Russian Tourists’ Pity for England

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6629, 17 August 1931, Page 7

Russian Tourists’ Pity for England

WEATHER, FOOD, POVERTY AND TIPPING CONDEMNED. PRAISE FOR PARKS, TUBES AND TRAFFIC CONTROL United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. LONDON, Aug. 14. <‘We are glad we came, but we are gladder to leave,” was the parting farewell to capitalist England of the Soviet tourists—a party of 350 rvorkers who are making a holiday. tour aboard the Russian steamer Ukraine as a reward for conspicuous service on behalf of' the Five Year Plan. When asked whether they had learned anything, an earnest consultation botween close-cropped heads produced the verdict, “We are impressed with your beautiful parks and efficient, municipal system of tubes and traffic control, but we unanimously disliked the weather, the food, the human derelicts on the Embankments, and the London trams. ’ ’

One spokesman said, “No wonder you are still under the capitalistic yoke. Your climate is enough to suppress all enterprise. lam frankly shocked at the tipping system, also the tremendous difference between Mayfair and the East End. I am really sorry for your workers, whose standard is insufficiently high. Unfortunately, we had insufficient opportunity for mixing with them to discover their viewpoint.” Russia’s Educational Advance Received Sunday, 9.50 p.m. MOSCOW, Aug. 16. On the first anniversary of the establishment of universal compulsory education it was announced that 17,500,000 children, representing 82 per cent, of the children of school age, are already in schools, compared with 7,000,000 under the Tsarist regime. Studies are conducted in 70 languages.