Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 107
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[Page 107]
and for narrow crooked lanes like the Sydney streets we must go into the back parts of the town. The main street reminds me very much of Collins street and we saw more motor cars per minute than in any other city of the world.
The electric trams have two classes and in the second class one sees the typical cutthroat and villain of the picture drama.
The Brazilians have two classes in their electric trams and the second class was inhabited by the dreadful collection of cutthroats and villains which the picture drama always associate with South America.
The great drawback is the cost of everything tho' when we arrived there money was scarce and prices falling. Owing to the war the Government had not been able to raise the usual loan and one was told that the civil servants had not been paid for months and were making up their salaries in other less conventional ways mostly in doing a little polite smuggling. Consequently when we went ashore with English sovereigns we got a very liberal rate of exchange. Gold was about unknown.
The coinage is queer and we got a shock after making a small purchase on being confronted with a bill for 3000 Res [reales?] and was relieved to find the total indebtedness about half a crown.
The churches are a sight in Rio one of the sights of Rio. They are large and well built but are adorned with electric sky signs exhorting the inhabitant to drink so & so's beer or indulge in Dr X's pills.
The walls are often bespattered with theatre notices and pictures of reigning stage beauties. One supposes the local padres make an honest