NIGHT REVELS IN BERLIN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14900, 2 May 1919, Page 3

NIGHT REVELS IN BERLIN.

.OFFICERS RECKLESS ORGIES.

(By Percival Phillips.) With the British Army of Occupation, Cologne, Feb. 1. An officer attached to. one of. the Allied 'Missions tpV Berlin/ who left theritf aYfew days ago, after a six weeks' stay, tells me> that the cost of living is still ' rising by leaps and bounds , as food becomes scarcer. He dined with two friends at one of the, largest restaurants, and the meal,consisting of vegetable hors ' d-deuvres, thin soup, a mysterious entree made with tinned fish, 'followed by a meagre chicken served. with potatoes, cost 385 marks (about £19). Life in Berlin is characterised '-' -by • feverish gaiety 4n the crowded night cafes, and utter despair ih the rest of the capital. Thousands of people, , he declared, were gradually starving, and crime, especially that of robberies a, nd hold-ups, has increased.' _ Over sixty bight cafes flourish in the heart of the city and are crowded until ( daybreak, chiefly by demobilised officers ' and soldiers and dissolute' characters. Champagne at 120 and 135 marks (about £6) a bottle still finds a ready sale. •/An. atmosphere' of recklessness and .disregard of the critical condition of the .country prevades the ;amusement resorts, ; and^ the. wildest excesses aye, committed. Waiters at' one notorioosly popular cafe deceive salaries of 12,000 marks (about £600) '.. a year, . in consequence of their having struck for a fixed rate. Similar concessions secured at other cafes have resulted^ iii . the abolition of the tipping system, but customers are charged 20 . per cent, of ithe-bill of service. Y My, informant added,. "The . jieople ■ have not the > "slightest conception of ( fato * in store for .them:— they imagine President Wilson will' secure, them a • compromise peace, ' which will save a 'good deal from the wreck, including their colonies. For this reason they are I -riot particularly, disturbed b"jr the rei points .of the proposals/ put forward by • the Allies, for they cling; to the belief . that America will soften the blow. i When, the result of the Peace Oonferenee i' is known in Germany* there will bo the t greatest outburst of .rage yet witnessed, , and Berlin will be a most unpleasant I place." ' ; ■y . _■' '