LIVING BY BARTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 October 1943, Page 4

LIVING BY BARTER

LIFE IN DUTCH VILLAGES MONEY DISAPPEARS. HOW NAZI’S ARE DECEIVED. (By Wolfe Preger, Correspondent of 'the Netherlands Indies Government Information Service.) Life on the land in Holland today presents the amazing spectacle of modern people living like their ancestors of a century oi- more ago. Lack of transportation has made every village a separate little community, independent of all others. All the inhabitants are now, more than ever before, dependant on themselves and on each other. It is no longer possible to go to a shop and simply buy what one wants, for shops are almost empty. As a result, bartering has practically become the only means whereby people can obtain goods and services. Money has lost its value and Piet the miller grinds so many sacks of grain in exchange for a sack of wheat, oats or barley. Eggs are exchanged for milk or butter and meat or a chicken settles the doctor’s bill or the vet’s. This was related by a Dutch farmer who managed to escape, not long ago. from Holland. As an example of how smoothly this barter system works, he told the story of one farmer whose water-pump was damaged. The village j blacksmith could not repair it as he could not obtain the necessary metal. A couple of days later the farmer’s little son came home dragging behind him part of an old iron railing which he had found in a ditch. The blacksmith repaired the water-pump without charge and kept part of the scrap iron in payment for his services. Out of the scrap he made a number of horse-shoes which he exchanged for twenty plants, a small sack of flour and a bag. of potatoes. SPINNING AND WEAVING. “Housewives and girls in our village,” the escapee related, “like their great-grandmothers, spend all their leisure in- spinning and weaving. But to buy a garment made of the fabrics they produce is quite impossible. Nobody would accept money. The only acceptable currency is either goods, food or services. The village doctor,” the farmer said, “wore a pullover made of the hair of his golden haired spaniel. And when he visited his patients they never failed to ask: "Doctor, when your pullover throws a litter, please may I have a pup?” “No change in the life of our village,” he said, ‘is as significant as the re-introduction of the town-crier. This has been made necessary as provincial papers have been suppressed. According to Jan. the old town-crier, ‘One man's death is another man's breath.’ and. as there are still some people who want to advertise, Jan obliges them. Instead of a bell he carries an old motor horn. His signature time is four toots —three short and one long, the Morse signal for victory. MILLS REGAIN INPORTANCE. "For years." the escapee went on, “the <three mills in and near our village had been idle. Modern milling methods had made them unnecessary. But the war brought them new tasks. They now replace the provincial power station and their owners are today the benefactors of the people. Every night there is busy traffic between the neighbouring farms and these mills. Road traffic is, of course, too dangerous. But, silently, secretly, barges and boats glide along the canals bringing grain to the mills and taking flour back to the farms. "Little cf all this, however, is allowed to get into the hands of the Germans. Or. at least, as little as possible for the farmers use much of their produce with which to pay their help. In fact, farm labourers would refuse to accept money. They can get next to nothing for it. Time and again the Nazi press complains that, as much as 40 per cent, of farm produce remains unaccounted for. But,” said the farmer, "even a Dutchman must eat.” GRANDPARENTS’ CLOTHES WORN. "If our grandparents were to turn from their graves,” he continued, "they would probably be more surprised than we, for, they would see themselves in their grandchildren, strolling through the village street dressed in their own clothes of fifty or a hundred years ago. Although the Germans have given us ration tickets for clothing they have forgotten to supply the stores with clothes. Housewives have, therefore, opened up the old, oaken family chests and brought out grandma’s and great granddad’s festive attire. They would see us wearing tight trousers of black broadcloth. high waistcoats buttoned up to the neck and full-waisted, overcoats with a cape or two or mo'le whilst our women folk go about their affairs in long, wide skirts and beautifully woven wraps that used to serve their grandmothers as coats. The Germans used this for propaganda and announced loudly that ‘the Germanic farmers’ costume is regaining its old style.” But nobody in our village feels very happy in grandfather's trousers.

“It is a strange world we country people in Holland live in. Some of our children know all about enemy and Allied planes. But they have never seen a motor car.

The Germans have confiscated all the radio sets they could lay their hands on in Holland. Today, the news broadcasts by the 8.8. C., or by Radio Orange the Netherlands Government broadcasting station in England, is picked up by under-ground listening posts in Holland and the good news passed round by word of mouth.