SPLENDID RECORD OF ACHIEVEMENT

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25091, 24 January 1947, Page 6

SPLENDID RECORD OF ACHIEVEMENT

HOLLAND’S RECOVERY

(By

COLIN BINGHAM

in the “Sydney Morning Herald.’’]

(Published by Arrangement.) Of the countries of Western Europe occupied by the Germans, Holland was relatively, perhaps, the most ravaged. When liberation came in May, 1945, the much-tried population could only rejoice against a background of almost complete paralysis of trade, indusz try. and transport.

To-day, 21 months since they first put their hands to the gigantic task of reconstruction, the Government and people can point to a rehabilitation of both spiritual and material assets far exceeding anything that the optimists could reasonably have expected when the last German surrendered. The national strength of purpose behind this achievement is reflected in the atmosphere in Holland to-day. Despite the almost complete loss of her trade with Germany, which is her most serious economic misfortune, and the considerable risks, both economic and political, involved in the proposed new relationship with the Netherlands East Indies, Holland this winter is likely to leave any sympathetic but impartial visitor with a sharper sense of soundly directed endeavour, and of resourcefulness well-founded in character and experience, than he is able to derive in other European countries better equipped by nature.Belgian Recovery Even in Belgium, where an import policy and “over-employment” have combined to offer a standard of living which has “all the trimmings,” at a price, the almost startling evidence of recovery has not convinced many thoughtful Belgians that a more austere economic policy would not be far less dangerous. The Belgian Government has tackled the black market, not frontally by arrests and fines (for these it knows would fail unless they were of a severity that would be “impolitic”), but by a flanking movement. In other words, the Government sees that the average citizen gets certain necessaries in ample quantities at prices he can pay, and swoops now ana then on offenders who are trying to defeat even these elementary provisions. But for the rest it gives the blackmarketeer plenty of opportunity ±o run his crooked course in the milieu of his own kind and of the wealthier classes. Across the frontier, in Holland, the black market seems to be well within bounds, although tobacco is still a bad spot, and the compact discipline of the people bears, with some grumbling no doubt, but without undue strain, the restrictions of a carefully balanced, if somewhat austere, import and rationing system. Like the British, the Dutch have chosen the harder way back towards standards which they hope will some day approach their pre-war prosperity, because, again like the British, they feel that their capacity for sacrifice measures up to all the demands of their long-range economic aim 3. Around trip through the fascinating waterways of Amsterdam and along the main channels of its harbour—where wrecked waterfront sheds and scores of mutilated cranes still testify to German destruction—and a few days of contact with the sober moods and rather provincial dignity of The Hague are necessary ahd agreeable experiences in estimating the extent of the Dutch people’s rehabilitation. But the highlights of their reconstructive efforts are to be found, not in the cities, but, romantically fitting, in the front-line of their age-old battle with the sea. When the German armies surrendered and the Dutch could without restriction count the losses they had suffered, nothing appeared more formidable among the numerous and heavy items of damage and destruction than the inundation of 560,000 acres of prowater. The two main areas of misfortune were the Wieringermeer Polder and the island of Walcheren.

The Wieringermeer Polder was first result, achieved in the early tMK ties, of the tremendous enterprise of shutting off the Zuyder Zee from the North Sea and partially reclaiming it. (In the Netherlands the name “polder** is given to any part of the country which lies below the level of the surrounding stretches of water). On April 17, 1945, the Germans, perhaps afraid of a descent by parachute I trobps behind' their backs, blew two holes in the dyke separating the polder from the Ijsselmeer, which is the name given to the former Zuyder Zee now that it has become a freshwater lake as a result of the inflow of the and other rivers. In two days 50,000 acres were 12f| deep in water. Nearly 500 modem farmhouses were destroyed, and thto# villages practically disappeared. Seven months after the liberation thi Dutch, by a remarkable effort, M which they were greatly handiojmeff by a shortage of engines and ap?aj_ ances due to German deprednK during the occupation, had nofrggK again cut off the Ijsselmeer froa tg Wieringermeer Polder by the erecHot of an entirely new dyke, but had pletely drained the area, which year was once more fully under etai although the authorities had great Acuity in housing the peasants *0 workmen. Seemed Hopeless Task The story of reclamation on Waicheren is even more to the credit of the Dutch. When they came to take up what seemed a hopeless task, since the four big breaches in the coastal dykes had resulted in the almost complete’' flooding of the island with salt watet, they had little transport, only meagre materials to provide housing in the desolation, ana no special clothing and footwear for their labour forces. In ■ addition, the approaches to the dyke breaches were heavily mined. But after several set-backs the last of the four breaches was closed in February last, and a little later the whole of Walcheren had been drained Earlier predictions that the salt water would make the arable areas incapable of bearing good crops for many years were wide of the mark. Heavy rain helped greatly to wash away the effects of the salt-water inundation, and Dutch science and application have done much already to undo the worst effects of what appeared almost certain to be an unmitigated disaster when the R.A.F. first bombed the dyke at Wastkapelle—a very necessary military operation. Sitting in his office in the Publie Works Department at The Hague. > quiet young official, puffing at a rather sparsely loaded pipe (the tobapce shortage is one of the Dutchman’s cHidt personal worries), showed me the crop of figures for the reclaimed areas of Walcheren. Of 35,000 acres reclaim#!,4 more than 25.000 were this year planted with the same crops as before the war, including whedt, oats, beans, flax, potatoes, and sugar-beets. The yields > were 30 to 80 per cent, of normal, df- : pending on the depth of the soil. The sugar-beet crop was 70 per cent, of normal. Flax was very bad. j These acreages may not seem .very impressive to the Australian mind ae-1 customed to think of vast areas, but they mean a great deal to the Dutch, who are fond of a Frenchman’s famous 1 remark, “The Lord created the earth\: but the Dutch have created Holland. 5: The Dutch have many problems to disconcert thejn, and they sometimes are a little confused by events—for instance, the developments in Indonesia—but water will never confuse them. There is hardly a drop out of place in Holland to-day. Awr 11 when one remembers the state of tht! country in the wake of war this fad can be counted for merit indeed. /