GERMANY'S NEW ROADS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 8 (Supplement)

GERMANY'S NEW ROADS

TRAVERSING WHOLE COUNTRY TOTAL OF 400 MILES £60,000,000 FOR INDUSTRY An invitation to foreign experts to inspect Germany's vast new network of roads was extended by Herr Hess, Hcrr Hitler's right-handgjtoan anjl deputy-leader of the: NarfHr, at the International Road ConTirenco at Munich recently. "You arcs not only allowed, but encouraged to everything that interests you," Herr Hess said, "and that is the best proof that Germany's road building policy is not in pursuit of imperialistic aims." The motor roads planned will traverse the whole of Germany, and extend for a total of 4000 miles. Work has already begun at 50 different places. A point emphasised of Herr Hess was that the other Europeon country which had devoted great attention to motor roads was Italy, "which is, on the whole, governed on the same principles as Germany." This fact, ho said, provided matter for thought. Work for 150,000 Men The roads scheme, said Herr Hess, had provided work on the roads themselves for 150,000 men, and, in the concerns supplying the material, for an additional 200,000 in a single year. By the end of the present year the total figure would be over 400,000. No less than £60,000,000 annually was derived by German industry from the work now proceeding, and for bridges alone, half a million tons of steel had to be delivered. There was no connection, said Herr Hess, between debts owing by Germany and the public works by which she was seeking to relieve unemployment. If work were not found the situation would be one of consumption without production, for the unemployed could not be allowed to starve. Moreover, all the material used was produced in the country itself. Turning to the German economic problem, Herr Hess said: "It is a fundamental error to believe that it would be possible to pay debts through the use of the workmen at present unemployed, and of the material now available in Germany. To pay debts means to export, either directly iii the form of money, or in the form of goods. Political Considerations

"We can only export money in the form which is valid in < international relations—that is to say, in foreign currency. This, however, we can only receive in exchange for goods sold abroad, and the possibility of such sales has been greatly restricted. That did not take place through our fault, but against our will. "Political considerations, and a dislike of our form of government, have in part—we trust only temporarily—won a victory over business common sense. It cannot be expected that we should refrain from turning our own labour and materials to good effect in Germany itself." The congress was attended by more than 2000 delegates from 50 different States. Great Britain and the British Empire were officially represented by eight delegates from the Ministry of Transport, and one from the Home Office, Metropolitan Police, and the Department for Scientific and Industrial Research respectively. Seventeen British honorary delegates represented various associations, and eight official representatives had been sent by India and the colonies.

The airship Graf Zeppelin has been chartered for a special voyage, carrying selected delegates over portions of the new motor roads.