RIVIERA RESORTS

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 150, 22 December 1945, Page 8

RIVIERA RESORTS

EFFECT OF THE WAR

Outwardly little has changed on the French Riviera. Since it has suffered hardly any war damage it is as trim as ever. The American idea of turning it into a rest centre for their troops brought all round prosperity. Although hotel proprietors grumble at the breakage'of glasses, their hotels;are in running order, thanks to the generosity of the American army, which by taking over the Riviera is recouping some of its lend-lease from the French Government. The army feeds not only ite soldiers, but also all hotel personnel and through the backdoors of the hotel kitchens, practically the whole Riviera P°l*nquiries from England about reservations for next summer are already reaching hotel-keepers, but when asked about future plans they reply with a shrug of the shoulders. Everything depends on whether devaluation of the franc will bring prices within reach of foreign tourists, and whether food will be sufficiently abundant to kill the black market and its artificially inflated prices. Few hotel-keepers think conditions will have improved enough by the summer for them to keep ODen and feed their large staffs after the withdrawal of the United States army. All first-class hotels in Cannes, Nice, Antibes. and Juan les Pins are at present reserved for the Americans. Monaco is not a party to this agreement, and is out of bounds for American troops. Monte Carlo is almost startlingly unchanged. The principality's detachment from events in a topsy-turvy world, the remarkable meals offered at the Hotel de Paris (the French Economic Police are powerless in Monte Carlo), the singlemindedness of Casino habitues, and the cleanliness of the streets and parks make it an oasis in destitute Europe.

The 250 or so British and 50 American residents had varied experiences under Italian and German occupations, but although many were interned, most seem to have found their way back. The few scars of war are being rapidly obliterated. A minesweeper, torpedoed while moored along the Quai by a daring British submarine, still lies half-submerged. All along the Riviera German coastal fortifications, often camouflaged as tobacconists' shops or beach huts, are being dismantled. In the park of the Hotel dv Cap in Antibes, notices still warn you to "Keep on the path—danger, mines." An American mine disposal officer stated that in six weeks he lost 12 German prisoners and two American soldiers. Across the Franco-Italian frontier past Ventimiglia and Bordighera to San Remo, war damage is heavier and most of the hotels, partly blasted, stare windowless through the palm trees into the blue sky. There are no tourists in San Remo. Except for an open market where unrationed English cloths (suit length £25), attractive shoes (£l2), and silk stockings (£1) are on sale, the town seems dead and resigned, to its present poverty.

Driving his Wellington City Council milk truck through Main Road, Upper Hutt, at between 53 and 55 miles an hour at 6.20 on a recent morning cost Richard Hunter, of Wellington, £6, when his case was heard in the Upper Hutt Court yesterday before Mr. H. J. Thompson, S.M.

Mrs. N. M. Camp, 10 Henry Street, Kilbirnie, suffered a severe lacerated wound to the forehead when a car in which she was travelling was involved in a collision with • another car near the tram dispatch office in Lamb ton Quay at 12.45 a.m. today. The Free Ambulance took her to hospital.

The emergency crew of the city drainage department turned out last night shortly after 9.30 to deal with a burst sewer at the corner of Featherston and Brandon Streets. Quick and expert work minimised trouble and inconvenience in adjoining buildings and to traffic.

Elmer Davis, former United States Chief of the Office of War Information, has signed yip with American Broadcasting Company as news commentator at 4500 dollars (about £1412) a week. A.B.C. will offer Davis to sponsors on 15-minute "spots" on Sunday afternoon, and twice a week when he will exj>]jj§jja Jfre news.