LIFE IN GERMANY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18299, 16 January 1923, Page 7

LIFE IN GERMANY.

CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. ' . ATTITUDE TO FOREIGNERS. : Al/CKLANDER'S IMPRESSIONS i Interesting travels on the "Continent - were made by .'Mr. E. L. BarUeet,. who 3 returned to Auckland yesterday alter an , absence of ten months. i A flight in an airship from . Croydon aerodrome to Brussels, a distance of 250 , J miles, formed owe of Mr. Bartleet's exi periences. There were eight passengers . > and the journey was accomplished in 1 hour 50 minutos, the schedule time being j 2 hours 15 minutes. The people in Brussels seemed to be working hard and to be 1 quite happy, their motto apparently be- ; ing to " live for the day." The Hagie t and Amsterdam were next visited, and it was evident that although Holland did not f take part in the war the people are ex1} periencing hard times. German workmen B coming into the country are prepared le work for little money and are supplant--9 ing Dutch workers, with the result that . there is a great deal of- unemployment. In Hamburg there appears to be quite j a friendly attitude toward Englishmen j and Americans, this being very different 3 from the state of affairs in Berlin, where 7 the people go out of their way to show . their hostility. Some theatres* will not , admit foreigners, and some shops will not _ serve them with goods, while others raise the prices three or four times. With the t mark at. 12,000 to the sterling, the best dinner was procurable for .2s to 2s 6d. At times the banks could not change £10 into >.iV.H, owing to the' fact, that, the paper 'javfacy could not be printed fast ...enough : -.io■.cc'jf. with the demand, and.it ~ ,' was tiJ.b gene,- fie practice to get.£2 or £3 ; worth of marks at a time. The issus ot . single notes for 10,000 irfarks has solved ' {the problem of carrying the paper money about, and the story of the man who, on being requested to -remove a large port- ' manteau from a railway carriage, replied that it was merely his purse, is still applicable in some degree. . .■" On the face of things the Germans! seem * to be getting on all right, and they spentT 3 all the money they-receive, not knowing - what.the mark is going to drop to on the f morrow. The hotels which take foreigners charge' three times as much as for Germans, and there is a. tax of 40 per cent. 1 for the Government. In Cologne ;Mr. Bart- ' leet saw the opera "Carmen " and had to pay 4000 marks for admission, Germans 8 being charged 1000 marks, A hug® system 3 of underground tubes, .stated to lup the finest-in the world, is in process of- conJ struction in-.Berlin, and the whole place ' ' is being torn up. Regulations prevent th<t 3 taking of goods out of Germany except under license, and then a heavy duty of '■ 80 to 100 per cent, has to be paid. When .. t crossing the frontier into Switzerland Mr,, •;. - Bartleet had to surrender a portmanteau "'-.'.■ " he had bought in Germany, because h« - did hot have : a license. ■['~. -', ;•■■-..'..;'. ' ' .:, . ~s