6.
COLLAPSE IN RUMANIA
At the port of Constanza I look- ed Ext the huge grain elevator there which had been built to ex- port grain from this once rich area. It is now used solely for the import of maize from America to provent the whole country from starving.
Bucharest In the shops
of
I learned that there had been no bread for sale for more than five months. But it could still be purchased In the Black Market.
Later on, I saw Moldavian pea- familica who had sants and their wandered 700 miles from their homes in search of food following long periods of drought in their own locallises,
Housing standards are
extremely
low and social services almost non- aru existent. Many of the houses nearly a century old.
By MORGAN PHILLIPS
(Secretary of the British Labour Party)
N many parts of Europe to-
for
Illiteracy widespread. A four- day millions of people are year education is the average. facing a catastrophic col- most children. I talked to a 12-year- old boy who was working a 12-hour! lapse in their standard of life. dny operating a lift in a block of
Numberiess workers and pea- fints. sants and their families are fighting actual starvation. have just come from Rumania,
threat awful where the large-scale famine hangs over a whole nation.
of
Are
t110 re-
Many of Rumania's troubles undoubtedly due to the war, reactionary drought, and the gimes which Held power in the cour
before the war. But, neverthe- try less, the present unsettled political conditions In the country contribute to the existing distress and misery. I got the impression that many people feared arrest and political persecu-
My recent visits to various Euro- pean countries have convinced me of the overwhelming need for co- tion.
in Slates operation among all Europe if our stricken continent is not to slide down into an abyss of
Censorship
starvation and chaos from which VARIOUS Ministers assured me that there may be no return.
there was no consorship in the
Take Rumania, for instance. In country. Twice, however, I recelved editors extractu this East European country much from newspaper of Europe's tragedy and
and desuair is from my own speeches on liberty
mirrored and epitomised.
Millions of working-class Ruma- nians are today struggling to main- tain life on wage rates and food standards that are at pliifully low levels. Let me ilustrate the straits to which many Rumanians have been reduced.
that had been officially, censored. On the other hand, both opposition papers make vigorous attacks on the existing regime and a Ministers.
In addition, during my stay they weekly Times" "The banned edition and other papers, and I saw a long list of publications which The average wage of a Rumanian had previously been prohibited. werker is three million Ind per learned also of the great difficulty month. When I arrived, there were 2,700,000 lel to the British £1. When
left I it was expected to be near 4,000,000. So that many Rumanion workers are now getting less than 21 a month on which to feed their families and themselves.
Nothing left
1
experienced by business men, press- men and other visitors in getting ad- mission to the country.
every-
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1947.
Marshall
'HALF A MO', CUPID! I'VE GOT TO CONSULT THE 'KIDS"
ustoms
JAMES BARTLETT analyses diverse readers' comments in response to an invitation printed in a London paper They were recently.
DOMINIONS
asked to tell the lessons they had discovered in the search for a contented mind -that quality more elusive now than ever before...
How to find
19138539062299571130/2018
CAFE SOCIETY AND NUDISTS
Canues, Sept. 18.-Cafe society from four. continents, along with a small colony of nudists, has been disporting itself. on the sands of the French Riviera this summer to give this fabled" resort its best season since 1938.
Tourist bureau officials anid it seemed prob
when 69,000 able that even the 1938 record, tourists visited Cannes between May 1 and Sep- tember 30, would be broken.
Jacques Pons, director of the bureau, sald the influx of foreigners has been from 25 to 30 porcent higher than last year. During the month of July alone Cannes was host to 600 Belgians, 650 Americans and 977 Englishmen.
It has been the scene of some notable ro- mances. The Cap d'Antibes cupids claim credit for the Doris Duke-Porfiro Rubirosa nuptials,: which took place recently in Paris, and the pre- Hence here of the 24-year-old son of Sedmaoul Pasha, Egyptian chain store king, is attributed to the attractions of the blonde French singer Yolanda.
According to Yolanda, however, the latter romance is not likely to ring any wedding bells. "I'm 20 years older than he is," she says with rare frankness.
:
The Cannes nudists are of the ahy, rather than the aggressive, variety, and they are not very numerous, so the local authorities are in- clined to take a broadminded view of the matter.
CONTENTMENT
3
It turns out to be a long list WISH they could have There was great Interest
brought their letters along --but then Mr Lomax. thinks where in the aims and achievements of Britain's Labour Government. So
with. them. In world most of us would find that to be far, the Rumanian people have been
so if we tried it. Riven little opportunity of finding where it has become the fashion out what we are doing in Britain.to make parades and proces- Their knowledge of affairs is largely TT is true that workers can buy coloured by the Russian Press and sions more like Monday morn- certain essentials at cheaper by the reproduction of any English ing and less like Saturday night
store. But criticism of the Foreign Secretary. calculated the average
spend worker would have to
rales at their factory even so, I
Masses' desire
Lo
TREAT
cathusiasm was aroused
his whole monthly wage on food alone if he and his family were not starve outright.
This, of
of course, would leave him nothing at sil for rent, taxes, clother
and other expenses.
alr.
fresh singing hymns, finding in familiar Fresh air and still more
Use your eyes--the man who words and tunes an inspiration and you through the spends the best part of his life in strength to carry the open dir isn't often the man you day. remember 18 a grumbler. Isn't that so? Whatever you cut down on, 'don't cut down on fresh air.
There is nothing complicated about contentment. It is built on simple things. Mrs Pagel, of Birmingham, on her post- wrote two sentences card:-
"My old schoolteacher used to say: If you can remember with pleasure days when nothing happened except that you dried your washing or made a good cake then you will be a con- lented woman. My washing looks
AFTER every 30 letters or so you lovely in the sun today,"
-AND CHILDREN
Mostly women, they make their headquarters on the rocks near the Points de la Croisette and can be seen bathing there any morning about dawn, com- pletely nude. They withdraw into the confines of convention- ality long before the beaches. start to fill with ordinary sun worshippers.
The eccentricities of the visi- tors here are numerous, but Pierre Dudan, French cinema actor who camped on the beach in a tent for several days, claimed he did so for no other reason than that he could not find a room.
All the major hotels, such as the the Carlton and Martinez, the
Majestic, report no stoms available The the end of
903907
Hotel California, which opened this
summer, is full. With the reopening of the Hitel des Pins and the Mont- fleury; Cannes has recovered all of the 0,000 rooms it boasted before the than Jast war and has 000 more year, but still there are not enough,
United Press.
Jests And Jeers
The dominant religion these days seems to be Confusionism.
Success used to indicate superior ability, but now people merely won der what vitamin you're taking.
He says: "Wo get used to the
Don't neglect thrill It's so easy things for which we should be these contented people might thankful. They get pushed into
now easier than before-to live just the background. I can recom- have done us all some good.
mend
this
self-stock-taking on the wrong side of your income. myself Don't do it I did it once in search should Monday habit to anyone
of Any why
and I was unhappy all that year..........
AND DENIAL by straightforward explanations morning seem so sour? Perhaps
were trying to do in this is the best time of all to contentment. Let them laugh-- take a little practical advice I know first-hand it helps you of what we Britain.
There was no doubt that the masses from Mr Lomax, philosophling to find it." Anything he wishes to buy out-
the from his drawing office in Liver-
A NEW LIFE
begin to feel a little smug. Then - side his inctory
store can be had desire to press forward with
market task of building a vigorous new de-
up comes a something to wipe the only at exorbitant open
ASKED Anne Edwards if this prices. Sugar and fat, for instance, nocracy with greater political free-pool,
last line would infuriate laundry- cust nearly five shillings a pound-in-dom thun they enjoy at present.
came away from Rumania with From time to time Mr Lomax
it seems. Many taught me.that contentment the open market.
little, the
the feeling that in that country you finds it helpful to do a little l you need perspective to And con- silly smile off your face. "Time has
Maybe it will readers in certain moments of their destroyed when you capture it," says starved housewives on a Monday lesson in the stock-taking. The peasants are in very better plight. As I travelled down will find an object
from Bucharest to wisdom of Ernest Bevin's insistence make some of his acquaintances lives have had an excuse to be dis- Mr Heathfield writing pugnaciously morning. She said she thought they on the train
of wider horizons. It brings not only
Then she picked up a reader's let- a countryside en free govemment, free expression Constanza through
about that. He takes a piece of to be Ungered over.
dreams, but marble realities.
ter from her desk and said: "Fer- made dry and barren through three of opinion and International econo-smile-but he doesn't mind contented. Such moments are not from Luton "Discontent is the spur will take it in good part.
ought to read this."It I saw the peà- mic co-operation. yesta of drought.
this. Rumaala paper and heads it. "What I
There is the young woman down strive, to seck, and not to yield be- haps you driving their small flocks of My last point is
itnow possess." Then he writes
Some of our officials have acquir- sheep and goats in a constant and needs outside help. She needs
ward through all her girlhood days purpose. To squat contentedly is Portsmouth. This is what she wrote:
"'ll tell you the secret of contented a reputation for their inertintive. anxious search for the few blades of now and the needs & badly. Surely down all the things he can think London, S.W.7, who looked for fore difficulties is discontent with a came from a naval captain's wife at
t good difference even at this late hour, a formula
word-children. And ment in one grass which meant the
elec-the ther for giving mid to this stricken coun-of, like "good health,
something between life and death for
home, a sense of humour."
Well, let's pass on to Mr Smithson, I'll tell you
Hie try can still be devised.
lovellest age of all in a child's families.
of Barnet, Herts.
is when It's nearly a year old.
sants
THEATRE, MUSIC AND ART
REPORT FROM
By A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
11
BRITAIN
not only for promenade concerts but for music in Britain in general,
сол
teacher. Then to being a
Labour came the Ministry of -directed her into nursing.
along death."
and
is
Τυ
UPROAR IN BARNET years'
What distilusion! What heart- Dreak! No. After four training, she took up midwifery. Now she writes: "To bring a new life into the world, to hear a baby's first ery, is the most satisfying ex- perience in life."
TIBET-AND TROUT
R
El
DAVID
Be
Many of our beach beautica_have_ lovely profies-all the way down.
•
Never judge a book by its film.
•
Overheard on the ferry:
First Girl: George proposed to me
Second Giri: Doesn't he do it
LANGDON CARTOON
A pessimist, according to a new la always use this is the age when lie's big definition, is a man who enough to be a separate person with building dungeons in the air.
mind of his own-small enough to SMITHSON is a motorcycle have to admit that you are still the enthusiast. His idea of content boss; ald enough to suspect most of because ment is highly Individual-and dis- the answers-ioo young to be able
to say them. But chiefly puted, I imagine, by his neighbour, this is the last baby moment of his last night..
win- life-when he is still completely de- At week-ends, he throws the
the pendent, still thinks you are per beautifully! duws wide open and juras up SOME believe that contentment is radio so that he can test the engine fect even at your very worst.... In 1895, English or high pitch was
confined to places., Mr Broad- of his motor-cycle In the garden and of in
British use in general is month, and the great galleries
It field, down in Hampshire, keops still listen to the music, too. THE London summer
to either thinking of the bliss that came
This nolsy world is a pleasure to impossible to sing usually regarded as a closed Burlington House are shut in pre-cert halls. At times this made
paration for the usual winter exht- almost
He says; "Tonight, opera or oratoria. Dr Catheart, as him when he went over the Hima- Mr Smithson. season as far as concerns new bition.
It is particularly appropriate at a a throat specialist, realised the great layas into the village of Yatung, in about bedtime, I shall roar up the theatrical productions and art
no aircraft. great constitutional harm the use of the high pitch was Tibet. No cars, when oxhibition.
new shows time Few
to English aingers.
mechanical contrivances. more changes are taking place in India, doing are put on and many
the art of that country has financing the first promenade
or French But Mr E. Hutchins also lives in
SILENCÈ IN BATH como off. There is really a that
been chosen for the resumption of certs he insisted that low general stocktaking in prepara- this series of great national exhibi- pitch (diapason normal) should be Hampshire. There is very
inalstenco tion for the autumn.
tions. The Committee visited India used. The cost of this
Was enormous; new wind instru- evidence that Mr Hutchins spends reminiscing about the
Two hundred miles away from Recently there has been only one earlier in the year and have chosen
him about bedtime. Mr. Allen, the London a large number of Oriental master- ments had to be bought for the or-much time new production stage worth noting-Nod Coward's pieces which will augment those chestra; the great organ of Queen's Himalayas. His theory is this:
For contentment, a man needs a in Bath, will seek contentment #irendy offered by private collectors Hall was lowered to a 439 at 60 dc-
from the now play, "Peace In Our Time."
grets, to be in tune with a 435.5 in pleasant occupation in lovely sur books. He reads pages the. heated hall.
roundings, a gun, o apaniel, a happy The play is about what might have and public museums in Britain. happened in Britain if sho had been
By the end of the season Dr Cath-wife and family, a home in the coun classics every night. He accompanica an the defeated in 1940, It is really
try and-above all-no fixed times. Christopher Marlowo down to the tivity. At various theatres, opera cart had won his battle; other can-
know have them all. I am a inn; walks respectfully in the years between 1940 and 1944. nnd ballet are presented nightly, and cert societies, including the famous attempt to adopt the story of France music there is far greater ac-
wake of Dr Johnson; laughs and cries the third season Sir Henry Royal Philharmonic Society and the keeper on a trout flyer. to the English idiom.
On the whole it was a disappoint Wood's promenade concerts are on. Bach Choir, adopted the continental
But most of the letters piled on with Charles Dickens or sits down to
this desk pitch.
my
pleasant Sunday a trout rapper with Isaak Walton. conjecture and For each of seven weeks London's ing pleee; empty
many other Mr Allen says: "I am enjoying my- spiculation is so pointless that one concert guers will experience one of
to wonders what ded Nool Coward the finest series at concerts that can The debt English concert singers afternoon, when so
write the play.
on
Zn
con-
no side entrance into the garage after
another perfect trio,"
little
in
of
·AIR. MINISTRY
met
Coward visited the Haymarket be heard anywhere in the world and foreign singers visiting Britain people are not at work, stress that a scit immensely with the kind
The programmes are really excep- owe to Dr. Cathcart is dificult to man can be contented anywhere, no people I never seem to have
in the past fifty years.... Go to the Theatre, London, one night where tonal. Three rehearsals are allow estimate on it is impossible to tell matter what the place.
when the low pitch would be in-
Even in what she calls "the hum- grent writers for contentment. Their his play, "Present Laughter," Is runed for each concert, with three or
drum jobs of homebuilding"this riches never lessen....' ning. Half way through Act I.
fixes about 12.000.000 places—Mrs Hugh Sinclair, who was playing the chestras playing an alternate nights. troduced otherwis load, lost his voice. Coward whip- Four conductors have been engag
She says: Skilbeck, of Middlesbrough, is happy.
ed.
ped on make-up and took over for The outstanding popularity and JUST, as enterprising as the year's
the rest of the play. The next day he left for America.
ť
high musical standards of the Lon-
promenada. concert
The
programme
"I find contentment in cooking don promenade concerts leads one is the recent venture of the British to inquire into their origin. Found Workers' Music Association. To this
ing the naughtiness of my children izi and bathing and feeding an infant." IN placte prts. It is very much the ed in 1805, the idea was that of a amateur association goes tho credit proper meals for my husband, curb
end of the season. Several small famous English impresario, Robert of giving the first performance
WARNINGS refovantly, unlimponant exhibition Newman. The standard was set by England of Dvoraic's Deduction have opened, but these are really ex- their first conductor, Heary Wood. Jacobin." Even if the cuses for art dealers to keep their and the original finance provided by was slightly lacking in professional elablishments open ponding the au Dr. George Cathcart, cne of Eng finish, it could not be faulted.
land's leading ear, nose and throat grounds of taste or enthusiasm. It to the croillt of the tumn, säson
The aumraer
aer exhibition at the specialists. Of this founding Irlo is, moreover, Royal Academy, in which to date only Dr Cathcart remains; int Workers' Music Association that they 619 works have been sold for nearly inappropriate, therefore, to note the have introduced this minor master- £30,000, both records, closed last great work this physician has done, piece to the British-public.
traordinary how varied are the le list goes on. It's quite ex- things which people put first:
Whatever else you cut down on don't cut down on sleep.
Looking through all these readers' clues to contentment, how does the search end? It depends on the scar- 18 chet. Contentment, like truth, where you find it.
After more thon two thousand years, nothing is added to Plato's within truth that "contentment you. It might come from reading, from looking after other people, from hobbies like matchbox collect ing, the
Contentment can come as it does to old bir Turner, of Cardiff-just in
"You tako ovasiva action to starboord, 'old boy; I'll corkscrew
to part