SCENES IN VIENNA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23027, 3 May 1938, Page 17

SCENES IN VIENNA

HITLER'S TRIUMPH AMAZING RECEPTION DOMINION SINGER'S VIEWS [from our own correspondent] LONDON, April 14 A New Zealander who saw Herr Hitler enter Vienna in triumph last month, Madame Winnie Fraser, of Dunedin, a well-known singer, has returned to London with the most vivid recollections and a mind uneasily impressed by the shadows of a European war.. . "The scenes in Vienna were amazing," Madame Fraser said to-day. "One hour before Herr Hitler made his intentions known the people were crying out in the streets, 'Red, white, red' (the Austrian national colours), 'Hitler's dead.' An hour later they were all holding up their right arms and shouting 'Heil Hitler!' "For hours wo watched the German troops streaming into the city, every detail perfect, and not a chin strap out of place. Every square and public building was drenched with the Nazi flags—goodness knows where they all came from so quickly. All the time masses of aeroplanes, roared overhead monotonously, and the noise was deafening.

"There was the greatest excitement in the streets when the news first became known, but no disorders. The German police, 25,000 strong, soon took over control, and Austrian police who had been heads of departments only a few hours before were sent out 011 ordinary patrol duty. A Study in Contrasts

"I must say I was very greatly impressed by Herr Hitler when he drove down the Mariahilferstrasse. Ho was dressed simply in a khaki uniform, in striking contrast to his be-monocled, epauletted, lounging staff, all typical swaggering Prussian militarists. "Herr Hitler's gift of stirring the crowds by his oratory is really exciting. Ho begins by speaking very quietly, slowly, but clearly. Gradually ho increases his pace, faster and faster, speaking more loudly, almost shouting, and gesticulating violently. Then he stops. The crowd roars its applause, and when the last sounds have died away, again he starts in that low, quiet voice. I think the ancient Greeks used to practise a similar trick.

"I was interested to hear Herr Hitler and see him again a week or two later, when ho launched the new 'Strength Through Joy' ship at Hamburg. He and his staff were staying on the fifth floor of a hotel in. which the British Women's Club had arranged an afternoon meeting. Wo had the greatest difficulty in reaching the building. Oermans Talk o! Next War "Herr Hitler is surrounded literally by hundreds of guards wherever ho goes. We had to produce badges showing the Union Jack almost at every step. It had been arranged previously that I should sing, 'Land of Hope and Glory,' and, really, I have never sung it with so much enthusiasm as I did on that afternoon with the Fuehrer away up on the fifth floor! And I have never heard an audience join in and sing it more loudly! "I had many conversations with Germans. Several of them told me 'You never defeated us in the last war. You never beat our Army, our Navy, or our Air Force. It was the blockade that boat us. It will bo different in the next war.'

"I asked them, saying: 'So there is going to be a next war?' Eyes on the British Empire

" 'Of course there is,' I was told. 'This time wo shall not have just ono little strip of coastline to be cut off. We shall have other means of reaching the sea. We have got all our great cool stores ready, too. It will be different next time.'

"The longer I stayed in Germany," Madame Fraser added, "the more I became convinced that the Germans are shamming when they say they are defending themselves—and the countries they are 'absorbing'—from Bolshevism. It seems to me that it is the British Empire they are after. We have got what they want."

AFTER 20 YEARS REUNION IN SYDNEY EX-SOLDIER AND PARENTS [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY. April 29 After a separation of 20 years, a former Australian soldier who arrived in Sydney with the New Zealand Anzac Day contingent was re-united to his aged mother and father. The reunion took place in the foyer of the Trocadero, a restaurant, where, within the hall, more than 1300 NewZealand ex-servicemen were being officially welcomed to New South Wales bv the Returned Soldiers' League. The first intimation that his parents were waiting for him was given to the man by an announcer who, through loud-speakers, imnounccd that if "Mr. Allison will go to the front of the hall, lie will find his mother and father, whom he has not met for 20 years.' The parents told officials that their son had gone to New Zealand after the war and had not returned until Saturday. "Hello, dad!" and "Hello, mum!" was his greeting as he walked tip to them.

RABAUL VOLCANOES RESIDENTS PERTURBED EXPERT OBSERVATIONS END [from our own correspondent] CANBERRA, April 28 Reports which have reached Canberra indicate that there is dissatisfaction among residents of Rabaul at the modification by the Now Guinea Administration of the organisation to provide warning of another volcanic eruption or earthquake shock. The experts who investigated the eruption last May emphasised the necessity of maintaining expert supervision over the volcanic conditions at the craters near Rabaul. In accordance with their recommendation the Administration's geologist, Mr. C. Fisher, was summoned to Rabaul to make daily observations of temperatures and gas compositions in the craters, and generally to watch for signs of further disturbances. Air. Fisher lias now been removed from this duty and the clerk from the Territory Lands Department is carrying out purely formal observations. Mr. Fisher has been transferred to work in an area remote from Rabaul, and no expert advice on the conditions is avail-, able. In the last few weeks there have been numerous earth tremors in the town and surrounding districts some of considerable severity, while there havo also been symptoms of activity in the volcanoes. ;