BLACK AUSTRIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 December 1919, Page 5

BLACK AUSTRIA.

CRISIS BECOMING WORSE. HIGH COST OF FOOD. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Dec. 30, 11.35 a.m. London, Dec. 20. The Vienna correspondent of the Daily Chronicle states that the crisis is daily becoming more serious. Passenger traffic on the railways is suspended for a fortnight owing to the luck of coal, and snowstorms are blocking goods and traffic. The country is manufacturing practically nothing, and the peasants are charging enormous prices for food. They hoard notes received in paymerit instead of banking them, so the Government is forced continually to print fresh currency. It is feared that the peasants will shortly refuse to deliver foods, saying that they have enough notes. A hundred kroner, formerly worth eighty shillings, is now worth five shillings. A man's suit, which previously cost eighty kroner, is now sold for three thousand kroner. An ordinary meal costs from thirty to fifty kroner. Skilled mechanics are now receiving a thousand kroner monthly, where previously they were paid 120 kroner. The majority of the other workers are faring worse than the poorest beggars.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.