BUSY BUT SEDATE SWISS CITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23145, 17 September 1938, Page 1 (Supplement)

BUSY BUT SEDATE SWISS CITY

Summer in Geneva

By A.M.F.

OXFORD baa been called the I homo of lost causes, but the casual New Zealand visitor to Geneva might well think that city had a better claim to this doubtful distinction. Every building, big or small, new and shining or old and dilapidated, seems to have at least one brass plate outside, proudly proclaiming, that therein may be found the world headquarters of some impressive-sounding organisation. Nowhere is the word "international" so badly overworked and cipplied to organisations whose functions cannot be called anything but parochial. Nevertheless, the city authorities publish every year a booklet listing and describing the objects of almost a hundred organisations whoso activities really are world-wide and truly international. This list starts off with the League of Nations whose aims are succintTy stated to be "to preserve peace and to seek a - settlement of international disputes, and to organise in the most varied spheres the co-opera-tion of peoples with a view to the material and moral welfare of humanity." Nor is the international flavour limited to the city alone. All around the lake which bears the same name as the city but is sometimes called Lake Leman, are towns and villages made world-famous as the venue of some international conference or other. Nyo.n, for instance, t a charming little town some six miles away, instantly suggests the Mediterranean Anti-Piracy Agreement; / Montreus, the Treaty which allowed Turkey to refortifv the Dardanelles and Bosphorus; and Evian, the recent Conference on Refugees. Civic Heroes The Swiss 'themselves, however, are a strongly nationalistic race, and the Genevese, perhaps to counteract these unifying influences in their midst, are inordinately proud of their national, or perhaps it would be better to say, their civic hertoes, Calvin and Rousseau. But their self-esteem docs not take the form, so common in other countries, of exultation and organised demonstrations of national solidarity. Rather has it grown inward and made them silently and unobtrusively conscious of their own superiority. Such an attitude, naturally, leaves but little room for carefree merriment, and on fete-days in Geneva sober reflection takes the place of the unrestrained celebrations which mark such occasions in other countries. ' The old town of Geneva is very picturesquely and strategically situated on a number of small and unexpectedly steep hills, abovo tho junction of the Rhone and the Arve; and its chief pride and joy, apart from the attractive old buildings that graco any historic city, is the magnificent monument of the Reformation, with inscriptions, statues, and bas-reliefs evoking the history of that great movement. Not un- , naturally, Geneva holds very dear the memory of Calvin and his fellow crusaders. Its standards of conduct are high compared with its neighbours, especially those across the French border, and its drab formality of clothes irksome and monotonous to some visitors. A party of hikers, particularly if it is mixed, walking through tho town in shorts, is bound to be greeted with disapproving glances and will probably be labelled as American. Such is the reputation of the New World in this diehard stronghold of the Old. Gleaming Whiteness The new town is continually pushing northward along tho shore of the lake, past the palaces of tho League and the International Labour organisation, which were commenced in what was then almost a deserted no-man's-land. Their gleaming whiteness is the first thing to catch the eye of the traveller who arrives at Geneva by steamer, and prepares him for his first glimpse of the famous fountain, the highest in the world, which dominates the city. Geneva in summer is approaching the climax that marks the end of its yearly rhythm. This regular cycle begins in November every year, and throughout the winter and spring the town slumbers peacefully while the various international organisations collect data and accumulate mountains of unexciting statistics —food for the work to come. Occasionally there will bo a mild peak of activity when the Council of the League meets, or an Abyssinian crisis may depiand a full dress Assembly; but generally all is placid until about the end of May. By this time Geneva has put on her beautiful new green dress and is smiling sunnily to welcome the guests who arrive in largo numbers for tho conference of the International Labour Organisation. From then on there is a continuous scries of meetings, assemblies, conferences, conventions, or any other word that signifies what is more expressively known as a "get-to-gether," and all over tho world secretaries struggle with tho impossible task of obtaining a date that will not clash with other societies. At almost every moment of tho day, from June °n,*an expert may bo found somewhere °r other in Geneva, talking learnedly to a ring of attendant listeners on some subject _ of world-wide significance. Maybe it is at a meeting of one of the Permanent commissions of the League, *mancial, Mandates, Intellectual Cooperation, etc., may bo it is at a round table discussion at ono of tho numerous summer schools, or perhaps at a conference of a' private international society. Event of the Year ■All this activity gradually develops and increases until, early in September, everyone is ready and waiting for the €Ven t that marks tho highest achievement of tho year, the Assembly of tho league. In a day Geneva seems to bo suddenly transformed from a sleepy a >, A. aiher provincial little city into hotbed of intrigue. Everyone has an «>r of going to or coming from meetn Rs of great significance, and perfectly groomed 'diplomats mingle with "owing-looking reporters. Or so it all eems for the first few days. Before / is back to normal and except r tho crowds in tho streets and the te .s, the town is its sedate old self a ßain. frP° n ? ' n !' lO centre of tho city, away m the stir and bustlo at tho Palace, mj er , e ls only one place where one Wt.guess the League was in session. „ 3 ■« is at tliO' Bavaria, tho famous J.° °f the diplomats" where tho thft« ar ,° " w 'th cartoons depicting -at 0' have helped to make history of tif ll0V! K an d the presence of so many Ve ts - subjects of those drawings, conis a ln^i in tones over their glasses, a Ppeni ev '^ enco that Something is then suddenly, ns with a wave —jo , hand, they all disappear at the ,fjj fy the month. Ono or two, here re ' W 'U §tay on for a few days IP the Leaguo staff clear up all Hj|„ 8 an d ends and put everything MdL away; ' kut already Geneva is [ cm. J?' . anc ! sinking wearily into the ! 'hat will last until next summer. I