BEIRA.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 9823, 24 July 1900, Page 8

BEIRA.

Through Colonial Glasses

A letter received by a gentleman in town from a friend with one of ths contingents who landed at Beira contains some pointed references to the place. A few samples are appended.

" What sort of a place is Beira, anyhow, I asked (says the writer) of a fellow I met." " Oh, nearly as hot as Hell and twice as nasty." And the correspondent continues, "I can assure you, although it's winter time here now, that fellow is nearly right. It is frightfully hot, but the nights are cool. Some heavy dew falls, and the mornings are foggy. Beira is an awful hole, and about the fastest-place in the world. Every other building is a pub. They are run by men of every nationality. The two swiftest are ' Merkans,' and the Yankee girls there do great 'biz' behind the bars. Drinks are Is 6d each, beer half-a-crown a bottle. A good job for me I'm a teetotaller. They have dancing saloons attached to each pub, just the same as it used to be on the Coast in the old days, and each has a supply of dancing girls on hand. They are mostly Austrians,' Spanish, and Portuguese—very few of them English girls. Railway men earn twenty pounds a month, but living is proportionately dear. I thought slavery was abolished, but find it isn't. At least, the way they make the niggers work here is curious—l was going to say awful —but they conclude it's the only way to make the beggars work. Oh, yes, Beira is a warm corner, I can tell you."