HOW EUROPE FARES

Hokitika Guardian, 23 November 1927, Page 4

HOW EUROPE FARES

COOl) CAN ADT AX ROAI>S. AX IXTKRUSTIXG TODR. AYELUXOTOX. Xuv. 21. ”Tn all my travels I saw nothing quite like Latwipi or Lettland, one rf the Baltic 'States,” said Mr H. Schneidemann on his return from a 20 ne nths’ world tour to-day. “The conn try is very poor and the workmen earn only about 20 lats a week, a hit being l!kl. Really skilled men earn about hits weekly, but have to work very hard for it and get it only on piecework. “The country is mainly agricultural. and As so small that there is no room for agriculture on a large scale. There are small exports and no money for manufactures is offering, one reason for this being the crushing load of taxation wliieh is laid upon the capitalist, and which makes industry impossible. Conditions do not appear to have improved since (ho Peace Treaty. One trouble seems to have been that the Government o'! the country is in the hands of a lot of amateui-s. who appear to rule the country for the benefit of themselves and their friends. Each of them will ap[>oint someone he knows to an office, and each friend has a dozen friends of his own, so it is that half the ns tion appears to l>? working for {he Government employees. ‘‘ln striking contrast with Lettland and with Brussels, where the conditions are. absolutely deplorable, i" Berlin. To se'e Berlin to-day is to think that Germany had won the war.

Actual living in Beilin appears to be dearer than it is in X'ew York, yet the people look prosperous and happy. There is much money spent, and eating and drinking, t’’o favourite German pastimes, are well indulged in. 'The riiv is full of cafes, and one night in the Zoological Gardens wo had to visit six before we could find a seat. Tim theatres are full and though the staH of morality is deplorable and in the theatres nudity appears to he taken as a matter of course, tin* people are bright and contented. AH the time that we were in Berlin I did not see one beggar, and in Brussels it was impossible to go a yard without meeting half a dozen. PROSPEROUS CANADA.

“Another country which shows signs of being very prosperous is Canada. T motored 1700 miles in Ontario and was surprised at their wonderful roads, which are better tlian anything to be found in Michigan or Detroit Xot only are the roads splendid, but their system of road signs is extremely fine, tn the whole length of our journey in a new country T Hon c think w@ went three miles out of our wav. They have a system of numbering higliv nvs which is very easily followed, and within .100 or -100 caids c.f a crossing or bend there is placed a notice indicating the nature of the bend and its angle. Then, inimediatelv before you come to the bend, you pass a cheek sign in black and wln.e. The bigger the bend the bigger the check hoard. All the way down -.ho centre of the roads is a white line dividing the traffic, and the state of the highways is siirh that it is possible to travel at fSO miles an hour without the slightest mishap. The loads are bitumen and also of a sort of rough gravel bound together with some paving mixture. These are even better than bitumen because the car does not skid on them.

“Here we went to the Lake Shore geld mine at Kirkland Lake. This was founded by a New Zealander, Mr Harry Oaks, who had been prospeetinfr in Canada and was thiowii oft one of the Canadian Pacific trains for travelling without a ticket. Ihc spot at which he was thrown olf was Kirkland Lake, and lie prospected round there, found signs of gold, and founded the Lake Shore gold mine, which is now the richest mine in the world. Every day the shares move upwards, and every Christmas Mr Oaks, who has purchased several oticclaims, sends a present to the guard who threw him off the train.”