OUR PARIS LETTER

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 79, 3 April 1926, Page 13

OUR PARIS LETTER

THE ARTS EXHIBITION'

A SUBSTANTIAL PROFIT

(From Our Own Correspondent.) PARIS, 3rd February. The profit realised from the Decorative Arts Exhibition turns out, after a general examination of accounts to be quite as substantial as.was anticipated. The City of Paris and the Treasury will have about 1,200,00 francs to divide between them. The, city also reaps a harvest from various public serivces, the revenue of which increased while the exhibition was open. These ' services, such as the octroi omnibuses, "tubes," etc.,. toolt over 50,000 francs more than in.the corresponding period of 1924, and I an appreciable percentage of this sum found its way into the munical coffers. Previous exhibitions have always been a drain on the public funds. In 187S Paris provided a guarantee or 6,000,000 francs and got back only 450,000 francs. In 1889 the city made a grant of 5,000,----000 francs without any stipulation-as to repayment. In 1900 Paris provided 20,----000,000 franca for the exhibition, and only. 3,637,903 francs found the way back again. I : THREATENED BY RUST. Unless a suitable protective paint can be found the Eiffel Tower is threatened with ultimate destruction by rust. Engineers, who have just examined the great, steel structure, have found that, despite all precautions taken in the past, rust is rapidly eating away the huge mass of metal which rises into the' sky to a height of nearly 1000 feet. from the level of the ground to the topmost point of its flag staff. When the. Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 every section was coiated with threo layers of a special mixture of red lead and pure linseed oil, which, in their turn, were covered by a final application of thick paint Two years later, however, the^ elements had eaten their way through the paint and were beginning to spread rust. In 1892 the badly rusted parts of the tower were scrap.cd and repainted ivith tvhite'lead, linseed oil, and ochre. Since then the tower has.been repainted and varnished with various products In 1899, 1907, 1914, and 1924, but still the process, of disintegration of the metal goes on.' The" experts are striving to discover a new protective paint, which, in addition to being proof against oxidisation, must,also be a non-conductor of electricity so as to guard against galvanic action. 60 MILES OF BOOKS. M. Theodore Montreuil, ivho has just retired from the'post.of -hief secretary and treasurer at the National Library, joined the staff in February, 1870, and had, therefore, been in the service 5f this important institution for nearly $'6 years. He was a zealous collaborator >i the late M. Leopold Delisle, «'ho carried out a complete ■ . reorganisation of the huge store of books and .started the genera) catalogue, the first portion of which was printed in 1896—a .sataloguo which is still growing daily and will probably become the world's largest list of printed books. The nucleus ot the library was formed In the time of Louis XII., but the first cataloguo was uot drawn up until the middle of the reign ..if Louis XIV. The library then contained 1329 volumes. It now has over 60- miles of shelves. M.CORNUOHE HONOURED. . .The French Government has just honoured M. Eugene Cornuche, the French hotel "king,',' i)y creating him a Chevalier of the Legion jf Honour. • M. Cornuche, by his mighty achievements in the creation' of Deauville, is one of the best-known men in France, and he aounts very many British and American people among his friends. His career has been as remarkable as his achievements. From a penniless boy, in 35 years he has reached the pinnacle of success. He got his first foot on the ladder when he was 24, when be bought Maxim's for 5000 francs. Later he acquired the Ermitage, Monte Carlo, and the' Ambassadours and Alcazar restaurants in the Champs-Elysees. These, of course, he sold later. But it is as the creater of Deauville that he is perhaps really best known. In fifteen years he has turned a sandy waste into the rich man's pleasure ground. It is he who gave Trouville a new, lease of life, and he who has helped :to make Cannes one. of, the most popular resorts on the Riviera. M. Cornuche has two daughters and a son, and he is a grandfather. At present he is taking great interest in his stock farm. "EEREESTOO." "Eeeestoo is the name of a savoury, hot dish which a certain bouillon restaurant. prepares "on these cold winter ( days, and which is much appreciated by ravenous and frozen patrons. This, barbarous term never appears on the menu,'for "eereestoo" is spelt as uriphonetically as- it is possible for a word to be, and in two parts, thus: Irish, stew. English-speaking visitors should beware of pronouncing it ds they know how. They oiay say it in French if they wish to be served with the comforting confection, which is no other than the celebrated English dish, but slightly adapted to please French palates. FIRST WOMAN JOURNALIST. ■ ■A proposal to erect a statue to tlio Marquise de Sevigne, who is regarded as the first woman journalist of France on the occasion -of the exhibition or- j ganised to- celebrate the tercentenary of hex birth, is made by M. Leon Riotor j who is asking his colleagues on the Municipal Council to vote a subvention for the purpose. ' The famous letterwriter was brought up at the Abbaye de Livry, and Bhe lived there often in afteT life. The Abbaye has long since disappeared, and its site is to-day covered with houses and gardens. THE NIGHT SHELTER. Night after night hundreds of wreched people, homeless, hungry, and ailing, wait patiently outside a little lecture hall in the Hue dv Chemin-Yert beside the Palace d« Is Bastille, svliere the Salvation Army dispenses bot chocolate and shelters as many guests «s the room can hold. At midnight, the. door is opened, and by ten minutes past there is a "full bouse." Always, there are 40 or 50 who have f.ome too late and who. in spite of despairing <?ntreaties, are gently turned away by l kindly captain. They steal away to sleep where best they may, thinging enviously of the luxury they have missed—the luxury of stretching their weary limbs on a wooden bench in an overheated room. A WORD FOR LENTILS. A pans doctor has been dilating learnedly on th*. "intellectual" properI ties of lentils to' the boarders of a certair boys' school who have always evinced a hearty dislike fo? them. On being served with lentils for tha third time in one week the boys sent the dish back untasted' to the cook. Instead of turning the insurgents over to their parents the headmaster, who says he has happy memories of his own lentil diet, sent for the doctor, who informed them that the rejected dish was 1 an exaollent food for the brain,, aiid therefore especially suitable for brain-work-ers. Looking ahead to the coveted "bachot," the boys have capitulated, but they eat their lentils with wry faces.