AMERICA TO-DAY

Hokitika Guardian, 14 February 1920, Page 3

AMERICA TO-DAY

DUNEDIN MAN’S VIEWS. . Mr Norman A. Nash, of Dunedin,' has just returned from an extended business trip, during which he visited the United States, England, Scotland, and France. Mr Nash tells us that labor conditions are very unsettled in the States. Over BO strikes were “on” when he was .there, and the demands being made in the matter of wages and conditions were such as to appear impossible to concede. The reason for this is that American people, generally spfeakjrig, have prospered owing to the war, and the workers are aiming at a much higher standard of living than had hitherto prevailed. Another factor is the return of some millions of foreign laborers who had been engaged in the manufacture of munitions to their ’homes—carrying with them, by the way, more money than they had probably ever seen in their lives before. This, combined with the restrictions placed, upon the importation of alien labor., has resulted in a considerable shortage of workers, a state of things which has necessarily hampered production. The coal shortage, too, ere- ! a ted an awkward position. At the time of Mr Nash’s visit to Detroit a ouarter of a million laborers who had iSeen employed in manufacturing motor tears and accessories wore out of work. ' We in 'this part of the world can only | ifaintly realise, said Mr Nash, the hardships entailed by a coal scarcity in a country where in winter the tern- | peraturo goes down as low as ‘lO deg . zero. I

! As a result of the abundance of money the prices of all commodities , : were, from the standpoint of a New j .Zealander, alarmingly high. The aver-j ; age charge for the use of a single room in a good class American hotel is from ! 25s upwards, and the cost of meals | proportionately high. | One good result of America’s in- ; creased spending power brought about j by the war lis the allocation of millions of dollars for the purpose of road construction. Many of tile large manufacturing concerns are transporting their (goods to the various shipping points \

by huge motor trucks instead of by 1 rail. The roads being constructed are of concrete or macadam, but mostly 'concrete. A solid bed, a loot thick, .is laid down, and t this is toppod off with the smooth surface. Mr Nash motored some 3,000 miles over American roads, and can speak, with authority regarding their advantages over the' rough roads of New Zealand. He is convinced of the great necessity for a main road of concrete from north, t ■ south of the Dominion. This would, ihe thinks, open up the hack country—as it has done in the States —far more than a railway could. Speaking of the future of aviation, 'Mr Nash says tna : t, though considerable interest is being taken in the question in America, it has not reached the advanced stage that it has reached .in England, where the Government have grasped the importance of air service for military and commercial purposes, •and is lending every assistance to its ‘development. Americans, concluded Mr Nash, are a hospitable people, and are taking a great interest in New Zealand. They foresee relationships which will lie of mutual benefit, and which arc therefore to be encouraged.