CONDITIONS ABROAD

Taranaki Daily News, 15 October 1930, Page 6

CONDITIONS ABROAD

BEGGING IN ENGLAND. FARMING AND THE DOLE. On his return to Wellington after a tour of 14 months abroad, Mr. D. A. Strachan, who was accompanied by Mrs. ; Strachan, gave some of his impressions of Britain and the Continent. Mr. Strachan was. formerly senior, inspector of schools. . ' Mr. Strachan, when in England, was much impressed by the way every inch of ground was made use of in farming. He saw even better farms, if possible, in Scotland, and in August,, when they were there, some of the farmhouses were surrounded by as. many as 50 or 00 stacks of wheat and oats. ■ ■ / When asked about unemployment and the dole in England Mr. Strachan said: “In London at the present time , begging in various forms is prevalent. You have the one who comes and crudely asks for • money, and then the match seller, who would be surprised if when you tendered your penny or other coin you'took the box of matches which you are supposed to be buying. There are the street musicians and the pavement artists, who represent another. class of what may be called mendicants, and a great many people seem to earn a living by offering squeaking or acrobatic toys, not so much for the purpose, of sale as for the purpose of advertising their poverty. “The dole seems to have had a very bad effect. We heard of a case where a girl who worked for two weeks at potato picking said that she was not going to break her back any longer, as a number of others in the neighbourhood had earned sixpence less by living on the dole. - “In Naples, on the other hand, which has an historical record for, mendicancy, ■ we found no beggars. The Prime Minister, Signor Mussolini, has made. begging a crime and all the people are at work. We have come from Italy with a vastly enhanced opinion of the average Italian farmer. The whole land is covered with vineyards or agricultural products.”

The erection of large blocks of. flat B and office buildings was noted on the Continent and Mr. Strachan remarked that in Germany and Belgium the new architecture had frequently . a _ very jazzy effect. • In Hamburg one building contained. 1500 offices. They had seen these enormous blocks of flats going up ir the suburbs, of Berlin, Hamburg, Rome, Genoa and Brussels and increasig numbers of the people seemed to have a kind of communal kitchen and live in flats. „ “In connection with schools, the only part concerning which I made detailed inquiries was what was being done with the 11 plus child,” said Mr. Strachan, “and it appears that the movement is in the same direction as has been adopted in New Zealand since the introduction of the junior high school. Taking the children age for age, it seem B to me that the New Zealand child js as well tdvanced as those in the British Isles. ’