APPROACH OF WAR WATCHED

Southland Times, Issue 23998, 13 December 1939, Page 11

APPROACH OF WAR WATCHED

MR JUSTICE KENNEDY RETURNS HOME HOLIDAY TRIP AROUND THE WORLD A round-the-world holiday trip which began with pleasant wanderings through the East and ended under war conditions in a blacked-out England has just been concluded by Mr Justice Kennedy, who has returned to Dunedin after being absent from the Dominion for almost a year, states The Otago Daily Times. His Honour travelled widely in many parts of the world not frequently visited by tourists from the Dominions, and spoke interestingly of peoples and conditions in the countries where he had been.

Leaving New Zealand in January, his Honour first spent some time in Java, which he found particularly pleasant, and then went on to Singapore and up the Malay Peninsula to Penang before going on to Burma and thence to Calcutta. The voyage from Burma began under very favourable auspices in a fine new steamer which had only been on the run for a couple of months, but ended not so favourably when the ship struck a submerged bank in the Hooghly and smashed her steering gear. The delay of two days thus caused in the arrival at Calcutta appeared to occasion the greatest inconvenience, his Honour said, to the 300 odd Indian deck passengers who were returning from Burma and seemed to have brought enough food only for the scheduled time.

A month in India enabled Mr Justice Kennedy to see many places of interest. At Darjeeling he was able to obtain a perfect view of Kanchenjunga and a more distant one of Everest, which, at that distance anyway, was not quite so impressive. Interestingly enough, two of the native porters whom his Honour’s party engaged in Darjeeling had been with Hugh Ruttledge on one of his Everest expeditions when several men lost their lives. At Peshawar, on the north-west frontier, his Honour spent an extremely interesting time. Here he was able to see long camel caravans coming through the Khyber Pass, with occasional motorvehicles piled high with such oddly assorted articles as carpets and pomegranates, and noticed that the Afghan sentries on the far side of the frontier were dressed in German uniforms with the old spiked helmets of Great War days.

GRECIAN RUINS His Honour then went on to Egypt, across, the Mediterranean and through France to England before setting out for a leisurely tour of Eastern Mediterranean countries. In Greece he visited many places famous in classical history, including the island of Melos, where the Venus de Milo was found by a peasant who sold it for a song, and Delphi, to which travellers now approach in a bus to see the ruins of the theatre and the stadium and the spot where the famous -oracle was consulted. In Turkey his Honour went to Gallipoli and Istanbul, but in the latter place, at any rate, he came away with the impression that tourists, if not actually unwelcome, were not particularly sought after. In Italy, in spite of much official affirmation of the Rome-Berlin Axis, his Honour found no animosity towards England or the British people, and heard a statement made with some authority that if war came through Italy’s association with Germany it would represent the feeling of “the heads” and not of the mass of the people themselves. There seemed to be very little unemployment and no public begging, as formerly existed, and although there was no direct evidence of the private belt-tightening which is generally believed to have resulted from the Fascist regime, his Honour did not get the impression of a wealthy people. Nor does he consider, from his observations, that Italy is in a position successfully to wage war under modem conditions because of a lack of industrial development. For every motor-car one saw in Italy, he said, there were scores in England.

MUSSOLINI’S POWER “There would seem to be no doubt about the power of Signor Mussolini’s position in Italy,” his Honour said. “I saw nothing to give the impression that there was anything but the highest respect for him. Certainly the official propaganda seems to be very effective. Fascist mottoes and phrases from the Duce’s speeches and writings are painted on the walls of buildings in his script, and portraits of him are to. be found everywhere with representations of the leader in his most forceful style.” Mr Justice Kennedy was at Montreux, in Switzerland, when the Ger-man-Russian pact was announced, and while in that country he saw much evidence of defensive preparations, particularly in the region of the Simplon Pass, which connects Switzerland with Italy. Soon afterwards he passed through a France which by then seemed to regard war as inevitable. Although the army was then mobilized to a fair extent, further classes were being called up, and many soldiers were mingling with the civilians in the streets. GRIM DETERMINATION The impression his Honour gained was of a people prepared for the worst and grimly determined to do their duty. A taste of what he was later to experience in England was received at one town in France, where the authorities imposed a trial black-out that was “sufficient to cause a person to get into the wrong street and demand admission at the wrong hotel.” His Honour had been back in England a week when war was declared, and although he endeavoured to leave on the return journey immediately, it was not easy to secure a passage. Successive postponements because of shipping uncertainties caused a delay of about three weeks before he was able to leave for Canada, and thence for New Zealand, after a short visit to the United States. He arrived at Auckland two or three weeks ago, well pleased to be back in New Zealand, particularly in the conditions that exist at the present time.