IN YUGOSLAVIA

Northern Advocate, 12 October 1934, Page 8

IN YUGOSLAVIA

“CONDITIONS VERY BAD.” MR K. ERCEG RETURNS. FEAR OF CIVIL WAR. ; “Conditions are very bad in* Yugoslavia. When ! left here : I thought times were very hard, but at . home they are something awful,” said Mr Karl Erceg; of Tiitukaka, to an “Advocate” , reporter today.' . Mr Erceg, who'has just returned from a visit to his native land, and spent three months there, did not suppose that there would be International complications’ following’ the assassination of but he thought that the main fear would be of civil war between the three ;nations yyhich formed the Yugoslavian kingdom—the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. ■. Taxation was' twenty times as high as it was in New Zealand, and he had had to pay 4/6 for a meal at a hotel and 8/ for a bed for the night. Mr Erceg was manifestly glad to be back in the Dominion. “I was not free until I boarded'the boat Vto, return,” he said,/referring to the rigid military control of the country. No one was allowed to express his own opinion, under penalty of being thrown into gaol, or, in cases that were considered to be extreme, the offender might be shot, even if the opinion was idly expressed. “You can’t say anything you want to,” he said, “and if you do—look out! No one is free as they are here.”

The military were supreme and the ' whole country-was talking war. The late King was popular enough, but friction was "caused because he favoured his own people to the detriment of the others in the Kingdom. Mr Erceg commented that the far- ~ mers and producers were getting : nothing for their products, but all the same he had to pay 2/6 for a ; pound of butter .and 10/ for a pound . of tea. Clothing and boots were dear. Everything ’’ of a greater price than 1/6 was taxed,. ;, On his trij), Mr Erceg visited Italy ■;.. and found that, despite Mussolini’s boastings :■ of prosperity, conditions were bad there, too. An English paper cost 6d, and he had had to,pay . 8d for a! cup- of tea with nothing else. • The war ■ spirit was rampant in Italy, ■ and everyone, including boys and . girls at school, ! was being inculcated with this spirit. ' Mr Erceg. mentioned, by the way, > that when landing in his native country the. Customs had confiscated three boxes'of wooden .matches .and a pack . of used cards was also seized, the officials saying that it was a serious of- . fence to take them into the country. : V/ ■ ■"