LEIPZIG FAIR

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21819, 23 November 1940, Page 8

LEIPZIG FAIR

R.A.F. INTERFERES (From Our Own Correspondent) LONDON, September 21. Leipzig Fair was a failure, according to a Rumanian lawyer who returned to his country this week. He has little sympathy for Britain, but this is what he told his friends: “I spent four days at Leipzig Fair, but for the best part of three of them I was forced to seek refuge in shelters and cellars. On arrival at the German frontier I was served out with ration cards for my stay. I quickly found that even at the favourable travellers’ Deichsmark rate each meal cost the equivalent of 10/-. “The food was the scantiest, and similar food, even if offered in any other country, which is most doubtful, would hardly cost 2/6. Prices in Germany since I last visited the country a few months ago have rocketed upwards. “Foreign visitors were most discontented with Leipzig, and all felt that their journeys had been a waste of time and that the Fair had only been opened for propaganda purposes within Germany. “I met a friend who had just arrived from Switzerland. He told me that a recent journey from Dusseldorf to Basle by the fastest express train available had taken him nearly 40 hours. “They were delayed in sidings for several hours, and at times, owing to dislocation due to bombings, it was necessary to detrain and walk for half an hour and board another train.”