FOXTON TOURISTS ABROAD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3551, 16 October 1926, Page 2

FOXTON TOURISTS ABROAD.

INTERESTING ITEMS FROM MR AND MRS. ALF FRASER.

Letters received locally from Miami Mrs A. Fraser, written- in England, stated that they were leaving ihe Old Country on their return to New Zealand by the s.s. Oronsay, via Suez, on the 16th October. After spending several weeks in Scotland, and on the south coast of England, Mr and Mrs Fraser toured Belgium and France, visiting most of the larger towns and pleasure resorts.

The weather experienced up to the time of writing had been fine and at times very hot. At Alons and whilst touring the Somme battlefields, ample evidence of the late war was seen, especially oh the Somme, where in several places the original Allied and German trenches, dug-outs, barb-wire entanglements, etc., were still in existence, whilst a confusion of rusty helmets, gas masks, water bottles and guns lay scattered about. In Arras and in many of the other towns visited, several of the larger buildings remain shattered and new buildings were being erected on different sites. Mentioning the financial stringency in France, the letter stated that taxes were imposed by the authorities on almost everything. Englishspeaking people were obliged to pay, in addition to the usual charges, a tax in the restaurants, shops, hotels, tramears, ’busses, railways, in fact, on almost every service performed, no matter how trivial. -When the mail left England, on September Bth, Mr and Mrs Fraser were both w T ell and enjoying a quiet rest on the Devonshire coast.