JOURNEY ROUND WORLD

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18596, 5 January 1935, Page 15

JOURNEY ROUND WORLD

RECOVERY IN BRITAIN AND AMERICA AUSTRIA, THE SAAR; AND" HUNGARY CHRISTCHURCH MAN'S VIEWS During a journey round the world lasting 10 months, Mr. N. H. Barlow, a well-known business man of Christchurch, has formen some very definite and interesting impressions of the political and economical situation's of European countries, the American" states, arid South Africa.

lie has made frequent trips overseas, such as this, on business and holiday, and although he" had previously considered himself not qualified to speak of his impressions he is now convinced that a New Zealander travelling fiequently from one country to another has a splendid opportunity' to observe, fairly accur ately the developments in- the European countries"arid'tlie American states.

in practically every country -Mi'. Barlow noticed a'feeling of unrest, sometimes very apparent, and sometimes as an undercurrent. The. plight, of Anstrir. Tie thought hopeless, and lie remarked on his return that" the poverty of the European countries was the only circumstance which prevented them from returning to war.

Conditions in London, on the other hand, were more like "the old times" than i'n any city in Europe or America. England was undoubtedly the best of the old-world countries in which to live. "It is very difficult to get any inside information about Germany," he said.

"Those who talk seem to think every-thing-is fine; others simply shrug their shoulders, which might, mean anything. One. tiling can be said, and- that is that they treat their visitors with great hospitality, going out of their way to attract. tourists, but one could feet an undercurrent of strain"; PLIGHT! OF AUSTRIA "One cannot visit Austria and particularly Vienna, without feeling extremely sorry for a fine people. There is Vienna, one of the oldest and one of the most beautiful cities in Europe; to-day it is like a dead city. Before the. war it was the capital of a country with 40,000,000 people, and now it is the capital of-6,O0O;000, more than 2,000,000 of which try to exist in Vienna. There are its beautiful buildings and palaces empty, its wide streets capable of-taking' care of 8,000,000, practically deserted—a. pathetic sight. "It is natural to ask the reason for it all. Primarily, of course, they backed the wrong horse in the war, but much of the Austrians' troubles might have been averted if the Allies had permitted Austria to become, as its first legislative council had declared" it to be, DeutschOestcrreich; that is, part of the German Republic. Had that occurred Hitler would never have assumed control of Germany. TWO TYPES OF GERMAN "The German of the north is a vastly different person from the German of-the south. The northerner is admittedly more successful in his technical and industrial enterprise and knows how to make money. The southerner is much happier and takes life less seriously, spending his money with taste. The Prussian temper of the north is always directing and has led Germany to triumph and disaster, but never steered a middle course. The 6,000,000 Austrians would have carried considerablo weight. "Something; must be done for Austria, and done soom" he declared* "but what puzzles everyone is. what can be done. One thing is certain, however, and that is that she cannot exist in her present position,-and while the majority of the Austrians do not trust Hitler, at the same' time the spirit of hopelessness prevails and they' are beginning to feel—well, it could not be any worse." Should- the Nazis take charge of Austria, Italy -would immediately step in arid no doubt France would strongly object, so here we have a hopeless situation—a beautiful country that everybody wants, but all are jealous of the other fellow having it, so it is boing left to die.

NOT IMPRESSED; WITH EUROPE "I was not impressed with what I saw in Europe," Mr. Barlow said, "and I believe that the only reason there is not Wat there at the present time is that the nations are all too poor to fight. "And what a predicament the poor Saarlandcrs are in. I do not think it remotely possible that they will join with France, though economically it might be the best thing for them. They are practically all German, but how do they feel about Hitler? It is Tory difficult to get a trap opinion of. anything pertaining to politics in Germany. 4 ' Hungary, be said, was in practically the same slate. The pre-war area of Hungary was 125,000 square miles; of t,lus "90,000 had been ceded to other countries by the treaty of Trianon. The population of- pre-war Hungary was 21,000,000, but in 1920 it was reduced to 9,000,000. Germany appeared to him much more prosperous than France, His impressions of France were distinctly unpleasing, and as they might be. incorrect be preferred to say nothing of that country. TOWARDS RECOVERY Great Britain was very pleasing to one who returned to it after a long, absence. Everybody seemed to be cheerful about the future". It, was a tremendously differ cut England from the one; he had seen six or seven years ago. America was in ii very peculiar mood, arid' while business was undoubtedly improving there was a feeling df uncertainty prevailing. Business men all seemed afraid- of what Mr. Roosevelt, miglit do next; but Mr. Barlow believed that the uncertainty Was carried too far, and that the' President was not likely to do .anything too radical. America seemed to lie one year behind England in coming out of the' depression, and ho thougiht that good times would be back again in the United Stales in 1936. WEALTH IN SOUTH AFRICA South Africa, he said, was one of the few countries in, the world, if not the onlV country, that could, be said to be riol/ only out of the depression, biit' actually enjoying a_ boom. The" Govern-ment-was- one of,the few that could look back on the la'st year with satisfaction. The political situation during the last 18 rilohtlis had improved Out,of all'recognition, and the change, had been entirely, for' the good., iii tlic economic sphere the 1 recovery' had'boeti riirjst eiicotiraging and the future was full'of promise. The revenue for the first five' months of ; the* current financial year was £14,764,000, compared with £9296'for the same period lust year. "Johannesburg! is of course the radiating centre of prosperity," Mr. Barlow said. "It is about 10 years since I last saw Johannesburg, and what a change—an entirely different city. One is now impressed with big- modern office buildings, fine apartment houses, paved streets, electric stop signals, and alioVo all,' hosts of new luxurious cars. _ One naturally wants to know what it is all about, and the answer is gold.. During the next year gold valued probably at £72,000,000 will be exported, if the present price is maintained':

"Everyone has made money out of gold- mining! shares. . The boom, of course, originated in London, and from what I gathered no matter what shares one bought they went up."