GERMANY TO-DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18540, 28 April 1922, Page 3

GERMANY TO-DAY

A FEW ZEALANDER’S IMPRESSIONS. PRAISE FOR NEW ZEALAND DIVISION. (Fbom Ock Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, April 27. Mr S. Gordon, a Wellington business man, who made a trip through Germany three months ago, has given a Dominion reporter some interesting details of his visit to the Germans. He says the depreciated currency simply means that the unit of buying and selling is different from what it was before the war. If you ask an intelligent German he will tell you that his standard of living is just as good to-day, and in many cases better, than ever it was. “ They ore the most contented people 1 have met anywhere," says Mr Gordon. “The wage-earner is far more prosperous than his fellow in England and the United States. Begging is common in every Allied metropolis. It is unknown in Germany, The restaurants are full, and the food is very good. They drink the best of liquors. The average wage for the unskilled worker is 500 marks a month, of a skilled worker 1000, and of a domestic servant 100. That works out in our English money at 11s 22s 3d, and 2s 3d; but look at the prices. I paid 25 marks, or the equivalent of 6jd. for a bedroom and sitting room for a night in one of the best hotels in Memel, a town six times the size of Wellington. At the best hotel in Berlin you can get the best accommodation they nave for about 6s a day. Bread costs six marks a loaf, and in the towns occupied by the French 13 marks. The difference being a tax imposed by the French. Workers may get bread and meat at reduced prices on catting “ concession ” tickets. Food is plentiful, with the exception of fresh milk. The great bulk of the milch cows were taken over by France under the Peace Treaty. The only people who are allowed fresh milk are infants, aged and sick people. There is a 10 per cent, tax on all wages, imposed by the Government. The shortage of houses is the greatest difficulty. The landlord business is the poorest in the world, and no man dreams of building a house unless ho wishes to occupy it himself. Children are the picture of health. They are well dressed and well fed. and attend kindergartens just as they dp in America. The only unfortunate among (them are the illegitimate ones, some of whose fathers were in the military, but they are sympathetically oared for.” TRADE AND REPARATIONS. “ The average Gorman does not care a hang what the Allies will make his country pay. Workers that-1 conversed with take a philosophical view of the situation, and nope the Allies will take their duo in the shape of goods manufactured in Germany, sending in raw materials such as wool and hides in return. That means that there will be plenty of work, and domestic prosperity will follow. The trade that is done with England and America already is enormous. Almost ©very big merchant I met speaks English fluently, a circumstance that was unknown before the war. German towns are full of English and American buyers. The output of some factories has been purchased for 12 months. There is an export tax of 50 per cent. That is part of the reparations payment. There is an inland revenue tax of 50 per cent, imposed on foreigners who buy goods in Germany.” NEW ZEALAND TROOPS. “Of all the troops that were billeted on tile Rhine', the New Zealandei’s loft behind in Germany have the best reputation, and for no part of that reputation does the German honour the New, Zealander more than for his morals and his attitude towards the German women. The mere mention of the fact that you come from New Zealand is sufficient to got you a hearty handshake, and everything that can possibly be done for your comfort is done. . New Zealanders through their spending are spoken of in the same breath as American millionaires, but the Germans cannot understand why New Zealand will not; send her wool to Germany and take manufactured goods in return. Of the quality of these' goods I made some examination, and found, that, although there is good and bad, careful buying will ensure excellent quality. Take this, suit of clothes I am wearing (Mr Gordon was dressed in a suit of superior brown cloth similar to vicuna). This cost me the equivalent of about £2.”