COLOGNE.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 March 1919, Page 3

COLOGNE.

I , I A NEW ZEALANDER’S IMPRES, i SIGNS, j Writing rom Cologne, under date ot January 12th., a Christichurch officer says:—• I have just returned from England to Germany after a long train tour from Boulogne through Mons, Charleroi, Aix-la-Chapelle to Cologne, near which city the N.Z. Division is stationed. Germany is some country, all right—- ■ marvellous neatness, solidity, and sense 1 about everything. Pity the people have not developed along with the deve-| lopment of their country. I am billet- j ed in a doctor’s house and everything ' is of the best—a roost elaborate room ' j with all the latest trappings. Cologne is a great city. We travel free on the trams and trains—not a bad notion, j Everything is very cheap here, and an English Bradbury changes into nearly '

; forty marks. Cigarettes, however ar.e very expensive, and soap is almost unprocurable. j Under date of January 26th the same officer writes:— ! Business is now as usual in Cologne and the towns round about! all shops ; going full blast, trains and trains run- | ning, etc. Am getting hold of the j lingo a bit, but its a terrific tongue | after French. The people here seem 1 friendly and all that sort of thing, but ' you never can tell. The mission of the ! N.Z. “digger” appears to be to teach j the average Hun a few elementary |es- ' | sons in manners—such as giving up, seats in tram-cars to allow women to j sit down. The Huns didn’t scent to j have heard of this before but they are ! “tumbling’’ to it now. They will have j something, it is hoped, to remember the N.Z. tribe by. N.Z. Division Headquarters’ premises occupy part of the buildings of the biggest chemical works in j Germany—erected in a model town, Leverkusen, some few miles from Cologne, j ,TIL . residential houses round about were built by the Company for the employees, and very fine houses they are. A big casino was also built for meals, “garden parties,’’ etc. We have our mess in there. Exchange is very bad against Germany juslj now, and we get 40 marks for £l. Nominally a mark is worth Is, so we get nearly double pay while here, provided of ( course, we spend the money here. The j depreciation, I should judge, is almost ’ entirely due to the vast inflation of the ’ paper currency. <