COLD IN GERMANY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 15, 11 April 1947, Page 3

COLD IN GERMANY

RIVERS AND CANALS FROZEN TRANSPORT OF GOODS HELD UP Allied.and German authorities are co-operating to prevent the most serious social and economic consequences of the present extreme winter weather, which is described here as producing “one of the most critical epochs of German history.” With rivers and canals frozen and railroads unable to function at anything like capacity, the transport of fuel and foodstuffs from bases of supplies at any great distance—especially to large towns—has been almost at a standstill.

Around Berlin, for example, most water surfaces are covered with nearly 10 inches of ice. The River Elbe between Madgeburg and Dresder is frozen over, and lack of icebreakers makes it impossible to move barges carrying food and coal on main waterways like the Elbe and Mittelland Canal. Holidays Prolonged The same applies to parts of the: rivers Ruhr and Rhine so that goods awaiting transport from east to west and from north to south are practically at a standstill. Consequently, in practically all the big and medium-sized towns, electricity supplies are cut off for hours daily, factories are closed down, theatres and cinemas are closed for lack of fuel, schools are prolonging Christmas holidays, and Allied and German authorities everywhere are concentrating their efforts to relieve the immediate hardships of the population. ' Lieut. Gen. Lucius D. Clay, chief of the American Military Government, has ordered a 90-day emergency plan for German industry. He has called for diversion of military stocks of coal so as to save the German population from the worst effects of the extreme cold. Industries not of first importance are closed down and their fuel is going to help the transport of food supplies.

The United States zone, which is shut off from supplies of Ruhr electricity because the brown coal mines there are froezn, will have only a few scattered plants working. Lack of Artificial Light Berlin and Hamburg are among the cities which are suffering most today from hunger, cold and lack of artificial light. With so many houses unweatherproofed—in fact, many are little more than patchedup ruins—thousands of families are remaining in bed because that is the only place which is comparatively warm. Coal, which is in such short supply that it has been one of the major problems of the occupation powers on how to allocate it between the claims of neighbouring allied countries and Germany itself, now is an even more pressing problem.