A TRIP ABROAD.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 268, 24 December 1928, Page 4

A TRIP ABROAD.

CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND. Resentment Against U.S.A. Some interesting impressions of her recent visit to the Old Country were -given by Mrs. J. C. Tomalin, of Overdale, Putaruru, to a Putaruru Press representative last week. Mrs. Tomalin, whose first visit it was after a period of 23 years in New Zealand, travelled ''Home via Australia. A call was paid at Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Durban, the .last -two cities especially appealing to the visitor. • Adelaide, with its clean streets, beautiful avenues and botanical gardens, made the biggest appeal, though Durban was very attractive. Mrs. Tomalin’s first impression on landing at Liverpool was one of keen disappointment. The weather was bad, but the city looked very cramped and squaHd, while there was much poverty in evidence and a certain impoliteness on the part of pedestrians in the streets.

Mrs. Tomalin immediately went to Long Buckby, near Rugby, where relations reside, and which village she made her headquarters. Despite the many fine sights seen on her trip in Australia, Africa and the Canary Islands Mrs. Tomalin feels there is nothing to quite compare with the quiet beauty of the English countryside. The intense cultivation, trim live hedges, beautiful lanes, stately country mansions and well-bred stock all combined to make pictures to be found nowhere else in the world. She found the country dwellers to he just as they were a quarter of a century ago. Their attitude, to a traveller, is one of narrowmindedness, and their outlook appeared to be confined to their own narrow sphere in their own tiny village. Farming operations showed no improvement and milking machines were unknown in the dairying districts visited. The bulk of farmers seemed to be scratching along with little signs of prosperity. Chester, however, was a notable exception. Here farmers seemed to be more prosperous and this market town showed many signs of business activity.

Mrs. Tomalin did not spend much of her time in the old villages she knew so well. Time alters conditions, friends pass on and the whole atmosphere seems different. Accordingly the biggest portion of her stay was spent in touring Wales and the north-west of England, though several flying visits were also paid to London.

The most wonderful impression on her mind on these tours was made by the perfect roads, which apparently radiated all over the country, and the splendid network of bus services which ran on them. All types of buses, including two-storeyed vehicles, were on the roads, the transport provided being expeditious and comfortable, yet remarkably cheap. The fares are approximately one penny per mile and the services are linked up all over England. Trips from Crewe to Chester and Crewe to Buxton are 2s 3d and 5s 3d respectively for the return journey. A reasonable pace is demanded by the controlling authorities and as the roads are like glass a large section of the populace prefers the buses to the railways.

On her road trips Mrs. Tomalin visited practically ail the watering places on the coasts of Lancashire and Wales, as well as scores of centres of interest inland, including a jaunt up Mount Snowden and visits to Shakespeare’s country, Eaton Hall and other world-famous centres.

Asked to compare prices, Mrs. Tomalin said that in Home-grown meats rump steak fetched 2s per pound and mutton sold at Is 9d and Is lOd. Bread was 2d per loaf cheaper, and during the winter milk was sold at 7d per quart. Eggs were then being retailed at 3id each. Clothing and boots were much cheaper and the quality was also superior on the whole. A doublestoreyed house containing eight rooms, with garden back and front, could be had for £1 per week. There was much unemployment in the north, and at Crewe and Manchester she had seen double queues half a mile long- composed of men waiting outside labour bureaux for work. She .had been told by many people that. England was on the down grade. They appeared to be cowed by the great burdens the country was carrying. However, the general impression was that things were looking up and that the country would win out. Everywhere she went she heard resentment, which was sometimes very intense, expressed against America, whose attitude people considered to have been anything but fair since the war. At timdb most bitter things ’ were said and most

people had no hesitation in expressing their opinion that Americans had not played the game in their attitude to their late ally.