Norwich bulletin., 1916-01-04


 lar war song in England in their na- tive tongue.
 When the natives left the Cook is lands their friends and relatives bade them farewell in native fashion by kissing their feet. When Wellington was reached the recruits marched to parliament house singing Tipperary and Are We DownheaFted? :? in the laa- guage of the Cook archipelago. The Maori members of parliament address, ed them with patriotic speeches, after which there was a haka or Maori war dance by the Maori legislators.
 Conditions in Lodz.
 When the Germans first occupied Lodz permanently they found<the in- dustries in a bad way because of a shortage of coal, due to the crippiing the difficulty of getting freight cars in which coal could be imported. This difficulty was overcome, but coal no sooner began to come in than shortage of raw materials tied things up, and, If it continues, will bring every factory in Lodz to a standstili not later than March, it is estimated. If this condition of aiairs comes 1t Is feared that the present very great need will increase. and that thousands will face starvation.
 Lodz in the past has been large importer of cotton, both from Ameri- ca and from Turkestan. Neither mar ket is now open to them. The little that remains from old supplies is be- ing doled out in quantities sufficient three days a week. About 40. per cent of the full quota of laborers in the textile mills now work 30 hours a week.
 In addition to the food, and fuel shortage that exists today everywhere t., D11- 1ln foul lo1 lxr handicapped from the very start by a shortage of cash. The Russians had taken every rouble they could lay their hands On, and such factories as were running could pay off their hands only with difficulty.
 The city accordingly was necessi- tated to issue paper currency in 20 and 50 lropeks and one and five rou- ble notes. A total of 12,e00, 900 rou- bIes was put out. Of this sum, 1,650,- 900 ronbles were issued on the strength of the promised loan of D. 100000 roubles from the Russian gov ernment. This sum had been prom ised before the German occupation to help Lodz bear the expenses Of the war. but only 35o.000 roubles have been paid.
 The balance of the issue was guar anteed by industrial firms and mer- chants, who were required to back the paper with securities and credit in twice the sum of the issue. This paper flows back and forth and tenn porarily supplies the needs of the population, but will be taken up grad ually by the notes of the proposed na- tional bank which is to be established for all Poland about the first of Jan uary.
 Lodz's debt gradually piled up be- cause with the withdrawal of the Rus sians all taxation ceased. The Ger mans found it out of the question to impose taxes for the simple reason that the people had no money with which to pay them. In place of col lecting taxes in fact, the Germans have had to pay out some 5000, ,o80 marks to the wives of reservists and pensioners, whose incomes from the Russian government have stopped, and in addition are feeding between 100,- GOO and 15o.o0o of the population.
 A force of 300 German-speaking Po- fish policemen has been appointed to take the places of those who fled with the Russians. The old force consist ed, on paper and the payrolls, of 400 men, in actuality of only 300. hardly one of whom remained on December | Until February of this year the ad- ministration of Lodz was purely nili- tary. Hindenburg at that time ord- l cred the creation of a city government after the German model, with a mayor | which at the start had to appointed eventually will be elected from tht Polish, German and Jewish popula. tion. There are at present some 600.' | 900 persons living in Lodz and its sub | urbs. About one third are Jews | 100000 German and the balance Pc. l fish.
 1 The industrial crisis has been helpet l by the emigration of some 30,000 Lod. I workers to Germany, where woridni I conditions are more favorable thai l ever before in history. Thirty thous l and, however, are little better thai I drop in the bucket in city wfaer' l not only men but women and childrei Il have always been workers. Il The government has installed botl I a coal and meat monopoly, for tn I purpose not only of regulating tn ] distribution of the available suppl. I but also to stop the pernicious activ II ity of speculators. The police presi \ dent of Lodz. von Oppen, has charg
 of the distribution of coal to whole |. saIers and factories, where the civi Il magistrate of Lodz watches over tn
 distributions to the people direct.