rete At Least, There Is No Unemployment _

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 34, 6 March 1931, Page 31

rete At Least, There Is No Unemployment _

Impressions of Palestine

Bv

(Mrs...

G. G.

McQuarrie

T is just a little difficult to de- . cide what phase of our trip will prove most interesting to you. To me it has been one great holiday, and I ecould talk about it for hours, We saw so many: beautiful places, met so many nice people, that things at the present time seem somewhat confused, but I shall try and wnravel them and tell you someth of what we encountered. You, no doubt, are most interested in wireless and electricity. So am JI, but we cannot give it too much prominenée in a trip that’ was decidedly 4 holiday. I think I shall take you on our holiday, away from electricity and wireless, and we shall keep them in somewhat the proportions they took while we were abroad. ‘Our. route lay through Australia, .to Ceylon, Suez, Naples, Gibraltar, dear old Hngland and Scotland (we stayed there two.months), France, and home through Palestine. I shall not follow..through the trip . in the order we did it. Rather I think v would be better-to detail my imressions as I retain them; and, I think, standing out most clearly are those of Palestine.. After having witnessed the appalling state of affairs in ‘Great Britain with its huge crowds of unemployed, it was a change, and to some extent a relief, to see that here, at least, was a country with some unity of purpose. ‘There were no long queues of able-bodied men waiting for the dole. Bveryone was going about his " pusiness in a sensible fashion. In the ‘town and country alike there was industry. Men, and women, too, were working the land with up-to-date machinery, and it does not need a strong imagination to see that in a few years this country will be a veritable garden of Eden again. : The natural resources of the country are being tapped. The sea of ilee is being utilised.to provide an adequate supply of electricity for Paiestine. This is known as the Rutengberg scheme, and when it is completed in about four months, power will be available to work the land. It will be used in the homes at less than a penny a unit, in the streets, on the rapidly. improving farms and even in irrigation works. When these -are complete the areas of cultivation must extend into regions that have lain useless for centuries, and, what was once barren, will yield a harvest that only the climate of the Mediterranean can produce. an We saw the labourers at their daily tasks. There were no agitation meet‘ings and no loafers. Men and their ‘tired donkeys were carrying heavy loads of timber and stone as they dpplied themselves to the construction of the new Palestine. — The men of Palestine are really very strong and carry amazing loadsa on

their backs. We passed one man bent down :-with a huge load of timber. It was enough to build a fair-sized. room, and we felt he would never straighten up again. Judging by the present rapid trend of things, the donkey must go. He will be replaced by motor-lorries and trucks. Only a few years ago we were visiting Palestine and there was

not a car of any description to be seen. Now taxies ply for hire, and the more wealthy and even some of the workers have their own private cars. Without question the old order of things is changing at a great rate, as the Jews come again into their own. Haifa has huge possibilities. ‘Situated opposite the ancient fortress of Acca, the.scene of many terrible wars, and on the slopes of Mount Carmel, it is surrounded as it were with a romantic halo. But it is being modernised and in a few years will be a valuable port. It is quite close to Agra, that historic town which is to be found mentioned in most history books.. On Mt. Carmel we visited the German colony mission house, a quaint white building rambling over a large area of ground and surrounded by a profusion of olive and date trees. In fact, there are few other trees that these in Palestine. From this house we looked down on the town. And how much it resembled our own Wellington! It reminded me of Wadestown-looking down from the main road on to the city. The very contour of the hills was New Zealandlike, On Mount Carmel we visited Blijah’s tomb. You will remember that it was here that Elijah and the priests of Baal assembled and each in turn ealled ‘upon his God to accept the burnt offering lying on an altar of stone. The sacrifice of the people of. Baal remained as they had left it, and all their supplications were of no avail. Hifjah

covered his with water which ran down in trenches and surrounded the drenched offering, but in answer to his simple prayer the sacrifice was enveloped in flames. A’ Roman Catholic church ‘is now erected over that historic spot. It was partly destroyed by the Turks during the Great War. They broke down the

statues and pillaged the church, leaying it but an empty shell; but it has been fitted out again and is a truly beautiful edifice, Flower farming is quite common, and when we were there the narcissus and anemones were just bursting into bloom. They were not in the small quantities we see when peering over the nurserymen’s fences, but in big fields. They made a blaze of éolour equalled only by the heather of Secotland. There were orange groves bearing their rich harvest of fruit. In the towns 200 huge juicy oranges could be had for a shilling. Here and there are clumps of date palms. also bearing their rich harvest. And because of these, another industry is rapidly finding its feet under Jewish control, That is. the date industry. Every season, many hundred: thousands of packets of dates are exported to a world-wide market. We must leave Palestine-much ‘as I should like to stay here and tell you of the wonderful things I saw-and return to England. A different scene here. The country is not flourishing as I should have liked to have seen it. It is different in this respect to Palestine. The unemployed roll. has been steadily mounting until it has reached alarming proportions. The dole, I feel. is very much done to death. Out in the country there is work, but the unemployed do not ‘want to go, for they .can receive nearly as much by staying at home and doing nothing as they can by working. I am certainly glad to

return and find that New Zealand has not adopted the system of giving something for nothing. We were in England during Christ. ‘mas and what impressed me most was the wide use of electricity. Gamage’s had the most wonderful display of electric. lighting that I have. ever seen, Outside their ‘premises, covering an ‘area about equal to that of the Wellington D.I.C., were arranged thousands of coloured lamps, which’ were ‘operated to form a moving Santa Claus filling stockings. of several sleeping children. The representation was com‘plete even to the Christmas trée, covered with good things. In. Paris we.saw a display something the same, but it ‘was not quite equal to the English demonstration. ’ Broadcasting in England is flourishing. It is becoming very popular and is one of the industries that seem Httle affected by the depression. In Seotland -we visited the-new Edinburgh station, which should be on the air. now, for when we were there it .was only two months from completion. It is.a grand place. Before the main studio is a hall with ‘a seating accommodation for many hundreds.: ‘It is like a small théatre, but is carefully designed’ and draped for acoustic effects. The broadcasting studio is the stage, which ean accommodate, without crowding, ‘a whole symphony orchestra, and, as you can. imagine, a hundred players will not go into a small space. It is fitted up, too, with a view to the production of.radio plays. These are quite a feature.of English broadcasting, and ‘I must admit I enjoyed many of these presentations. I should very much like. to see some of them produced in this country. In the Scottish station, there are numerous small studios round about the main one. In fact, two broadcasts could take place at the same time. The hotels are well equipped with radio. In some of the larger ones it is in every room. One merely presses a button and one is entertained by grand opera, vaudeville or whatever is going. The Continental stations put on some delightful music. I heard many of these in Hngland, but many more when in Paris. One can appreciate the musical portion of the programmes almost as much as if they were English. The announcements, of course, are so much double Dutch. Talking of languages, you would be surprised how easy it is to see Paris and: the. main French towns without knowing: their language. In every place of importance there is someone who can speak English, while the guide books are very helpful. Although it is all over now, I an Still doing that trip. Our large collec. tion .pf. photos remain to remind us of the délightful hours that we cannot and do not wish easily to forget.

Mrs. G. G. McQuarrie and Miss McQuarrie have just returned from a protracted trip abroad, and in. the accompanying article Mrs. McQuarrie relates some of her impressions. ‘The writer is a well-known figure in radio and electrical business circles, but most wisely she has taken the opportunity to break from her business ties, and her story places radio and electricity in the background they occupied, during her trip.