JUDGE’S TOUR ABROAD

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22593, 24 December 1938, Page 22

JUDGE’S TOUR ABROAD

IMPRESSIONS OF GERMANY AND ITALY (PBKSS ISSOCIXTIO* TELEGBMt.) AUCKLAND, December 23. Returning on the Monterey this morning from a world tour, the Hon. Mr Justice Smith said that he was in Italy. in April, when Hitler was visiting Mussolini. . , His main impressions in Italy were of the efficiency of the passport inspections by armed guards on all trains at all railway stations, and also of the apparent lack of public enthusiasm for marching troops, and of the courage of the Pope. He said that in Germany young soldiers were everywhere, 1 500,000 troops having been mobilised. Old men were drafted to civilian occupations and an abundant harvest was being gathered by women and girls, small boys and old men. It was not surprising that uncertainty and suspense prevailed in the smaller countries of Europe. Describing the position in London during the September crisis, his Honour added, *T feel that the Englishspeaking countries have drawn even closer together in these days of peril for their institutions and ways of life.”

The adjudication on tenders for 480,000 metric tons of coal for the Egyptian State Railways has been cancelled. the Government having already bought 600,000 tons from a British firm during the international crisis. The supplementary salaries paid to Protestant and Evangelical clergymen from the budgets of Prussia and the Saar will be continued in future only in cases where the recipients have “shown themselves worthy of the care of the State.”