THE HIGH COMMISSIONER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20832, 26 September 1929, Page 10

THE HIGH COMMISSIONER.

HOLIDAY IN SWITZERLAND. (From Our Own LONDON,. August 215. Sir James and Lady Parr and their daughters returned yesterday from a holiday spent at Rheinfeldem, a favourite spa on the banks of the Rhine on the Swiss side. Just over the bridge of the river is Germany and the; Black Forest. The choice of this centre for their holiday Was partly to enable Lady Parr to get the benefit of the brine baths that are a feature of the place, . ] The. mineral ' springs were discovered by the Romans,' and' added interest is given to, the spa by the presence of Roman remains. “It is a most cosmopolitan places” said the High Commissioner. " Dutch, Belgian. German, French; and Swiss people are' all to be found nt tne hotels, besides a sprinkling of British and ‘ American. At our hotel on one day; there were 130 people,' and 14 nationalities were ■ represented. '“As showing the enterprise of the hotel proprietors, the brine baths are to bo obtained in all the main hotels. Excursions by motors every day are arranged into Germany and Switzerland, and these are run "entirely by the Swiss Post. Office authorities. ' Guides speaking three brfbur ' languages ate also sent with each party.” , A . noticeable feature of the peasant population in this-locality; said Sir James, was that half the. women who were, work- 1 ’ing in the fields wera suffering from goitre. Half the work of the farms was done by women. The villages were not. pleasant places. Caws wereltept in-compartments which were part of the ho,uses, and the wealth of the inhabitants, was indicated by the size of the orderly pile of manure in front of the houses and on , the side of the main street.

Bir James and his party made several journeys through the Black Forest, on one occasion going as far as Baden,' the famous German spa.