PARIS IN DARKNESS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10957, 27 April 1907, Page 6 (Supplement)

PARIS IN DARKNESS.

STRANGE SCENES ON THE

BOULEVARDS,

POLICEMEN AS LAMP-POSTS.

PARIS, March 8. The boulevards are wrapped m gloom, candles stuck m bottles are the illumi nants m fashionable restaurants. All the theatres and music-halls are closed, thers were no late editions of the evening papers, and the whole nocturnal life oi Paris is at a standstill. This is the effect of a complete breakdown of the electric supply owing to the electricians f.nd other workmen on the Electric Supply Company having gone out on strike. When Parisians came out of doors this morning they found the walls placarded with protests against the conditions meted out to their workmen by the new company which is about to take over the electric light and power supply. This bill, issued by the Electric Workers' Syridicate, called upon the workers employed m the various electric power stations to strike work promptly at five o'clock this evening, and assemble at the Labor Exchange. Punctually at five the electric current was switched off. Very -few; shops and restaurants m Paris are supplied with gas. In the cafes and restaurants, which are crowded between five o'clock and seven o'clock, the only light available was candle-light. Here and there the proprietors brought out old, long-discarded oil lamps: The - streets are lit with gas, as usual, but the main boulevards present a strange appearance m the gloom. Crowds of theatre-growers assembled as usual m front of the theatres, but had to be turned away. The Casino de Paris sent around sand wichmen to the fronts of the other theatres with boards and Chinese lanterns. On the boards was printed ."The Casino is the only place open. It has its own electricity. The result was that thousands went- there. The proprietors of the principal restaurants were completely taken by piaprise, and at the Cafe de Paris, Durand'a . and Marguery's, and other famous eatI ing houses the astonishing sight of dineis I sitting down to sumptuously spread . tables illuminated by candles stuck m , the necks of wine and beer bottles could be seen. In the principal cafes hundreds of candles were lit, and caused a curious and picturesque effect. '? i Though terribly dismal,: the scene along . the boulevards was curious. All the large ! cafes, including stich well-known estabi lishments as the Cafe de la'Paix and t'-e i Cafe Americain, had recourse to candles i The weather was warm, and not a' few '•persons ware seen on the boulevard "ter. I rasses." Each had a lighted candle on • the table m front of him, • beside his "bock," his orange bitters, or his "MoJ minette." The novelty of the unwonted j spectacle amused people for a time, but 'if. the - inconvenience "continues there will be a great outcry among the population. HUMAN LAMP-POSTS. Many cafe proprietors showed considerable ingenuity. At the Taver >_c Royale, m r ttie Rue Royale, and at a | restaurant m the Boulevard des Italians, ,- as well as m the. Cafe Americain, hundreds of brightly colored: Chinese lanterns were hung outside, and people sat down at a great number of tables on the pavement, delighted with the picturesque • flare of the lamps. At Marguery's a great banquet was" m progress, and light was provided by- hundreds .9 f candles stuck ih bottles, arid by dozens of waiters behind the guests holdirig candlebra. One of the most extraordinary sights was on the Place de lo Bastille and the adjacent boulevards. Owing to the excavations now being carried on there, all the street gas lamps have been disconnected, arid a couple of hundred policemen were, immediately pressed into service as hunian lamp-posts. The riien stood at intervals along the pavement and held aloft great lamps of hapthalirie, lighting the roadway for the omnibuses and wheeled traffic. ; . Very few newspapers will be able to appear m the morning, for they carinot work their rotary machines except m cases where they have their own dyna mos. > - ■ ' .The newspapers were very hard hitSome of them were m dire straits .for 'motive-power to drive, their pressss. ost of them appeared late on Saturday morning aud m a considerably modified form. The: journal: came out with f om pages instead of ; twelve", and without its ordinary late news: pages. The Petit Parisieri and the Figaro were among the few "which, having their" own electrical plant, were uneffected; and were able tc help several' of their less fortunate con freres. The Gaulois was printed on its own machine, motive force being borrowed. Others resorted to locomobiles to drive their composing machines. Ihe Rue dv Croissant, where a number oi Paris newspapers are printed, looked like l a smaller edition of Krupp's works at Essen, or a living picture of Dore's "Inj forno,", All along the street: were great ! steam engines belching forth smoke and flame. Here and there was a large moj tor car generating electricity m the printI ing works above. Ip and out among them, out of the black 5 darkness into the light ot the doorway and then out m tne dark again, surged a' crowd of grimy, perspiring, yelling men arid women, whila here and there immense roljs of -paper gleamed, into sudden whiteness as the chimneys of the steam engines ihot out flame: Ih some of the principal hotels, when the lamps and candles had burnt themselves out m the public rooms' at nine or ten o'clock, guests were compelled to grope 'their way to their bedrooms as best they could m the dark. The most curious scenes occurred. In one hotel every ten minutes or so, a servant armed with a large acetylene lamp wohW start off with a row of guests following him to conduct theni to their rooms. Even so, many guests got- lost m the gloomy corridors. Never before have such extraordinary sights been witnessed m the Frencn capital. In the past it has occasionally happened that the electric light has failed for a few .hours m the central district of Paris, but this time the darkness is universal. Several elderly persons state that it reminds them of the siege of Paris ■ thirty-seven yaers ago, jn 1870-1, when the gas supply of the city gave out, and the town was lighted at night by a few oil lamps. The electricians on leaving work, seem to have tampered with the switchboards of the power stations, for the engineers find it impossible to make the switchboards work. Public anger at the strike and the inconvenience it has caused is very great. One result of the failure of the light was the the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate were left m darkness. Jn the central telegraph office the operators are transmitting their messages by th-! light of guttering candles. . Large numbers of people are amusing themselves by walking about the streets with colored paper lanterns _ Many dinner parties were lit by acetylene motor lamps,' contributed by the host and guests. In some of the cafe 3 could be seen the extraordinary spectacle of a marble-topped table and a glass of beer dazzingly illuminated by a motor lamp, with a dark figure sitting beside, while invisible waiters stumbled over each other as they endeavoured to answer the summons of equally invisible customers. Perhaps the most pathetic plight was that of President Fallieres. There were very few lamps and no candles at the Elysee, au. after dining amid the most, dismal surroundings M. Fallieres went to bed about nine o'clock. There was nothing else to do. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate were both m session when the light failed. They were adjourned by the light of- several candles and a number ol matches. PARIS, arch 10. The great electric strike ended last night at eight o'clock, as suddenly as it had begun on the previous afternoon, but it- took hours to set the machinery m motion again, and Paris was once more plunged m darkness. Most of the theatres remained closed last night, and the newspapers were produced under great difficulties. It was eleven o'clock beforo the first arc lamps began to glow on the boulevards. PREMIER'S PROMPT ACTION. Two causes brought about the rapid 1 ending of the strike. The first was tie prompt action taken by the Premier, M. Clemenceau bringing up from Versailles 500 sappers from the Ist and sth Engineer Regiments. , The news that the soldiers were to. take their places made the strikers very angry, but indc-ued them to come to terms without delay, and when at eight o'clock detachments of sappers began to arrive at the various power-stations they found the strikers leturning to work 111 hundreds. The second cause was the upshot of an interview between the Under-eSecret-ory of State at the Ministry of the Interior and the strike committee, m which the men were promised that their claims would receive consideration.

A few hundred workmen luive be-.n able practically to "hold up" a city of

three million inhabitants for twenty- four hours, not because they had any actual 1 grievances, but because they wished to ] obtain advantages 111 the future. Vast inconvenience has been caused to the public, and thousands of people who m one way or another are dependent on electrical power for their occjpation have lost two days' wages. The pecunairy loss to trade is believed to exceed £80,000. It was wet and mournful on the boulevards on Saturday night, but by contrast the Avenue de ''Opera was brilliantly illuminated by power from the municipal power station at the central markets, which the council established by way of comparing the cost and results of its own enterprise and that of the companyies' stations. restaurants, which on Saturday night are usually crowded, were half empty, for thousands of dinners were countermanded. The streets wore a deserted and melancholy appearance. Only six theatres were opened. M . Albert Carre announced that he would open the Opera Comique, electricity or no electricity. He strung up a score of Chinese lanterns m front of the entrance, and when the subscribers-'-for it was a subscription night — and the public entered they discovered that some fourteen large oil lamps served as footlights, while attached to the music desks of the orchestra were numerous small safety lamps. The theatre itself was lit by a few oil lamps, which only made the prevailing gloom more apparent. Nobody .jould see his neighbor m the auditorium, and the artistes on the stage seemed like shadows. Suddenly, at half -past ten, the electric globes sprang into radiance amid a gene, ral shout ofrelief . M. Gemier opened the Theatre Antoine as usual with the assistance of a petroleum motor m place of a dynamoBut the electric light produced was so poor that it had to be replaced all over •the house by acetylene burners. At the little Theatre des Capucines the manager had placed drawing-room lamp, with pretty silk shades here and there m the stall, a novel and pleasing effect. The Theatre Sarah Bernhardt contrived to obtain light. At the Chatelet: opposite there was not enough light for a performance, but enough for a cinematograph entertainnient, whi;h was given instead, to a crowded house. Another picturesque part of Paris yesterday was the Latin Quarter. From one end to the other of the Boulevard St.. Michel— "Bour; Mich' " as the students call it— berizoline lamps were lighted. These the students deorated with odd shirts and other artiles, and m the evening they rharched about iii the rain waving Chinese lanterns from their umbre'*a handles, knocking up the grocers' shoos for candles, and generally enjoying 'lita as students will. Every electric lift m the city stopped running when the current failed, and many people remained for hours imprisoned, it being impossible, to get them Out. In one lift m the Avenue de-Bre-teuil, a frightened lady, who was afraid of being 'hauled out, stayed m the l.ft for twenty-four hours, her .meals being let down to her from the floor above. , : Thousands of sacks *of potatoes were sold to be usedr as candlesticks. Each of the big hotels used up several thousand candles. --The. Opera Comique gave aperformance of ; Werther on Saturday night, the illumination consisting of oil lamps and candles. ..