CONDITIONS IN GERMANY.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 27 August 1920, Page 4

CONDITIONS IN GERMANY.

£IOO POB A SUIT. ' “You talk of drought, in Australia,, hut there is also drought in Europt, worse even than yours, and that is hunger, ” writes Mr Harold Sturrock, a former resident of AVallsend and Lnmbton, who was in the British Consul’s oiliee at Leipzig before the outbreak of the war, and . has since the armistice been associated with the British Committee of Investigation. All- Bturoock, who is now in Beilin, uus a prisoner of war in Germany. “I have seen some awful eases in my J travels,” lie writes to a friend at West —..tland, “especially in Ausiria. There the people are dreadfully in need of food and coal, and hundreds die daily. Not only have they noVuing to eat, but no clothing to wear, is is a common thing to see children v, ith only a coat and trousers on. In Germany things arc a little better, for they have goods that one may purchase, but at famine prices. The country was simply starved out during 1917. People had nothing else to eat but terrible soup made at the municipal Kitchens, and the people certainly look like it still. The following arc .-nine of the prices of iiio most necessary articles J2 months after the armistice, which "ill give you an idea of how empty the country was: —Coffee, his per lb; tea, 2-ls per lb; condensed milk, IDs tid per tin; fresh milk cannot be had for love or money; bacon. 225; eggs, 2s each; meat, 30s per lb when procurable; rice, 7s; sugar, 10s; caudles, Is (id each; Australian jam. P's tid per lb tin. Of course, many things are not procurable. When one comes to clothing one is astounded at tho prices. An ordinary suit costs from £lf> to £.l DO, a shirt £2 .los, socks £2 per pair, a necktie £2 IDs, collars los each, hats £.j IDs, Then, with respect, to boots, the-people stand in ijiicues tor days to get a good pair. Leather boots cost anything from £7 IDs to £lO a pair, and yet people buy in spite of these abnormal prices; but great unrest, prevails among them, and the day is not far distant when the dark clouds will break. Kevolution will run throughout the land. 1 doubt if it " ill be as bad as Kussia, for the German is much more reasonable than the Brasilia; nevertheless, it will lie a bitter light. Germany before tile war was one of the best countries one could wish to see. ’l'hings are not all roses in England, and everything iff dear, but there plenty of money is td be had for working.”