LIFE IN GENEVA

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12199, 25 July 1925, Page 11

LIFE IN GENEVA

Noted Places and Notable People

A New Zealander’s Impressions

Written for the “Times” by

E. S. Harston, Geneva

T ia surprising the , change that winter brings about in towns like Genera that have a large floating population all through the summer. When the tourists and the various league delegations go back to their own countries the Genevese relaxes his efforts in pursuit of foreign currency, and settles down to amuse himself in'his own unassuming way. There are, of course, the usual tea the provision of dancing partners of dansant places and one or two gloomv night cluhs. These 'have only one feature that is. unusual, and that is the provision of dancing partners or both sexes whose services can be called upon by anybody, and' who expect a 'tip in addition to the pay that they receive from the management. Such places have not a. good social standing, and'are not patronised by the jeune fill® a marier. Foreigners■ are not.air .ways _so particular, and Americans especially, either from ignorance or carelessness, always frequent these places. ■ More unusual still are the circuses and fairs that take possession df the streets and squares. For at -month- or? so at Ghfistmas time one of the principal quays bordering on the lake is almost exclusively taken up by a Huge travelling oirqus with its swings,, roundabouts, acrobats, and othdr side-' shows. The personnel live in - their caravans on the spot and the conglomeration of tents, toboggan .runs, caa-q? ' .vans, ■ hotels. : bridges, and' ''general traffio .is bizarre to say the least, and the-clamour of shouts and music that ‘they add to the ordinary street noises ! effectually prevents any sleep .within a fairly wide 'radius. .. f . v The. fairs in the squares lire net so ambitious, and make quit® a pleasant picture with their braziers gleaming' warmly■ through the foggy air.- There are shooting galleries, roast chestnuts, and little booths selling, everything from' braces to broken biscuits. Leatherlunged orators-invite your participation .-in', a'sweep on two otraqbourg geese, and if your sporting instincts are still .unsatisfied, there is nothing to prevent you : dropping rings over “the -necks of bottles ,ahd winning, a valuable -gold ‘ (?) trophy. -The mpst fashionable place is the Hotel de« Bergues, where bn Saturday and Sunday afternoons all Geneva’s urightest arid best come to dance.. The women are usually very smartly turned out, hut most of the men are very weird looking and unhealthy. An American watching them said that there was not a single good looking ntan in Geneva, but in this she was wrpng because she was lookings in the wrong place. If she had watched the healthy-looking crowds coming hack from the--football fields where Zurich “Young Fellows” Had ibeen playing Geneva “Old Boys,” or the skaters on the ice-rinks, or the shi-ers up at-the neMibouring mountain -places , she womd Have seen that the young -Swiss is a very'fine type indeed. The gala nights at the Bergues are also very interesting. ori New Year’s Night dinner started with caviare at about nine thirty, and finished at ..twelve -when all the. lights were -extinguished and a. curtain was pulled hack to reveal a huge illuminated clockface with the hands pointing to twelve, while the orchestra struck the hour in resounding cnorda. The Continental refuses to he behind by the Englishman’s, rigid ideas onevening dress, although He copies him most -slavishly -.as a rule.. It is the ambition of Swiss youth .to lobk ‘like the France-,of’ Wales, aAd 'an article lias only to he advertised areplica of something he has worn fb-he* assured of; A.‘large.‘sale. .But when he dons his “smokings” and his - “chemise* de ceremonie”: he feels that something more is called-for than the usttAl.Haek tie. So he wears white'ones with, black spots, or white ones, with hladk stripes, and--waistcoats -o’f every unknown hue. Imagination baulks ?'fit what he will do. when the new wide flannel trousers strike Geneva. : jewellery is better left undescribe though in his. opinion- it 1 -; is?“t£es Snob!” . When thh League is busy, UO'itlab^S* 1

this great hotel. Recently for the Protocol Requiem it was filled by Die delegates with their secretaries, pressmen, and last bub not least detectives. 1 do not know how far personality counts in these conferences, since the delegates are after all usually only mouthpieces ; but it was cheering to see Great Britain represented by a man like Chamberlain instead of the very unimpressive Lord Parmoor. With his striking appearance, and his eyeglass that looks more a component part ol Ilia face than an adjunct, Chamber lain was easily the most dominating personality present, and was always the cynosure of all eyes as he came striding into the restaurant. ' Of the rest Venezeloe, a wnite-beard-ed benevolent faced patriarch, in a little silk skull cap, was the only arresting figure. Briand, with his overlong hair and. his shaggy moustache, always looked as if the tiling he most needed was the services cf a barber. The remainder did not excite any interest. It almost seems as if a politician must cultivate some eccentricity of hair or headgear to claim and hold popular attention. It was interesting to .meet face to face the journalists one meets so often m print. J. M. N. Jeffries, for instance of the “Daily Mail,” is the last .man tluit one would .pick as being the representative of that somewhat 'flamboyant journal. He Is a slender, nervour looking man, with a toothbrush moustache, who looks- as if he would be mere a't home among miniatures anc minor poets than serving up the news hot and smoking for the “Daily Mail.” ,Julian Grande, of the “Daily Tele fg'aph.V; is, in spite of his Westland reputation, one of the best nat-nred o 1 men, and is more' dr less the doyei of the foreign correspondents ai .League ’headquarters. Reuter’s man. Werfsndoij, is readed, sturdy and unToitiantic,- and speaks French and German like a native. Then there ii Henry Wales, of the’ “Chicago Tribune,” plump and somnolent, whost conversation seldom goes beyond “W*l folk?,” followed by a grunt into the softest chair where he sleeps with one eye open. Forrest, of the “New York Herald,” swears that he hates money, and talks all the time about restaur ants, vintages; the -inside history of to-morrqiw’s news how 'Not .Zesfland wrecked the. PrOtdexil :£nd ,i’d| rest;' Fate _ has ’ been unkind to vhim and by setting him down in the sophisticated atmosphere of Paris, has cheat ed him of his /life’s ambition- to be : two-gunman in Mexico. During' the conference a modest looking man sat every day just insidi the restaurant door of the Bergues—alone, bored, but taking everything in He looked' rather out of his element but not in the least disturbed by till fact;. .He came from Scotland;"Smjl and his colleagues sat. at the otßr side of_ the restaurant facing the door There is not much fear of assassnatioi ‘in .Geneva, however. Those little crime are nsuadly committed at Lausanne because in that canton the death pen alties have been abolished. Thp Queen of Holland and her Prine Consort were also staying modestly a the hotel at the same time. They wen not in the least impressive, but a] though Switzerland is the oldest re public in the world, there were alwayi a crowd, at the doors waiting t< catch if glimpse of their entrances ap< exits. As the Queen usually went onion foot attended only by one of ,h« ladies-in-waiting, she nearly alway passed unnoticed. . Rothy -the' Etwias oaricaturist, wai Highly , when Chamberlau gave him a sitting of* twenty minute while / ha...had lunch, the only time hi had to ’ spare during the conference which ?he was sending kt. a rat< .tprwhinh-those imeirtings 'are ypdte. un ■Saoo&OTOTihd. ■ Bit when it ehme;.tOdh‘ Be had to spare,' and! sat patierttjy tmh-J ribbon weross His- client for ovcg ai h<fiit, , 'wl®o Rotlf transferred his un disting&ished' features .to ■ paper, \; -■Whatever else-, it may bo,. T ; selflthh J fecks Did presence of - interest higipfopie among, if® .stream of ofllcfi ‘‘ Even Rickie Coogan . cam ■, to . mention . Ratena,.. - Mri n, .and: jOT-stltahs.v Wbedives nd Bijffirient jiumherd of tin MiCourt; to people a -fakb -■* ’v 3 ,:('