BAVARIA IN WAR TIME

Waikato Times, Volume 84, Issue 13289, 27 September 1915, Page 3

BAVARIA IN WAR TIME

LIKE IN MUNICH. In view of the repetition cf statements a.bott Germany's imminent economic breakdown, ihe fallowing article relating the actual conditions of life in Bavaria by a Daily Express ! Special Correspondent, will be interJ esting. I For the second time since war was i declared I have visited Munich, the famous capital of Bavnia. It has changed greatly from its former self The tremendous struggle in which Germany is engaged has had disastrous effects on life in Munich. My first visit was made in March on behalf of the Daily Express, and I was most anxious on this second occasion to know whether the few months which had since elapsed had made any ditference. Five months ago did not find any internal signs of a beaten Germany, nor did I find any this time When I returned before I warned people in this country not to underestimate the strength and endurance of the enemy, and what I remarked then-that the spirit of the German people was un broken, and that there was not the slightest sign of an internal revolution—l can only repeat now. If there is one man in Britain who thinks that Germany will be beaten in a few months on account of shortage of men, war material, or money, that man makes a grave mistake. Life in German towns 1 have visited during the war-and tbey are many—has changed considerably. The Germans are now feeling the direct influence of the war more than any other of the belligerent nations, but they seem to have got used to it. No one speaks now of the Kriegbrot—-war-bread or of the innumerable sons of the Fatherland who have fallen since August, but all tell you that their armies occupy large purtions of the enemy's territory, and that if it came now to peace terms Germany would not have the worst of the bar gain. In connection with this I had an interesting conversation one night in Munich when I went to the Deutsches Theatre. I happened to get a seat in a box where four ladies were sitting, two young and two middieaged. They apparently belonged to the upper middle-class. We started a conversation, of course, about the war. I could not help laughing when one ol the young ladies, a Lyceum scholar of about 18 informed me that she bad beard that the English could not get enough recruits, and were training a few hundred big monkeys to let them loose against the German soldiers. i I had great difficulty in explaining to her the absurdity of her imprespion. The other young lady told me that trench-digging was taught to her and I her friends in the grounds belonging i to the Lyceum, and if it came to the worst, and if Germany got short of men, tbey would be quite willing to help the men in erecting defence works, a statement which had the full approval of the elderly ladies in the box. Remarks similar to these may be heard from everybody as soon as you start a conversation on the war. I saw verv few disabled men in Munich. It seems to be a system of the Germans to send disabled men to smaller towns and villages so as to give the* large part of the population the impression that everything is going well. The bread is of better quality than it was five months ago, but is still scarce. White bread is nut available at all. There is an abundance of potatoes, and meat is 30 to 40 per cent, cheaper than in Vienna. Some things are cheaper even than in thi° country, and the majority are only slightly dearer, with the exception of colonial products, which have reached a prohibitive price. I tried in vain to get rice in Munich. I went to about twelve shops, and was informed that the colonial product bad disappeared from the market. Tea has alio disappeared from the grocers' windows, and coffee is bad and expensive. What they gave me as coffee in some small restaurants had very little connection with real coffee, in my opinion. I saw no idle wjrkmen. Everybody seems to work hard, and this is the more remarkable when one remembers that thousands of men and women must have been employed in the German export trade, which, of course, has been practically throttled by Britain's sea power. All the same, by some means or other thex managed to get employment, mos\ of them on Government work. The people seem to be well paid. I noticed no sign of discontent or cf coming strikes. The abundance of paper money of small amount is astounding. The one mark—shilling—notes are very small —three inches by two—and as tbey are. of course, handled a lot, they have become exceedingly dirty In Munich people are not alarmed in the slightest degree of the financial future of Germany. They explain to you that all war material is made in the country, and consequently the money spent on it circulates and remains in Germany. ' They forget that very many requisites, like horses, copper, zinc, petrol, and others, have to be bought in neutral countries and paid for with gold, and that this decrease of the gold stock may in the long run prove fatal to the Fatherland. In nearly every main street I noticed a house with large placards urging the population to sell all kinds of metals to the Government at a fixed price, That house was at the same time a metal warehouse. I entered one and thought myself at first in a huge kitchen. AH kinds of metal kitchen utensils were stored on the walls, and the guard told me that many of thb people who brought these utensils would not take money for them. My settled conviction is that Germany is running short of all metals, although by employing thesa extraordinary measures it may be a long time atill before she baa no more.