Nine Months in Soviet Russia

Northland Age, Volume X, Issue 8, 25 October 1940, Page 1

Nine Months in Soviet Russia

Personal impressions coupled with an apparently wide knowledge of statistics of Soviet social and cultural amenities' make a recently published pamphlet by Mrs. Nellie Scott interesting reading. The authoress (an Auckland by birth) explains that on this, her second visit, she lived practically the whole time in Moscow and, as her time was mainly taken up by domestic duties, including the care of a sick husband, the book is confined mainly to personal observation. Mrs. Scott’s previous visit to Russia was between 1930 and 1931 and her comparisons between conditions then and now form an interesting feature. Probably the most topical chapters of this quietly written pamphlet are those concerning the reactions of the Soviet capital to the Finnish war and the march of the Red Army into Western Poland. The authoress here presents a somewhat different picture to that given by the world Press. Another interesting point is the version given of a visit to a home for refugee Spanish children. Added to this are impressions of an election and an explanation of the Soviet ballot system. A final brief chapter tells of the family’s return to New Zealand via Vladivostok and Japan. —“Nine Months in Soviet Russia. A New Zealand Woman Returns” by Nellie Scott. (Auckland Service Print, Price 6d). The British Admiralty invited bids for “200 dozen baby’s rubber pants,” seized as contraband. ft fr ft The City Council of Windsor, On- ' tario, is paying for an insurance policy for every Windsor man who enlists in 1 the Canadian Army—£2so for a mar- 1 ried man and £125 for a single man. ft ft ft Ewe, the language of Togo and the ; Gold Coast, is now an English matric- < ulation subject. i ft ft ft j “A mother’s knee, or even a grand- J mother’s knee, is no doubt an excellent c place to learn religion; it is not so t good a place at which to finish one’s study of theology.”—Canon Peter Green. s

British income tax is now 8/6 in the £, starting at a lower rate with incomes of £125 for single persons and is to be deducted direct from salaries and wages. Surtax on incomes over £2OOO a year is 10/6 in the £. On incomes over £20,000 it is now 19/- in the £. ft ft ft What has to be spoken in whispers seldom does the world any good.