AFTER THE WAR.

Otaki Mail, 19 January 1920, Page 3

AFTER THE WAR.

I e | UNHAPPY BELGIUM’S STATE. A NEW ZEALANDER’S IMPRESSIONS. A well-known South Islander, who is on a lengthy visit to Europe, wrote as follows to a Canterbury newspaper recently, under date October last: — ""Well, hero we are at Lille, and are .making this our headquarters. We have gone over the battlefields of Armcntieres, Neuve Chapelle, Lens La Basse, Vimy Ridge, and Arras, etc. The same destruction and desolation obtain here, only I think in a worse form than at Lens. Everything in the way of machinery that could nol be taken away was destroyed. Lens was I the centre of the largest coalfields in § France. In fact, the bulk of French 3 coal from here, and at the present I moment not a ton of coal is being got j out, as all the mines have been flooded by the Germans, and experts state that it. will take ten years before the mines can be got to normal. Two weeks before our visit at La r,assoc part of the canal was dammed and the water was pumped out and at the bottom of the canal scores of skeletons of human beings were recovered, those ' of babies and young children, of girls, I old men and women, and of soldiers. | This was all devilish work of the Him 1 during their occupation of La Bassee. The information was given us by an j English officer who assisted in the. j work, and I have heard people in England say that the treaty was too hard j and that the Conference was too severe jon the Germans. It was through part i of these battlefields that the Hinden-, burg line ran, and the great General ; said it could never bo broken; but it j was broken, and the British and | colonials showed the Han that it could be broken, for it' was mainly by their | efforts that the tiling was ac.com- j plished. We finished the main battle I lines by visiting all those, places be- j tween Lille and the coast, kpres, i Menin, Bnlliart, Messines, Passehan- j

dad, etc. Of course, of Ypres there I is. nothing left. I was told by our | guide, who knew the place well, that it was a very beautiiul city, one of the best in Belgium, and the others are in I the same state, not a house left. The thing that interested us a great deal was the mount close to Mcssines, which was mined by the British, and which they blew up. It is now known that this mine killed and buried 17,000 Ger- j man soldiers, and mere is now a hole in the mount which resembles a punch bowl. This hole is half filled with water and makes a good sized lake, in j which several boats' could be rowed. Of course, the tunnel was of a great length. From Lille we came to Brussels, which city escaped the ravages of war. It is a very fine c ;ty—in fact, a miniature Paris, which it resembles in many respects, especially in its fine boulevards and avenues, sonic of them with four rows of trees and a road for the tramway between one linn of trees, then a smooth road for motors, and then a cobble stone road for vehicles. Looking down on one of these boulevards it has the aspect of a long, narrow forest. We could not leave Brussels without seeing the spot where Nurse Cavell was shot. The murderous deed was done on the National shooting range on the outskirts of Brussels. While here T got permission from the British military to go to Cologne; but they would not grant a permit for the rest: of the family, nnd I think they wore quite right* as the train accommodation is verv bad indeed, and only fit for men who could rough it. One had almost to fight to get a scat, nnd Cologne is not much of a city; but it is certainly noted for its cathedral and eau de cologne. It is by a long way the cheapest place I have struck since leaving New Zealand. Why, you can buy the German mark at 3.10 for an English note. Before the war you could only buy 22 for one pound. Needless to say. there is a great deal of trafficking German marks on the chance of the German Government fixing the price at present values. The following will give you some idea how cheap Cologne is. Very good bedroom, S marks; dinner, 5 marks; breakfast, 4 marks and lunch 4 marks: that is 21 marks all told, equal to 2s lOd in English money. Of course, the menu was not quite equal to that of the Ritz or the Savoy; but it was filling. Fancy buying very best silk hose nt I3s and other things

just as cheaply. Of course, I had to bo careful with the things when coming back over the Belgian frontier, or they might have cost me much more. I should like to say that I think Belgium on the whole came well out of the war. One can infer from what they say themselves they think so too. Brussels is intact and so is Antwerp, with the exception of a few houses which were destroyed during the short while it was bombarded. Of course, Ypres. Dixtuude, Louvain, etc., also suffered; but the people themselves outside of those who were deported did not fare badly, for they had food supplied them in fair quantities by the Americans, and the people themselves claim that they will recover from the effects of the war sooner than any of the Allies outside America. I was told that the soldiers and workmen are taking to their work very satisfactorily. There js a portion of the Belgian people who are strongly pro-Ger-man even now. They are in a minority, but a large minority. For instance, all 1 those who speak the Flemish language supported the Germans and were the cause of a good deal of worry and trouble during the war. I am of opinion that a great deal of ■ be dona wit*» Germans, and a good deal of manufactured stuff will find its way into Allied countrie:; through Belgium. They claim that it is better to do business with her so that she will ! more easily pay the large indemnities, and perhaps if one looks at the thing from a financial point of view -they may be right. One knows from experience that the dollar enter: largely into . ...sren \

human nature. We are leaving toi morrow for Metz and Strassbourg beI fore going on through Switzerland and l Italy. We are all well, and hope that things are well with you all in Akaroa.”