UNCOMFORTABLE ENGLAND

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14039, 23 April 1920, Page 3

UNCOMFORTABLE ENGLAND

Mr 'T. *H. Kelly, who has returned to Sydney after an absence of nine months, during which die stayed, for a .considerable time in England, and Belgium, and other parts of Europe, gave, an interesting account of hie impressions in an interview. ' "A visitor from. Australia to countries more directly affected by the great war,'.'said Mr Kelly, "feels a rudG shock of personal discomfort from the moment that he arrives in Englaud. He is adv.ised to get off his. ship/before she enters the port of London, because'.the conge "tion is so great that he may -find it difficult to land at Tilbury with his baggage. His ship, full of every kind of Australian product that Britain urgently needs, will probably ; have, to "lie out in the stream for weeks before she can find a berth to discharge her cargo." "The warehouses' and wharfs are choked with goods which apparently cannot he moved. Meanwhile factories cannot obtain their raw materials, and the public are still subjected to food rationing. Food a,nd raw materials remain at the docks and go bad before they can be used. Some people angrily blame profiteers for holding on to supplies to secure high prices, ! and others attributed the muddle' to' a continuance of unnecessary government control, v Over a year after the armistice a huge army of official war workers is still drawing salaries, and helping to keep the national expenditure up to war standards. Commerce is. enmeshed in a tangle of red tape. Meanwhile the cost of 'living mounts up. An abundance of paper money, is in circidation, and everybody has been receiving plenty of it. Yet it cannot buy what is wanted, v because supplies do not equal .the demand.' Hence there is a clamour for still higher wages and salaries, which only still further increase tlve cost of everything. The profiteer secures his margin; the trades unionist, who .is the profiteer's first cousin, also secures hia increase. The general public, particularly those with fixed incomes, are the sufferers from this double exploitation. One greatest sufferers is the patriot, who has put his all into war loans at a fixdd. rate of interest. He soon finds himself amongst the- nouveaux pauvres. "After landing the visitor secures: a lodging only- with the utmost difficulty. The hotels are very bad and'all crowded. The food. is. badly cooked' and badly served. Butter and sugar are strictly rationed. The unscrupulous: hotelkeeper - finds that the public during: the 'war have .'so come to regard personal abstinence as a. patriotic duty ; that they will put up with a shortage of even those things which he could

really supply iti abundance. Do luxe i; 1 ?; I prices are for very ; inferior no-' iS.*! 'commodation. "There is evidently a reaction in all ' j walks of life from the strain of the war. 1 J Men who have returned from the front. ■ naturally seek rest and diversion. Muni- . tion. workers who have borne their share of the war strain do not feel inclined to , : ■ turn energetically to peace work. 'Th6 ;; Boche has been beaten' thoy seem to say, •let us _ have dinner or- go to a theatre; ' i and enjoy ourselves.' Theatres, picture : shows, restaurants, dance clubs, oil are; crowded. Holiday resorts are congested. A crowd jostles one in every train and ; 'bus. The cabs are all engaged: The world seems like ah ants' nest that has • been trodden upon; it is swarming with restless creatures rushing hither ana thither with no apparent objective. To meet the increased cost of coal and wages railway fares have been increased. They, are now very dear, and it is almost cheaper for a party of friends to motor than to travel first-class. When autumn arrives the visitor finds that coal is strictly rationed. For some reason the output of coal lias fallen far below the pre-war, level. Fires have become expensiveluxuries. Coalminors clamour for more pay, shorter hours, and reduced output. They say that the owners' profits aro tho cause of dear coal; in denial of this contention detailed figures are published in the Press.

"The visitor wonders why ho over loft the comfort' and plenty of Australia. Ho seeks a return passage only to find every ship booked up for months ahead, and a waiting list of thousands of would-bo .travellers ahead of him. He is told to put dovvn his • name, pack his .luggage, and wait. In the course of months a berth In some ship may become and he may then receive very short notice to sail nt once or lose liis chance.

"If England is so uncomfortable why not try the Continent ? Enclish friends. say tliis is most unwise. All Europe is wbrse than England, in their opinion., J: However, the visitor decides to try for,',; himself, and arrives in Belgium to view tlio battlefields. He is much astonished to , find warm, comfortable hotels, an a bund- • arieo of coul,* good food, ami in particular plenty of excellent butter,-milk, and sugar. " Prices are high, but abnormal exchange rates give about 40 francs for an English pound-note, so that life is iot . only- bett'eV, but cheaper. Tho Belgians seem to be working quietly and methodically at reconstruction. They are turning out as much coal as before tho war, and as much farm' produce and beet tugar. In the battle areas excellent roads have been rapidly constructed, and now dwellings are rising among tho ruins. Raw material for many factories is still unpl'ocurable, and Belgian commerce is still largely , suspended. The railways and rolling stock aro shabby and yar-worn. But the public does not .waste time ill iclle agitation. "There is no wordy wrangle as to whether the profiteor, the trade-un-ionist, or the Government is to blame for the discomforts. Evorybody has his shoulder to the wheel trying to make a piacticaF improvement. "To visit Cologne a- permit must be. obtained' from the British Consul. It _is interesting to see the city under British control. Both the British soldiers and the inhabitants seem to take the s'.tuation very good humouredly. The soldiers' - niove about freely;, and in their spare time visit all placet) of amusement. The Germans do not seem at all resentful. If anything, Cologne seems more pleasure loving than either England or Belgium. The crowds seem prosperous and well dressed. The restaurants are always full of people drinking or eating very expensive meals. High-priced French wines are' freely bought in the more expensive places. The occupied territory is sx'd to be enjoying a considerable degree of prosperity compared with the icst of Germany. Although British visitor* find life cheap with an exchange which gives them well over 100 marks for every £1 note the German poorer classes must hud it very difficult to carry on. There is a superabundance of paper money, and wages have risen accordingly. An unskilled labourer receives from 20 to ■ dt> marks a day. Many commercial travellers including British and French, aro try in" to re-establish trade. Germany is economically crippled by a great shortage of coal and railway rolling stock, of Which she has had to hand over enormous quantities to the Allies. They stil Ith nlc that it is impossible for them to fulfil the financial obligations imposed on them by the Peace Treaty. The low value of the mark makes it impossible for thcm to import what they require to restait their '""The'French public do not seem to be working so quietly and methodically ae. The Belgian. One feels a spint of grumble everywhere, now directed against some imaginary profiteer, the adverse exchange rates, o/ the Government Continental Europe general!?' seems to feel that Eng and America ought to pu an end to the adverse exchange rates by lulling huge credits, under which Europe could buy her requirements at par.