APATHETIC PEOPLE

Evening Star, Issue 26000, 15 January 1947, Page 7

APATHETIC PEOPLE

PITIFUL STATE OF GREEKS UNRRA AID AN ALLEVIATING FACTOR ' (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.) LONDON, January 14. That there was little hope of any improvement in general conditions in Greece for some time, is the opinion of Dr .Alison Hunter ? of Wanganui, who arrived recently in London* after spending eight -months in Greece. Sha was a member of a group of 24 New Zealanders who went to Greece with Corso to work in conjunction, with Unrra. People in the country districts, said Dr Hunter, ' were desperately poor, and many of them undernourished. Many ; had seen their villages destroyed, first by the Germans, and then during the civil war. In the north, the Bulgarians had completely stripped many’villages of all their belongings. Unfortunately, ' while practically every organised body in Greece was tinged in' some .way or other with politics, Dr Hunter said, -there was little or no political. cohesion: The. main opposing factions were the Royalists and Communists, but there were a nuhiber of other political bodies.' All of them would only support a Government formed by their own political party. Intolerance and Harsh treatment of opponents were general, aitd at the same time there se'emed to ‘ be a' general unwillingness to start oil the job of rebuilding Greece. The general attitude was that in the last 30 years Greek life had been scattered by war, and that it was probably only a matter of time before fighting broke out again. -Greek economy had been broken by the war, and her mercantile fishing fleets had been practically wiped out, and her. tobacco and currant industry had still not yet been, restored. The restoration of national income seemed a long wav off, and the people were struggling along on a hand-to-mouth basis. ...... If it had not been. for Unrra. Dr Hunter said, Greece would have been in a desperate plight. Practically everybody had been aided by Unrra, the majority directly, and a great many indirectly. With the cessation of Unrra, Greece would be faced with an extremely difficult position, and few Greeks seemed to know how it was going to be tackled. In many areasthe people were depending on the Government to help them. In some cases they received no , wages Tor months, and in districts where they were growing tobacco they often grew no food, being entirely dependent on outside supplies, which were very scarce. The general outlook was therefore one of doubt, while the people generally, though being attractive, kind and sociable. seemed almost universally frustrated.