FRENCH VIEW OF ENGLAND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 293, 8 November 1934, Page 2

FRENCH VIEW OF ENGLAND.

“WHERE NOTHING HAPPENS.”

The Oeuvre (Paris) has begun publication of a series of articles oil England by its special correspondent, Mme. Madeleine Jacob, states the Manchester Guardian. England is defined as “a country without rows,’ scandals; or revolutions, where nothing, absolutely nothing, happens.” England, it is said, owes its peace partly to the dole, which is an anaesthetic, and. partly to that perfect atmosphere of freedom in which any doctrine may be preached and none is taken very seriously by anybody. • - ... “And yet,” says Mme. Jacob, “there is not a single country where class distinctions are as marked as in England, with its ‘society living in a tower of gold, its ‘big bourgeoisie’ living a life of luxury unknown in France after the war, with its middle classes, and, lastly, with the ‘ordinary people,’ including the unemployed. The rich and the poor live side by side without unduly disturbing each other.” v

The writer quotes a poor man who pointed out proudly to lier how many millionaires there were in England. Mme. Jacob’s first sketches deal with W r ales, particularly with Cardiff and Merthyr. “Merytlir” was once one of the most flourishing towns of Wales; now it is a town of wretched poverty, but it is poverty without bitterness, without regret, ahd still with a glimmer of hope. She then speaks of the dole and of the family allowances, and says that the two shillings per child tends to increase the birthrate among the unemployed, even though it costs more than 2s to keep a child.., Mme.' Jacob was 'struck by the friendliness and co-.operation existing among the unemployed, and points out that whenever a baby is born into an unemployed family all' the neighbours somehow manage to get clothes and food for it.