Imperial Valley press., 1943-09-22
1Mu uI)au
BY
ROOSEVELT
tTr. NIX. Reg. U. S. Pat. Off,

heproducIon IN whole or part
forbidden.l
SOMEWHERE IN AUSTRALIA.
Sept. Is = One of the beauties of
Australia at this time of the year
is the waffle, a graceful yellow
flower which grows on a bush or
small tree and makes the countrp-
side very colorful. Violets are
everywhere. too. for this is spring
though in the United States you
may not realize it.
The native tree here is the gum
tree. There are many varieties,
was told. and it is a good hard
wood. Some varieties of pine are
! also in evidence. and one old very
fine one could be seen from my
window at Government House in
Canberra. There are other species
of trees. largely imported. This is
the largest island in the world and
has much undeveloped land. I
gather that they are desirous. of
increasing their population after
the war, if they can choose de-
Sirable immigrants.
GOOD IMPRESSION
| At present 86 per cent of the
people living in the Commonwealth
are Australian born. and 81 per
cent of the total population of over
6,75a00 are British stock. Our
boys seem to have made good
| impression for l have been asked
twice whether 1 thought that after
the war many would come back to
settle here
This may. of course, be due to
the fact that number of Austria
Ian girls have married our soldiers,
and Australia may want to keep its
girls at home. I was reading a
book last night about Certain
Worthy Women" by Marie Irvine.
1t tells the story of some pioneer
women, who, in every country,
play great role. 1t amused me to
find that the first is Mrs. Nc
Arthur. who later changed the
spelling of her name to Macarthur.
Now. that name is again in
timately connected with Australian
history, so it should never be for
gotten. Lady Gowrie also gave me
very delightful book. written for
children, The Way of the Whirl-
wind" by Mary and Elizabeth
Durack. The illustrations are in
color and the drawings are beauti-
fully done. The stories are in
teresting to grownups as well as to
children.
1 found, in New Zealand, that
laws have already been passed
Towering certain plans for return
ing soldiers. For instance, they
are to be paid by the Government
while they finish their education
along lines started before the war
or they may obtain other training
at government expense, If they Sc
desire. They may obtain loans a
a low interest rate to start busi
ness of their own, or to build {
home. or to buy and stock a farm
FURTHER ALONG
In Australia l was told that th'
laws passed after the last wa
would take care of most of tn,
points covered in New Zealand
plans, though certain amendment
and expansions of the former plan
might be necessary. On the whole
1t seems to me they are furthe
along in concrete planning thai
we are, probably because, in tn
last war, more of their men wer
| affected in proportion to the tota
population, than was the case will
us.
We have flown over snow cappet
mountains with green valleys be
low us and 1 have seen one bi
dam, forests, streams and cultivate'
fields. However, this is still coun
try of wide open spaces. There
plenty of room for the cattle AM
sheep which are raised here Il
such great quantities.
Rationing of certain commOd1tie
is in force. some price ceilings hav
been set, but their greatest hard
ship must be the restrictions on tn
use of gas. The average perSol
gets four gallons per month, ano
in view of the scattered population
that must mean a real hardship il
many cases. There are also re
strictions on household service, n
one may employ more than on
person in the capacity of a hous
worker.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
Copyright, 1943, by United Fea
ture Syndicate, 1ncO