AFTER VICTORY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 207, 8 September 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

AFTER VICTORY.

FRANCE ALREADY PLANNING. By W. KAY WALLACE, The Distinguished Neutral Writer. Paris, June. Rising on the terrace of the Jarto des Tuilenes, overlooking the> Place do k Concorde, long rows of small hut-like structures have been erected Painted in gav colours, bright greeA yellows and blues, decorated with «ag s a° d flowers, they form a curious picture, • silhouetted 'against the sumptuous * background of the Louvre. , Through the turnstile in the Rue do Rivoli crowds are passing. "What 8 2" "La Cite Reconstitute (the rebu-.lt oi) The France of to-morrow, comes the simple reply, as I. enter the S«r!. "France 4 getting ready for the day after Tictor|j£ . Here in the heart of Efts a muslv rofm village has sprung upj houses which have been devised to lebuild those regions of France devastated fty theTwar In th ; s corner of the great gardens adjoining the most gta souare in the world r:ses tc-day tnpa fern of the hundred villages and homesteads erected along the s>tt e-l.ne. To provide for the immediate needs ot tfcthousands of war-stricken when peace leturne is the greafpToblem which the French genius has Men m hand. There are scattered n all parts or FrinSover-70,000>rsons parting to return to the r native Whs and villages in PicaroYiand Artois, Champa*ne and Lorraine, not to mention the millions of homeless Belgans. With "h" of the Germans SUulderinl^evenafewlast shells which may be fired > the retreating enemy nymg overhead, these people chiefly women, will set to work Wear up the debris of battle, to plant their crops, and begin life anew. While husbands, sons, and brothers are stall nursir'ne the defeated invaders or marching on final parade" down the Samps-Wees, before the demobilisation ha" freed the men to return to the*homes, these towns and) plages will arise in the battle zone and the men who have fought so valiantly will find homes to which to return; will find their native villages rebuilt as J by magic. Nowhere is the sturdy optimum of France more adma-ably portrayed than in the undertaking of this great IN EVERY DETAIL.

. I enter a church Gothic in designIt will seat 100 persons". Though the structure is of wood, no tools are needed;. not a, mri « used. Sent ready-made from the factory, -t can be set up by old men, women and children in a very brief space of time. Next door stands a three-room house made of stout pine-boardsj-ftnjsbed in a K brown tint. It was erected ready for occupation in three hours by tour men. Farther on there is a more elaborate structure of five rooms which took two days to complete. AH tastes and needs are catered for, from the roughest hut-like structure such as the Quakers have already built and furnished in'great numbers tor the rtedv in the Valley of the Marne who have chosen to return to their devastated villages, to the very modern house of the well-to-do, with .tiled bath, room and latest improved devices for lighting and heating. Some of the houses are supplied fully furnished complete down to the least detail; kitchen utensils, crockery, table-service, linen, and even window curtains wady attached to the windows, a real home for a family of nve or seven persons which can be unpacked from the packing cases and set I up and furnished ready for occupation in a few hours. Many of the houses are of wood though some are of tile, slabs of cement, brick and compisition of various kinds. Nearly all are " demountable ; tan be set up anywhere without foundat:ons prepared in advance, with a minimum amount of unskilled labour, in the shortest possible space of t me All parts of these "houses arc interchangeable; "a window facing south can be removed at will and placed east or north. The entrance door can be moved to the opposite side of the house if desired at any time. Aflost of the houses—and there are only sixty different models shown—can be enlarged ' ;it will by the purchase of additional materials', as all the parts are standardised. The house* are sT)?d according to size just as boots or motor-tyres. Churches are numbered- according to their seating capacity, dwelling-houses !iv floor space. TOWN HALL IN ANIGHT. Whole villages, including post office, town hall, church, school, inn, covered market place with shops and booths, and dwelling-houses for 100 inhabit•uits which can he sot up overnight at a total cost of £5,000, can be contracted for by a group of inhabitants with Government aid. Here this village is shown, just as it will be when set up later on at Cumieres or Souchez. The office is a roomy, one-story structure with writ'ng desk and telephone booth, with an operator in attendance. The town hall, which includes the offices of the mayor and town councillors, the J.P., as well as the schoolroom, is of similar design and construction, an I all the birldings of this village group harmon se and present a very pleasing effect. These are not make-believe homes, but real dwellings where men can live in comfort until such a day when out of the ruins shall arise once again the smiling villages which graced the French countryside. And in order that when these new towns do arise modern methods of town planning, sanitation, and hvgicne may he enforced, one whole section of the exhibition is given over to this feature. " Passing through the<« gay, welllighted, and ventiated houses, where sunshine and fresh air are the first considerations 1 call to nrnd the French peasant dwelling of the past, low-ceil-inged and dark, with inadequate windows often never opened; the rough flagstone floors, the great smoking hearths: rooms cold and damp and cheerless; picturesque, perhaps, but out of date. With these modern villages i isms: along the whole length of the battle-line of the west, this distrct • destined to become the vanguard of the new France of to-morrow. A Franco rejuvenated, adopting modcm methods of living and doing. Trac-b'on-plnud'.s and motor garages find n ~'.!, c in the small farms of this new Fiir.ii After long and terrible suffer- ,•,,* xh< •'■ frong in courage will take „i : :. ir tasks again, and only a brie 1 '

time will elapse before they will forge ahead of the rest of the country which through these years of hardship has re. mained unmolested.

War is a great destructive force, but viewed in the light )f these new villages it i' not without its material blessings. Wisely fostered by an enlightened Government, seconded by the inventive genius of a great race, the devastation of war can be turned into a harvest of plenty. Imbued with this spirit, all France awaits patiently, hopefeully, "the day after victory."