ENGLAND AND EUROPE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 230, 28 September 1929, Page 21

ENGLAND AND EUROPE.

CONTRAST IN CONDITIONS. TJJOBMPLOYMENT ON CLYDE. INTENSE WOKK IN. BELGIUM. (By Telegtaph.—Own Correspondent.) DUNEDIN, this day. Mr. Alec Robertson, superintending engineer of the Otago Harbour Board, who has returned from the Clyde after having seen to the construction of the board's new. dredge, said that on the Clyde there were far more shipbuilding yards than there were ships to build. Competition from the Continent was very fierce, and labour was in excellent supply. Industrial England was in a bad way, 1,250,000 people being on the dole, said Mr. Robertson. England had 12,000,000 too many people. Work of all descriptions was hard to obtain, wages were low and the cost of living was high. "New Zealand is to be preferred every time to England and Scotland," he said. "Scotland is no place for a white man to live in, because of the conditions. Engineers and turners get £2 17/0 a week, and labourers from 35/ to 28/ a week. They can't live, they only exist. Roast beef costs 2/ a lb. That is only one instance of the high cost of foodstuffs. Yet, on the other hand, there is a tremendous show of wealth. It is unevenly distributed." Every square yard of Belgium was under cultivation, said Mr. Robertson. The development was astonishing. Men, women and children cultivated the ground from morning to night, growing foodstuffs for London. In England little cultivation was seen. The country appeared to be a great pleasure ground, containing nothing but deer parks and golf links. Holland and Belgian workers were following the 54-hour week, as against England's 49 hours, and the workers received lid an hour, as compared with 1/3 in England. Yet the co9t of living was cheaper in. Continental countries. '