MAYOR OF HELL TALKS

Evening Star, Issue 22975, 4 June 1938, Page 21

MAYOR OF HELL TALKS

The Mayor of Hell, a gentle, pensive man with none of the attributes of the fabled overlord of the infernal regions, arrived at New York recently on the Norway liner Stavangerfjord to participate in a radio broadcast and look over the country that has sent so many tourists to his bailiwick (says the ‘ New York Times ’). Hell, in so far as Mayor Lorontz Stenvig is concerned, is a village of 1,465 persons on tho River Stjordalselyer, not far from Trondheim, and being not only a good town, but a good Norwegian word, has double meaning only for fun-loving. Americans, who make _ a point _ < ? getting it down on their itineraries. They buy railroad tickets marked “ To Hell and return,” and they add riches to the national postal service by sending cards back homo bearing the Hell cancellation. Many of tho visitors write down on the cards: “It is sure hot here. Hoping you are the same.” Among the items of interest gleaned from the reticent Mr Stenvig as they filtered through an interpreter were these: Hell has plenty of skiers in tho winter time, when the thermometer drops to as low as 13deg below zero; in summer, when the American trippers come along on North Cape cruises, it can rise to 68deg or so; there are no divorces in Hell (this with some emphasis) and no gaol, and Mr Stenvig can’t remember the last crime, it was so long ago. “ What do you do with drunks?” asked a realist among the interviewers, and the mayor replied': “ If anybody gets drunk we send him home.” Ironically enough, Hell has no fire department, and if a house catches fire the people “ simply try to put it out,” explained tho mayor, reasonabH. If they can’t put it out they let it burn. The women of Hell, according to the mayor, are good looking, and most of them are blondes. The village’s chief businesses are dairy products and timber,/ ofoid there are two dance halls, where on Saturday nights the townsfolk gather to enjoy a few waltzes. The “big apple” hasn’t struck Hell yet, and probably never will. Mayor Stenvig is a farmer, and gets no salary as chief executive of the town. He is 55 years old, and has been mayor nine years, only recently having been returned to his post for another three years. He said proudly that elections in Hell were quiet, friendly affairs. and “on the level,” unbesmirched by tin boxes (an allusion to a recent graft inquiry in which a tin box figured) and patronage grabs. Altogether it seems a pretty nice place.