RESTORING EUROPE

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 97, 18 January 1921, Page 9

RESTORING EUROPE

BELGIUM MAKES MOST PROGRESS GERMANS NOT HOSTILE TO THE BRITISH First-hand information of the manner in which the people of France and Belgium are rebuilding their cities, and of life m Germany, was given by Mr. D. R. Hall, formerly New South Wales Minister for Housing, who returned to Australia by the Orsova (says the "Herald ). "During my tour tho opportunity presented itself,” Mr. Hall said# ‘ 1° inee ; representative men in various parts oi Europe and discuss social and industrial problems which immediately ihco each State. But tho whole result was very depressing. The men handling public affairs in the debt-burdened countries, which have emerged from the war, have an tinenv iable task during bhe next five years. Belgium seems to have made the best recovery. Her people are working with a will, aiid have the task of rebuilding the devastated areas nell 111 hand. They are. in fact, much farther advanced l than France, which, of course, suffered immeasurably greater damage. Labour is fairly plentiful in The Belgians would find, it difficult to appreciate the Australian viewpoint about trading with Germany. Whilst I was in Brussels there was general rejoicing because of the fact that, the Belgian Government had made arrangements witn German working men to build some hundreds of railway trucks for use on tin. Belgian railways. The' cost of labour was less, and this left the Belgian workmen free to perform othei necessary tasks in their own c< J.un ry.’ . "Generally, the people oil the Continent, relish the idea of Germans doing f elr work. I honestly ’believe that the 1 renc , sitting in front of a fire which IS burning German coal, enjoy the experienc more than they would if they knew that their fellow Frenchmen had laboured 1 produoe the fuel.” > In. August last Mr. Hall and his family were in Germany. They saw Austra ia"n meats, jams, and other products f sale; also French soaps and other mannfactured articles. Whilst on every hand at least ono of the Shakespearean plays was being produced at the theatres. “In Germany,” Mr. Hall said, there is some hostility against France, but none whatever against England or Australia. I would say that a man could go about Germany with a greater degree of safety and freedom from insult that in any other country in Luiope. Tho industrial and economic conditions in. Germany are, however, very bad-in-deed With us, by buying marks ioi about Id. each, living was cheaper in Germany than m any other part of Europe. Food was plentiful for those who could pay for it, the menus were good, and the charges considerably less than in London. Of course, there was evidence of a shortnffl) of commodities in some directions, while some of the hotels were eadly in need of painting and .brightening up. We never saw tablecloths all the time we were an Germany. Substitutes of paper were used for tablecloths, serviettes, and towels. “Tho German people seemed depressed by the heavy load of taxation they had been called on to bear—this being the penalty for a war started by their own rulers—and they sea no hope of leliel for the next ten years. They also fear the Spartacist movement, which is tlift equivalent of the Soyiet movement, and thev are more than ordinarily courteous towards tho British. All who have anything to protect feel the more secure under British occupation, because they <w>e in tho British soldiers a duplication of the police force which saved tho occupied territory from ihe ruinous effects of the Spartacist rising in Berlin. “No doubt there is a black time ahead of Germany.” went on Mr. Hall, but they are still a powerful peome. 1 heir workmen are industrious, and are probably working harder than any other body of employees in Europe. Further, the birth-rate in Germany is big. Tho women struck me as being of a healthy, robust type, capable of doing their share towards 'retrieving a measure of national greatness last during the war.”