BACK FROM A WORLD TOUR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 183, 12 January 1915, Page 6

BACK FROM A WORLD TOUR.

DEVASTATION OF WAR .MPRESSION'S OF AN OBSERV -Y|XT TRAVELLER. PITIABLE PLIGHT OF FRENCH PEASANTS. Wellington, Saturday. A representative of the Times yesterday had an interesting interview with .Mr .1. B. {.'larkson, the managin"' director of J. 1!. t'larkson and Co., Ltd?, who has just returned from a visit to America, England, and the Continent. Mr Clarkson left Wellington for Am, rica by the Maitai oil August and came back by the same steamer, after an absence of over four months. Besides being a keen commercial man, lie is a close observer of all matters of general interest which come under his notice, lie is reported to have been a iegul.it tieasure to American journalists, who got a great, ileal of reliable mtormation from him about New Zealand and Australian affairs, in a literary style which pleased them immenselv.

FINANCIAL STKI>7<;|;X('V 1\ -AMISI MCA. r-ti-nlii v, Mr ('htrkson related that tlir risks nl war were, soon bronirht under his notice, for tlic Maitai 'had to moke a deviation 0110 miles south to Santiago to avoid running into the Or--111:111 warship r.eipsic. In October, lie lomid things commercially had, both in Canada and the Cnited States. Tlir I < ! '-. lion had been had for year or eighteen nioni lis, and was accentuated hy (In- outbreak of the war. Manufacturers were not in a position to take up orders owing to the want of monev to Nuance their operations. While travelling with a. hanker from Montreal to New Wk. he got very exact information with regard t.i the financial position. Tin* gentleman informed hiiu thai the scarcity of money so far as his bank was concerned was due to the' fact that they had accepted bills from Germany and Austria to the extent cil 1(1,m::i.1)00 dollars, for which they had nothing to show, "lie also told inc.' said Mr Clarkson, "one case, amongst others which I. spccilieallv remember, in which he hail been consulted as a hanker by a friend in regard to Tliiiin dollars' worth of shares which had been purchased as gilt-edged smiritics. till the day when the Wall street Stu, k l.vchange closed, these were valued at :l(i.000 dollars, and within a week a loan of .illllO dollars could not be obtained against them. The position was simply that the banks had no money to lend at' any rate of interest. During the month of October, it was impossible to obtain money in Xcw \ork at 10 lier cent, even for an extended term, while at this time the rate was only 5 per cent 011 the Loudon market.' 1

A SPKKI II P,Y .MR TIM IIEAEEY, M.P. "When travelling in the Cunard liner Mauretania,' Mr Clarkson went on, "we had a very interesting speech from Air .1 iin llealey, K.-t, on (lie reasons that had induced (,'reat Britain to declare war against Cermanv. lie laid ."''eat stress on the fact that tlie British Kinpire was fighting for the world ill (he cause of freedom, and commenting on the position from a religious standpoint, lie remarked that the fact of Protestant England having declared war on (iermanv in defence of little Catholic Belgium was calculated to bring the dill'ercut sects more into sympathetic unity than ever they had been before. He also mentioned the ready response Ireland liad made, despite the internal dissensions, immediately on the outbreak of war. The supreme call of the Empire had silenced discordant voices. Air ITealey's speech was interesting. eloquent and stii'irng (o a decree, but, being an Irishman, lie could not refrain from a jocular conclusion which caused much merriment. 'Ami now, gentlemen of the .jury/ he said. '1 leave you to consider your verdict.' One point of Mr ITealey's speech I must not omit, was that during his visit to America he had scarcely heard a dissentient voice against the action taken by Britain, and as a representative of the British people in Parliament, he had been complimented on all sides for the prompt manner in which a little nation had been befriended.'' ■'While in England," continued Mr Chirkson. "[ visited the large manufacturing ccntr. s, including Bradford. Rirminghani. Rie-tol and Coventry, and iu all these places the absence of unemployed was remarkable. f.Ynerally speaking, the business in England was normal, but a visit to France disclosed a different condition of affairs. The country being in suclv close proximity to the actual seat of war. business was reduced to a sideline. In Paris, all (he theatres and places of amusement were closed. (In' restaurants did not open in the evenings, and the hotels were practically deserted. The gay ciiy was very diflerent to what the traveller generally finds it."

KI-l RXT RATTLE (.'ROUNDS VISITED. "With a companion T visited Sen 1 is. and we loiind a {own devastated by an invading army. About 100 shops'and hou-es hail been destroyed by shell fire, the railway station had been wined out. and sonic thirty unoll'ending vi'lla.Ker> had been killed.' Shells had h.'ea dropped on the chuivh roof, but if had escaped with comparatively slight in. jury. On a trip to Mcaux we crossed three bridges over the river Manic which had been blown up, but temporarily repaired. At, Mimic, we hired a motor car with, a military permit, and villi this we were able to S ot within sixmiles ol Soissons. In (ravelling over the battlefields of Ala rue and M.auv, we saw from .",011 to liilo Frenchmen's graves and also the remnants (if a huge barn in "which innrt German bodies bad been incinerated with acids. At NonJT«on, we saw a country village, and were able to get a glimpse 0 r the povcrty and distress afflicting 1 tile peasants as a result of the war. Tlicr had nothing bu( straw l.vds to sleep or,, no inrnityre, and none ol the ordin:;rv conveniences or life. Here in an orchard we were able to secure the re«!mental numbers. from a i'Vcnch soldier's coat, he having been buried close by. In a village called Harry, while in--1 i'i i mil 1 a c'lurch « l:ieh had been almost destroyed, we were able, through the courtesy of the. l.''ronrh officer in char'ie. fo secure some interesting relies. CEMETERY USED AS A FORT. "At Cliambry we found a lar;»<* cemetery, by a wall ol' won feet which tlie (11■ rll TtiH had possess- I ion of (or el<»vt*n days, n-ins; it a* a forlH'ss. They luid jut/rced the wall at intervals to get. their guns through, ami established a Jine of three parallel trenelies fur miles so ns to eoiumand a largo extent of country. Tlie cemetery itself pre-ented a very dilapidated appearance, portions of the wall haying been shattered by sheila and many gravestones being damaged beyond recognition. Tlie ground was littered with straw and refuse, and there were about