ENGLAND, TO-DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 April 1919, Page 5

ENGLAND, TO-DAY.

THE SPIRIT OF UNREST. The Auckland Star published the following extracts from a letter giving the conditions existing in England at the present time:—

Our troubles here in England are just beginning, as you -will have seen by the cablegrams. Strike succeeds strik's and everything seems to be in a state of unrest. Some say we are rushing towards anarchy and Bolshevism, but I don't think so. Russia has been such a terrible example and the ordinary working man is pretty sane and their leaders know they have everything to lose and nothing to gain by letting the country get into such a state as Russia. All the same the next twelve months are going to be trying and will be a very anxious time for all. The resettlement of the men is taking place gradually and it will take some time for matters to be adjusted, but the outcome of it all will, I am sure, be for good, especially for the workers; but during the process a good many will suffer and suffer badly, more particularly the filed income people.

The housing problem is getting more acute month by month. Property is rising and it is almost impossible to get n house of any kind in any port of England. There has been no building going on for four years* now and the enormous number of young people who have got married since the war started who all want houses will make the demand for homes very great for some time to come, and the cost of building will be almost prohibitive for some years to come. The only way to get a place now is to buy and turn the existing tenant out—not a very pleasant proceeding, but it is being done all over the country. The servant question is as perplexing here as it is with you. Ladies who have never done this kind of work have had to do it now. Any number of homes are doing without servants; the only way to get them is to offer high wages. Ordinary generals ere getting from £25 to £45 a year. We are not at all badly off for food now. Some things are still scarce and everything is very dear; most foodstuffs are nearly three times the price before the war, but when you consider all that is happening we are really very well off, and with the exception of imported foodstuffs, such as oranges, bananas, currants, r»isins, and things like that, we seem to have plenty. Of course, everyone has to be careful; our greatest trouble now is in obtaining coal. We are all rationed, but it seems doubtful if