REBUILDING EUROPE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 31 December 1924, Page 5

REBUILDING EUROPE

PEOPLE HARD AT WORK That the allegations of poverty and hardship in Germany were ridiculous was the opinion expressed by Mr John. Fell, of Lithgow, New South Wales, who lias just returned after his fourth tour of tho world. What Germany required the £40,000,000 loan for Mr Fell said he was at a loss to imagine, but he was convinced it Would react on British industry and the worker. In Germany he found the greatest prosperity. Money was being spent most lavishly in all parts of Europe. There did not appear to be any unemployed, and all the big works throughout , Belgium,, the Ruhr, arid France, were working at top speed, mostly 60 hours' weekly per man for what, would- be considered starvation wages in Australia^

Italy, said Mr Fell, has jnade a great recovery, and Mussolini, whatever his other faults were, has made his countrymen work. This was detrimental to Britain, inasmuch as he had instituted a system of hydro-electric power 1 , which made the country independent of British coal."

In America, tho,, .prosperity struck Mr Fell as immense./ Money was being spent in a most profuse manner, and a workman generally had his car and his diamond ring, while his prosperity was often measured by the diamonds and jewellery his wife was able to display. Bricklayers received equal to £3 per day, but the cost of living was terrific,