HOW EUROPE FARES.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19164, 22 November 1927, Page 8

HOW EUROPE FARES.

• GOOD CANADIAN ROADS. AN INTERESTING TOUR. [THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, November 21. "In all my travels I saw nothing quite like Latwija or Lett-land, one of the Baltic States," said Mr H. Sehneidemann on his return from a 20 months' world tour to-day. "The country is very poor and the worki.ien ef-rn onlv about 30 lats a week, a lat be-'ng lOd. Really skilled men earn about 40 lats weekly, but have to work very hard for it and get it only on piecework. ~ . ••The country is mainly agricultural, and is so small that there is no room for agriculture on a large scale. There are small exports and no money for manufactures is offering, one reason for this being the crushing load of taxation which is laid upon the capitalist, and which makes industry inposs"ible. Conditions do not appear to have improved since the Peace Treaty. One trouble seems to have been that flu' Government of the country is in the • hands of a lot of amateurs, who appear to rule the country for the lipno-fifc of themselves and their friends. Each of them will appoint someone he knows to an office, and each friend lias a dozen friends of his own, so it is that half the nation appears to he working for the Government and the cither half working for the Government employees. "In striking contrast with Lettland and with Brussels, where the conditions are absolutely deplorable, is Berlin. To see Berlin to-day is to think that Germany had won the war. Actual living in Berlin appears to be dearer than it is in New York, yet the people look prosperous and happy. There is much money spent, and eating and drinking, the favourite German pastimes, aro well indulged in. The city is full of cafes, and one night in the Zoological Gardens we had to visit six before we could find a seat. The theatres are full, and though the state of morality is deplorable and in the theatres nudity appears to be taken as a matter of course, the people are bright and contented. All the time that we were in Berlin I did not s£e one beggar, and in Brussels it was impossible to go a yard without meeting half a, dozen. i Prosperous Canada. "Another conutry which shows signs of being very prosperous is Canada. 1 motored 1700 miles in Ontario, and was surprised at their wonderful roads, which are better than anything to be found in Michigan or Detroit. Not only are the roads splendid, but their system of road signs is extremely fine. In the whole length of our journey in a new country I don't think we went three miles out of our way. They have a system of numbering highways which 'is very easily followed, and within 300 or 400 yards, of a crossing or bend there is placed a notice indicating the. nature of the bend and its angle. Then, immediately before you come to the bend, you pass a chock sign .in black and white. Tho bigger the bend tho bigger the check boardAll the way down the centre of the 'roads is a white line dividing the traffic, and the state of the highways is such- that it is possible to travel at 60 miles an hour without the slightest mishap. The roads are bitumen and also of a sort of rough gravel bound together with some paving mixture. These are even better than bitumen, because the car does not skid on them.

"Here we went to the Lake Shore gold mine at Kirkland Lake. This was founded by a New Zealander, Mr Harry Oaks, who had been prospecting in Canada and was thrown off one ol the Canadian Pacific trains for travelling without a ticket. The spot at which he was thrown off was Kirkland Lake, and h* prospected round tonind signs of gold, and founded the iu ke .^ nore 'gold mine, which is now tho richest mine in the world. Every day the shares move upwards, anil every Christmas Mr Oaks, who has purchased several other claims, sends a present to the guard who threw him off the tram."