CZECHO-SLOVAKIA

Gisborne Times, Volume LX, Issue 9800, 9 May 1924, Page 3

CZECHO-SLOVAKIA

A HIVE OF INDUSTRY

Specially Written for the Gisborne Times, B.v Frederick Stubbs, F.R.G.S. All Rights Reserved.

The only other city that I shall attempt to describe before leaving Czecho-Slovakia is Pilsen, a very dirferont' city from Karlsbad and Marienhad, described in my last article —not a tourist resort at all, hut a great hive of industry, with a population of nearly 90,000, of whom SO,OOO are Czechs and only 8,000 Germans. it is, next to Prague, the largest town in Bohemia, and is said to possess 100 factories. The principal manufactures arc machinery, munitions, locomotives beer, paper, glass, motor cars, and carriages. The great Skoda factory, which took me a Whole morning to inspect,' covers half a square mile, and employs 11,000 men.. During the war it employed 30,000 making munitions for the Austrian and German armies; now it turns out only implements of peace. .Amid the wilderness of whirling machinery one has to step warily, hut it was an interesting sight to seo the huge furnaces and castings, and the great hammers exerting a pressure, ,1 was told, of 5000 to 10.000 tons. I confess the statement appeared to he incredible, and I still think thero must have been some mistake. Thcso huge hammers, however, mould,ed huge blocks of molten iron as though they had been putty, and the furnaces in which the iron was melted or smelted (I am nut sure winch is the correct term) were so hot that colored glasses had to be supplied before one. could go near them. A great foundry still, though happily no longer making guns to slaughter British soldiers.

Another day I visited the paper nulls, which employ 5-10 hands. The company owns no fewer than 30 factories within the borders of the old Austrian Empire. Here I was pleased to see several English machines made by Mann els ley’s. The wood, stripped or its bark, is cut up into' small pieces by powerful machines. It goes in at one end whole and conies out at the other end entirely desiccated, reminding me of pigs which I have seen m Chicago stockyards which went in whole at one end and came out in the form of sausages at the other. The wood is first reduced to powder; then to pulp; then, having been mixed with other ingredients, sulpluirite etc. it becomes cellulose, and as this is passed over large screens the water drops out and the solid residue is dried, rolled, and polished, and cut into lengths as white paper. ' PILSENER BEER. My beer-loving readers (who, I am sure, are also temperate, or . they would not be interested in such an article as this) would hardly forgive me if I left Pilsen without mentioning the famous breweries of that city. The great municipal brewery employs 1200 workmen. The one -I selected for the purpose of this article, however, was the most modern, the Svetovar, which commenced operations in 1913. Here the very latest machinery and method are installed, the plant having a capacity of 4,000,000 gallons per annum. I was particularly interested in the ingenious way in which the empty barrels are cleaned. This was done by machinery. Boiling water was first squirted inside. Then the barrel passed on between brushes and the exterior was scrubbed. A. few moments later it reached a man with an electric torch, by means of which lie examined the interior and pulled out any old corks. The beer, I was told, is kept for five to ten months before sale, and those who like this beverage regard that of Pilsen as the best in the world, and I believe it fetches the highest price in foreign countries. The Pilsenor beer, and that brewed in Munich also, is sr.nl to owe much of its excellence' to peculiar qualities of the water in the neighborhood. Both these excellent beers are of low alcoholic strength, and a large quantity would have to bo drunk before one became intoxicated. Besides the above, 1 visited the fine loth Genturv Gothic Church, of St. Bartholomew, situated in the market-place. The tower is 335 feet .high, and within the church, on the altar, I saw a figure of the Virgin dating from the 14th century. The market place itself is a most interesting sight, surrounded as it is by shops centuries old, and filled with stalls and quaintly-dressed country folk. Jhe small Municipal Museum in this city is one of the most beautiiul in world and well wortn a visit. l'iie Park also is a pleasant place for a quiet hour and lias a number of quaint figures of animals and birds amongst the foliaoe. The figure of a heron was so life-hike that my companion a learned professor, and myself debated whether it was alive _or not. •‘-he directions a.t stations in this countiy are given in both Czech and German. The trains are by no means clean or comfortable, but I was told that there were rarelv accidents —which is some compensation. 'they certainly also pass through beautiful scenery. Outside the city I was pleased to observe manv hoalfchy-loolung allotments belonging to city workmen, fhanks to the -r°at kindness of Czech Iricnds to whom I had brought introductions, my. visits in these Bohemian cities wete a delightful experience. CZECHS v. GERMANS. As I do not intend to inflict ar.othei Ozcoh-Slovakian article on the reader, T think lie will be interested in the followin'* additional notes. Although Gorman'’Austria kept the Czechs m subjection for centuries, the lattei always hated the Germans and do so still whilst the Germans, on their pait, have no love for the Czec.i.. The struggle between the races hist Woke out - on matters of doctane , tho Czechs taking the part oi Jo! n Huss ond the Reformers, whilst t.io Cci mans opposed and ultimately killed dm And though the Reformers l-ere almost exterminated (there remaned but 5 per cent, of the population avowed Protestants), t o G^ecl people never seemed to have been verj lu>artv in their adhesion to Rome, .and hw*c*yenrs ago a considerable number of the clergv withdrew from the jurisdiction of'the Pope and formed a National Church. Even before the Great War, the Czechs began tl e peaceful penetration of the German " qJing up land, etc., until they were’in a majority, then obtaining possession of the public offices until four-fifths of the beaurocracy "as comPAIMOII^ Sky*.i. hi order that their hearts might not go astray after Teuton damsels. Love Ts said to laugh at locksmiths, but I believe that it rarely overcame-these patriotic scruples. All Czechs mair 3> and most of them seem to have large families. They drink much light wholesome beer, hut seldom use tea A student of LondolT University told me that when he, with other students, was recently touring Czecbo-Slova-.ia, thev gave the hostess some tea, to infuse. She first fried it, then added water, and finally served®it to her guests! T. need not say what became of it: it certainly was not drunk by my friends. , . Commercially, as I have show n, Czecho-Slovakia is in a strong position; politically her position is less stroii" and I much more difficult, Die new State has been made up from half a dozen territories, and Hungary, Austria and Germany are particularly sore the Hungarians and Germans both’ avowing' their intention, to recover their divorced territories at the first opportunity. Austria, lam glad to say, is more inclined to resign herself to accomplished facts ano, seeks to he on good terms v'ith her noigh- ' hor The recent treaties with France, Jugo-S.la.via, and Roumania aie based ; on the above’facts.