DUTCH AUTHOR SEES THE WORLD FOR HERSELF

Southland Times, Issue 23682, 3 December 1938, Page 17

DUTCH AUTHOR SEES THE WORLD FOR HERSELF

Miss Mary Ros, Dutch author of novels, short stories and books lor young people, and a journalist ana lecturer, arrived in Sydney recently from the Netherlands, East Indies.

For five years she has travelled round the world by zeppelin, bomber, freighter, air liner, and even bicycle, and says that people are her greatest interest, and much of her writing is devoted to encouraging improvements in the lot of the poor.

“Russia was a great disappointment to me, because, although I did not expect it to be wonderful, I expected that the people would have recent conditions, nice little homes, home life. I found the opposite. They were very poor. And they were still believing that the future would be happy—but it won’t, she said.

“People in authority were angry when I went round at night and saw things for myself. “I have written a book called ‘Life of Moscow.’ ” Miss Pos’s travels in search of material for her writings, and her interest in people, have taken her to many unusual places. She is thought to be the only woman who has ever obtained permission to visit a lonely Dutch lightship in the North Sea; and the on Y woman to have worked in a Dutch coal mine, where she spent a day with pick and shovel. “I wanted to see the conditions under which the men worked, and to talk with them,” she explained. “I am also interested in the fishing communities, and have often spent months in fishing villages. Once, I hunted seals from a rowing-boat on the ocean. It was rather dangerous—and I couldn’t bear to kill a seal,” she added, with a smile. Miss Pos is enthusiastic about the work of the Protestant and Catholic missions, and the Government, to improve Conditions in the Netherlands, East Indies, where she has spent the last two months. “In Holland, tbo, the Government has done great things for the poor,” she said. “There are no slums in Amsterdam. In London I have lived in the slums so that I could see the people and get to know them. I have slept in shelters for the destitute.” “In Paris I used to go about at night with the Salvation Army soup-kitchen. The Salvation Army does marvellous work for the poor. I always wore their uniform so that the poor would trust me, and we would go along the streets and bridges where people were sleeping, and distribute bread and soup.” Famous people with whom Miss Pos has talked include Mussolini, Marconi, Mr and Mrs Franklin Roosevelt, and Princess Juliana of Holland. < “I like travelling round the world alone—otherwise it is not so interesting,” she said. “I met Mussolini several times; it is enough! I found Marconi one of the most intellectual men I have met. Mrs Roosevelt gave me an interview which lasted two hours. She is a most gifted woman. “I have heard a lot about Australia,’ she added. “I intend to do a lot of swimming. When I write another book I may return to Holland and take a holiday!”