IN PERU

Hokitika Guardian, 20 October 1933, Page 8

IN PERU

INTERESTING REFERENCES

ITS ECONOMIC RESOURCES

CHRISTCHURCH, Oct 19,

The! people, education system, economic resources and handicaps, and political condition of Peru were discussed by Dr Herbert Money, who has returned to Christchurch on furlough from Lima, in an interview recently. Dr Money, who is a graduate of Canterbury College, has taught ■ for several years at the Anglo-Peruvian College -at Lima, and it a 1 professor in the Institute of Education at-the ancient university of San • Marcos, which was established about 1554. educational difficulties The education system in Peru was different from the New Zealand system, in that while here and in other British countries the aim was to give a . sound knowledge of various subjects, in Peru the aim was more to enable pupils to talk about their subjects, said Dr Money. There was a lack of a practical bent to education tliere, and while Peruvian hoys were very much more at ease in a drawin g-roomq for example, they tended to be at a loss when something practical ‘ had to he done. There were, of course, government primary and secondary schools, hut such a school as the Anglo- Peruvian College existed to correct what appeared to be a weakness in the system.

1 ’ The better-class Peruvians prej 'ferred to send their children * to a : good ‘ private school. It was mainly a matter of keeping up appearances with thorn.-' Even when they were faced with greatly shrunken incomes " they continue! to ■ send their ehil dr-rib to eitoens ve -schools, so that they might not appear to have come down in the world. This was one of the reasons why Dr Money’s school) had even in the Worst tinrns suffered very little 'shrinkage in it.s revenue from the fees paid by pupils. AN EASY-GOING LIFE This led Dr Money to speak of the- manner of life of the large landowning class in Peru, the traditional fcoristocracy. oP the country; "Their main desire, lie said( was to live a life of ease, with no contact- with the labour necessary to provide an income. Consequently they did not manage their large estates themselves, but left them to a steward, of whom they expected merely" that each-year' he should provide enough money to keep them in their normal state of luxury. So they lived jin splendid style at the capital—often also possesing line houses in Paris, where indeed some of them spent a larger part cf their timedressed Slice princes, and owned three or four motor-cars.

They were concerned sole'y with 'agriculture and had no part in business activities. Consequently the vast mineral resources of the country had been developed by foreigners. Sometimes the Peruvians showed some resentment at the thought that such vast amounts or the national wealth were going out of the country, but When 1 any suggestion was made that they themselves might have done what the (foreigners had they” showed’ no inclination to change their manner of life. BARRIERS TO DEVELOPMENT Point could never be developed ,aa New Zealand had been, Dr Money continued. The country was divided into three regions, which were almost insurmountably divided from one another geographically. The coastal strip up to a level of 6000 : feet was rainless, and then mountains up to 16,000 feet and more had ■to he crossed to reach the fertile [Sierra. The cost of transporting anything from the coast by a. railway which climbed to such a height jcould he imagined, and it was a great harrier to development. The railway was the highest broadguage track in the world. The central region was very rich, being one mass of metal—copper, gold, silver, lead and mercury. At Casapalca Dr Money had been taken through a. two-kilometre tunnel into a, hill which seemed to be jture metal. One effect of the vast mineral deposits was that much of the water was poisonous from ■ contamination with copper and lead. The mineral deposits were so rich that it paid to carry the ore in small sacks on the -hacks of mules and donkeys for vast distances to the works where it was treated, and long pack trains of these animals were constantly being met on the roads.

Llamas were also- used as pack animals, and usually carried a load of about 100 pounds. If slightly more than this weight was nut on the Tama sat down until the extra was taken off, so acute was its judgment of what it should carry.

PRESENT REVIVAL The jungle region of Peru, on the Amazon side, produced splendid timber, hut it was so remote that practically none of it could he transported to the dry coastal area, where it was wanted. Consequently timber was imported from the United States. In the same wav, pltrough wheat,' atncl coal were nreduced in the Sierra, it had been, 'found cheaper for thi cGaital belt

to import Australian wheat and British coal. At present a wave of prosperity was being experienced in Peru, following the change in the presidency in May last. Dr Money coxild not say bow soundly based it was, but internal trade had been very brisk in spite of the very low prices in the world market for Peruvian produce, mainly cotton, sugar cane, and minerals.

Dr Money had an unusual story to tell of the way in which the war between Peru and Columbia came to an end. One of the purposes of the war seemed to have been to keep the mind of the people away from internal affairs. ' On May 2 of this year, When President Cerro was reviewing troops about to leave for the front, he was assassinated, and his Minister for War, General Benavides succeeded him. Benavides found that an intimate friend was .leader of the Liberal party in Colombia. He .sent him a friendly note ( plenipotentiaries went to Colombia, and in a few days not •only was the war over, but thoroughly cordial relations were established between the two counties. .