasures in the museums. While in Canada. Mr Hall discussed problems of parliamentary procedure with clerks of the Legislative Assemblies and in London he met the staff of the House of Commons several times. He also heard a debate on the Spanish question in the House of Commons and sat near Mr W. J. Jordan, who was paying his first visit to the House as New Zealand High Commissioner.