WHAT I HAVE SEEN AND HEARD IN GERMANY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12430, 22 January 1915, Page 8

WHAT I HAVE SEEN AND HEARD IN GERMANY.

VISIT TO THE CITY OF HAMBURG, j . VIGOROUS CONFIDENCE OF THK enkm v in the kaiser and THE AR.UV, (Express' Sper-iy] Correspondent.) Great interest is aroused in all information that oonio.s from the interior ot Germany. Much has recently been printed as, to the social and economic conditions, and ,as these reports: have come from sources not altogether reliable, the Daily Express deemed it advisable to obtain this information at iirst lia'nrl. We therefore arranged with a ' g; ntle'.nan belonging to a neutral country to go to Germany especially to make observations for tile henei'it of the Daily Telegraph readers. His knowledge of Germany, his standing ill the ermmnniry, and his unquestioned integrity g:ve. additional weight to his report. J! is instructions were to write ; MS' tiy what he sa.w and not to gild pi : ls if they were bitter. We shall print his instalments from day to day. I lie first art:c[c> dwells on tin; journey to the Continent and his impressions of Mambuig.

When lending London, from Charing Cross station every passenger to the Continent receives a card, which has to be filled in by him. This card mentions the name, age, nationality, position, and destination of the traveller. On arrival at Folkestone everybody wi-hing to leave England has to go into the office of t.he official in charge of ihe department for aliens. Til we your card is countersigned, and -only then are you a ilo wc.l to pass and go aboara the steamer. The official carefully examines your pa-sport and passes you on to other officials, who .search you bodily for any letters or documents you may try to carry abroad. Only letters relating to family affairs, or of an unimportant character, are allowed to be carried. NERVOUS ENEMIES.

A";l the officials, who must have a trying time., are extremely civil and do their utmost'hot" to interfere too much with the often nervous' alien enemies leaving-England. The comfortable night boats of the Netherlands Zeeland Company are now used for the day service from Folke-' stone to Flushing. During the passage almost. every man, woman, and child sits searching the sea for mines. Every now and, then a passenger points out •some object seen in the water as one of the dreaded mines, which an ever calm and undisturbed Dutch steward or sailor explains is simidy an empty case thrown overboard by a passing steamer. On several occasions, however, detached floating mines have indeed been seen by the officers, but it is said that these have generally proved harmless. At Flushing'the travellers bound for Germany find a train running through to Gdch, the German frontier station, where in days of peace the luggage used to .be examined by the Customs. PASSING THE FRONTIER.

At Genapp, at tlie Dutch frontier, the Dutch Customhouse officers board the train and the luggage is examined, to see that no prohibited articles .are exported. A few minutes later, oil passing the frontier into Germany, the train is stopped and German non-com-missioned officers go through all the compartments, examining passports and searching for any letters which might be taken into Germany. The difficulties of passing the frontier are daily increasigg. Passports must now hear the photograph of the holder, and within a few days they will also have to be countersigned by a notary public; the fear of spies entering Germany with bogus American' or Dutch passports being very considerable. Besides letters, which are jin no account allowed to be carried, but .are taken away, read, and, 11 wished, posted on. all English and Dutch newspapers are confiscated, a thing which 1 could not well underst and, considering, the fact that in the high-class clubs aitfcl big banks'in the larger cities of Germany one finds the latest issues of several cr the lending English and French papers. German passengers .returning home from England are, of course, chiefly female. When leaving London tliev all have a hunte'd look." It is only when over the German {rentier that they feel absolutely safe and Free, and it is curious suddenly to liear the louder and more open conversation all over the train, to see faces brightening ud, to hoar sighs of relief everywhere," and tales told of hardship and suffering and broken-np homes—tales, I am sure, clten exaggerated through nervous tension.

A _ great number of these women, whose male re latives are interned, in England, have been assisted by nhilanthropic societies, who provide"them on payment of a small sum of money (I believe_l2s 6d) with a second-class ticket to the German frontier. Here they have to hand over to the burgomaster a paper which, on beinsr countersigned by him, enables them to get a ticket to their destination in Germany free of cost. The night is passed in a comfortable and very clean inn at Goch, and tnrough trains run next day from there to Hamburg and Berlin. FOOD FOR SOLDIERS.

What struck me more than anything else on the win- to Hamburg was the most admirable arrangement made In the German. Red Cross Society for the soldiers. At every station of any importance depots have been provided on the platforms, with hot and cold drinks and food for the travelling soldiers, and these are handed to them in their compartments by men and women attendants.

Hamburg was a revelation to me. 1 knew, of course, that the great porf had bsen hard hit by the stoppage ol her shipping, but T was not prepared for the complete check to her activities as I saw them.

Tiie hotels In FJamburg are pretty empty,' and the best rooms can easily be had at a reduction of about 50 per cent, on the usual urice. Hamburg, generally so full.of life, with its dock's, quays, and waterways sw-arminE with traffic, is now a pitiful siuht; 7io life whatever, everything lying idle, the broad waters with just a few small boats for the local service moving about, the canals in the town desolate' with emptv barges and lighters. NO RAIDING TROOPS.

! Of liners loaded with soldiers for the invasion of England I saw lio signs. There was no large force of .soldiers to lie seen in Hamburg, but now and then one saw companies of voung recruitsm training marching through the city. "With its shippiug industry at a complete standstill, the great export and import trade of Hamburg is suspended, and one no longer sees the hundreds of wagons and lorries going to and fro that in days of peace filled the streets oi Hamburg with the clatter of commerce.

But. although thousands of men dependent 011 the docks have lost their usual employment, one sees no crowds or processions of workless men. Some hare joined the colors and.. others, thanks to the thoroughness of (German •'.system,'' have found .employment in other places. I shall say something more about this thoroughness in handling such problem? "in a subsequent article.

DESERTED SHOPS. Tit Hamburg's shopping streets the stagnation of trade is marked. The "pavements are not thronged with ■passers.by, and in the shops one encounters few customers. People confine their purchases m;;;nl\- to the necessary things of "life. My first thought, in view-of these conditions, was that I should find the people longing for peace, and my sur-v-:!-s £'' eat when, meeting men of dinei.vnt classes, T round that one and •'ill hnd but one idea, to fight the enemy to the last, and. above all. to battle implacably against the hated Englishman. ilie ieeiing against England is one 01 bitter hatred. Hamburg., which used to be nicknamed in Germany '-'a subtiro or England," and where Englishmen always had a preierent'al treatment. new curses England, the country which, to its nunc!, is responsible '.or the war.

The Hamburgei-= wi:i not admit for one moment that England went to war because of her obligations to enforce respect for the neutrality of Belgium. Xo, England, they b?lieve, had been

preparing for this war,, jealous of Ger--171:111 trade and of Hamburg's prosperity. Now Hamburg, perhaps .more tlmn any other city ill Germany, feels the hardships of war, cletJt'iici inu as .she doi-'.s absolutely tin her trade from the sea, aiul yet, Dion :uk! women si 11 alike say, "We do not mind now whether wo are ruined, whether our suns, husbands, and brothers are killed: we siiaii -give ail and everything we have to carry cm tile fight, we shall cither lie victorious or we will die; we are fighting for our existence."

ANGRY .MAGNATES. The shipping magnates arc very angry with England for the holding up of their ships, and go so far as to say that it ii a war oi robbery. The fact that their colonics are being taken iiom theni they aiso resent bitterly. "England," they say. "wants to take our (-monies and suck them dry as she does her own : we Germans, on the contrary, make the natives in our colonies happy; our efforts are towards civilising them, towards bringing to them the benefit of our Kultur''-. and when they g:ve expression to these feelings, and these strange faneie.-. they are perfectly genuine. But. with all trade at a standstill, oricas have not eon<- up much. The cost of .some imported foodstuffs, such as rice, tea. and cocoa, lias increased, but the genera! cost of living has not very appreciably risen, certainly not more than To per cent. "What struck me all over Germany wa- the absence of silver and the utter lack of gold, paper currency down to one-mark (Is) notes being chiefly used. I Ti;e value of bank-notes now is very low: in Hoiland. where they have so many transactions with Germany, a l()!)-mnrk Reiehbank-iiote (£5) is worth from 32 .fit? to 02.50 florins (-£4 7s Sd to £4 8s). - *' BRITISH -MONEY.

English sovereigns in Germany arc exchanged for about 21.70 marks (21s 8:1). but, curiously -enough. for £5 notes one could get 110 marks (£-3 10s). The reason of this I have not been able to grasp, though 1 understand that it is that paper money" is more easy to transfer than gold. There-'is no truth whatever in the statements that people are searched and that if they are found in. possession of foreign gold -this is taken away from them and German notes given in exchange. ' ' It is finite evident that the class of men suitable for active army servics have already gene into the army. The usual policemen are scarce, older men of the Landsturm having taken their place, and instead of the military-look-ing German "bobbies'' one sees peace-ful-looking old citizens, some of .'them uuardiug the bridges armed with rifles. At the railway stations also there are fewer porters, and generally these are | older men. . | ■Very few private motor-cars are seen, but a moderate, and in the present circumstances quite sufficient, number of taxieabs are, however, running;. To say that in Hamburg the population is downhearted would Be untrue. They feel the pressure of war, but thejy' remain quietly confident, trusting their. Emperor and his generals, and determined to follow them.-