VENICE TODAY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 30 October 1917, Page 8

VENICE TODAY.

In the old, happy-go-lucky days before the war the Venetians used te turn night into day in order to entertain travellers who flocked to see their "glorious city in the sea." It was wnen night had fallen that the mu&ie boats, brilliantly lighted with colored lanterns, appeared on the Grand Canal and in the basin of St. Mark. Soon they were surrounded by hundreds of gondolas, filled with happy travellers, enjoying the song and music and the gay picturesque scene (says the Christian Herald). Now, alas, all is changed! There are no travellers and no music boats. Early in the evening all lights in public places and in private houses must be shaded or extinguished. Gondolas and boats are all tied up at their respective traghettos. Venice becomes strangely silent and still. Then when St. Mark's clock strikes midnight a call clear and distant is heard. It brings a speedy answer. Again call and answer are repeated. They are heard by everyone as they go circling round the city. They are the words: "Per l'aria! buona guardia!" "All'erta! sto!" ("On the air!! Keep a good watch." "Alert! I am.") They are uttered by the nightwatchmen from their coigns of vantage throughout the city. Venice, secure from attack by sea or land, is now liable to be assailed from the air. Therefore these watchmen are set to keep a sharp lookout skyward, to look well to the air, so that they may give timely warning to the citizens. They call to each other hourly, so as to make sure that no one is asleep, and that all are alert and watching. These hourly calls are therefore to the Venetians welcome ones even though they should disturb their slumbers, for they thus get timely notice of the approach of danger so that they may take measures to save their lives.