NOTES FROM GERMANY

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12571, 5 August 1901, Page 2

NOTES FROM GERMANY

GIGANTIC FAILURES. BRITISH CAPITAL IN BERLIN. THE EXPORT DUTY ON ENGLISH COAL. RUBEN'S "HOLY TRINITY. - ' GERMANS AND ENGLISH SPORTS. [jS'ltOM A CoRRf.SI'OXDENT.] BERLIN, June 26. It may probably interest smio of your readers to read a little chit chat from Berlin, as this city now plays an important, part in the world. Kaiser • Wilhelm lE, England's bast friend, has "elevated Germany to what it is, and though, the internal commercial affairs are'in a. low. state, the exports of Germany are daily increasing. Taking the former,' such times have mviv been known here ; rever have b°en sucn bankruptcies. Even the smaller tradespeople, and the labouring class have been pulled in with the gambling crowd. The wages up to recent years were half of the present, and where men then Worked in summer; fourteen hours they now work iv day, .and in consequence of the higher earnings, these men have somehow invested the few pounds they should have saved in stocks. But some of the oldest andlargest institutions have suspended payment, some pure swindles ; and the Legislature is already busy making laws intended to prevent similar failures in future. Directors built castles and lived like princes, but they were promptly arrested, and their secreted fortunes were handed over- to the Receiver. To show the magnitude of these failures, all of which happened in a comparatively short time, I will mention a few:Million , "■ Marks Deutsche Grundschuld Bank. . .40 Preussische Hypotheken-Bank ,200 Pommersche Hypotheken, Bank. .200 Mecklenburg-Strelity, Bank . .80 Dresdener Credit Ba,nk . Kummer Electric Association. . 12 Leipziger B*ank (to-day)'-'... .65 A total of 621 millions marks, or £31,000,000. For the shareholders, there iis absolutely nothing in any of the above. English capital' js gradually finding its way into Berlin. Last week the Hotel Bristol, Under den Linden,, was purchased by an English syndicate, and floated m London, for £600,000. The capital consists of '•....'- £150,000 6 per, cent preference shares. £150,000 ordinary £5 shares. '£300,000 4 per cent mortgage debentures, i The property, furniture, and stock were purchased for £576,000 net for floating. The hotel is only "six years old, and conducted in the finest style. . The profits for the first three years averaged £22,000, for the last three years £46,000. The present Berlin Gas Works also belong to an English company, and they hold the right to. supply Berlin with gas until 1940. . • The Is per ton export duty on English coal will, no dtouht, affect England, as fai as Germany is concerned,. and it wilt be a difficult matter, for the English companies to put the new duty on the price of coal. .Hamburg, up to a, few;,years ago, used English coal exclusively, but the recent statistics show that during the first five months of 1901-, 615 English coalships arrived there against 714 during the same period in 1900. There was great exciternsmt among ths artists last week with reference to a painting 'by Ruben®, the property of the German Emperor, and: now in Schloss Sarcousie, in Potsdam. This painting, "Ttoej Holy Family," was on exhibition in Holland .in 1892, and is valued at £IO,OOO. Some controversy -was .going oa as to the , mess of the work, as. a shrike painting, signed "P. P.-Rubens," is in .-possession .of the ■ Austrian Emperor.'- On, the, Potsdam: painting there, is no To settle the dispute, the Vienna .painting was brought bj special train to Berlin, and a Royal Commission, sen* here to confer, with Berlin artists. The, decision -was slowc'oming, but it came, and stated that the Potsdam' painting was, without doubt, the original ■ one 1 , painted by Ruhems himself, while the Vienna,' one was a, copy, and seems to have been painted by one of his scholars. They laid no weight on the signature, as Rubens seldom signed his painting?. ' Berlin is indeed a, delightful.city, and it would be. more so if ib were fuiL. of English people oftly. There are already some 40,000 of tlTese here. We have an AngloAmerican, Club, and when there one would hardly, believe that he is ,in Germany. There is far more English, spoken here now thaav French, and with English, one-can, .get along in almost every business. The Geri mans are gradually adopting many English sporting custom,?, such as tennis, hockey, golf and boating. ■ Both summsr and winter | sport is most agreeable here. But of this some other'time. I Last we*k -the Bismarck statue was un-. | veiled, particulars of which to follow. But I.a peculiar, .complication]! of numbers I must mention. . This was the seventy-second monument m Berlin, and the special part about it is that the letters of the name of Bismarck (so spelled here) according to the alphabet added, mak« 72, viz.: J& I S M A R G K. 2 9 18 12 1 17 3 10—72. | I met-our Christchurch friend, Mr Gilbert j Anderson, &n<d it is quite possible that the Government may be induced to suspend portion of the Meat Inspection Bill, and so allow our frozen mutton, to come in here.