SWITZERLAND IN WAR TIME.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16168, 23 March 1918, Page 7

SWITZERLAND IN WAR TIME.

EXPERIENCES OF A NEW ZEALAND HOUSEWIFE. (SPECIALLY WRITTEN FOR "THE TRESS.") (Bt Mrs Julian Grande.) BERNE, January 7. 1918. As far as I know, I am the only New Zealander in the whole of Switzerland at present. In Berne there are not a few English people now, moro than at normal times, but they are neariv all connected with tho Legation, or engaged in Red Cross or Bread

Bureau work, for the sending of nicelybrowned long loaves of broad to our prisoners of war in Germany continues as regularly as ever. It is often, I believe, almost the means of saving their lives, for most of them say when they come to Switzerland that in Germany they lived chiefly upon their parcels. In other parts of Switzerland, however, there are very few English residonts, save at Chateau d'GEx and Murren, where we have so many prisoners, and, except for a handful of old residents who were settled here long before tho war, but chiefly in French Switzerland. I suppose everyone in New Zealand knows that Lord Newton and another British Government delegate recently met some Turkish Government delegates in Berne to discuss the repatriation of, at any rate, certain categories of British prisoners of war in Turkey, and now we hope soon to see somo of our men arrive here, hut we dread very much seeing the stato they may bo in. There are some New Zealanders in Turkey, I know, and to one, whoso namo I got, I tried to send a parcel. I had it properly packed by the Geneva Red Cross, who, of course, knew precisely what I might and might not send; consequently there can bo no question but that it was altogether in ; order. I know, however, that it nevor arrived —it was probably stolen by the Turks, or by tho Austrians or Bulgarians on the way. Tho last contingent of .our men who arrived in Switzerland (so I am told, for I did not see them, as they arrived about 2 a.m.), were looking very miserable, much worse than. ' any previous contingents. And as for some of' tho last contingents of French soldiers repatriated or sent for internment in Switzerland, I believe their state has been distressing, their uniforms in rags and tatters, and they themselves miserably thin and underfed. Worst of all have been tho last train loads of evacues from French occupied territory, mostly, of course, old men, women, and children. They were in such an exhausted and wretched plight that the guard on one train found two of them dead, and I believe the Basel people, who have been very good in going to tlio station to try to help and feed and reclothe them, wash the children, and so on, have been thoroughly cured of any latent or lingering pro-Germanism by seeing the misery of these poor people, who have been: 60 long under German rule. The train loads of civilians and prisoners of war, far more civilians than prisoners, indeed, still continue to be one of the features of life in the heart of Europe in war. time.

A certain number of our interned soldiers and officers have been transferred to Berne and Lausanne, and one or two other places, where they are usually employed either by the .Legation or Bread Bureau, or are students. In Borne there are also a number of French internes, either at the French Embassy or in treatment at some hospital, and not a ievf German internes, working for the German Legation, or in treatment at a hospital likewise.

On Sundays all must wear uniform, and it is sometimes astonishing to see j how many of these different soldiers there I are here. Moreover, all interned officers and soldiers in uniform, of all nationalities, are supposed always to salute a Swiss officer or soldier when they meet one, which is not unreasonable; but they are also expected to salute interned "officers and soldiers of enemy belligerent nationalities I For instance, a British officer expected to salute a German officer, and vice versa, and a British Tommy a German soldier or officer. That this is always very punctiliously done, especially by the British Tommy, I will not assert; but a British major here tells me he has often been saluted by German officers. The chief difficulty of everyday life in Switzerland this winter is the scarcity of coal and fuel generally. This difficulty has been felt for some time past; we first noticed it when the gas was being rationed; such a scanty ration being allowed that everyone whose eole means of cooking was by gas had either to get an electric cooking plate or what is known as a "Kochkiste," for which I know, no English word. It is a sort of box, in which siow-cooking things, such as'soup, can be cooked, soup being almost the stall of lifo for the Swiss; but for average British households I doubt a Kochkiste being much use. In certain places of late, particularly in Zurich, electricity has also been rationed owing to shortage of water caused by a very long cold period without any rain, and the freezing of many water courses. As far as I know it has not been rationed in houses, but the lighting of shop windows and street lighting have been restricted

lire coal scarcity has also Lad the effect of considerably reducing the train services throughout the country, and we are now to have further reductions, which may include the cessation of all express trains and Sunday trains. The last two threats, however. I hope may remain merely threats. Eveiy household feels the coal shortage seriously. We are, of course, like everyone else, rationed with coal: I applied in the prescribed way recently for more, and got a permit to buy one-third of what I stated as our requirements. Consequently we have bought beechwood logs, which, however, arc dear, and \ery difficult to obtain. What coal there is, moreover, is really only coke, and not the Belgian anthracite mixed with coke, which was what we always had before, and which is what is suitable for the central heating indispensable in so cold a climate as that of most of Switzerland. The heating of churches is restricted, and most churches are not open every Sunday at present: the heating of cinematographs and places of amusement is also restricted (nut enough in my opinion); office hours are a little later in the morning, and earlier in the evening, with a shorter time at noon j whiter school holidays are lengthened, private families are not supposed to heat all their rooms, and, as a matter of fact, most people I know have closed all rooms not indispensable, and a good many other people have their rooms too cold. Hotels are also not supposed to heat all rooms, and do not heat nearly eo much as at ordinary times. In short, there are endless restrictions and petty annoyances, but nothing/ of course, of which we can really complain when we see our unfortunate men arriving from Germany or wretched evacues literally sometimes at the very last gasp. The main reason for the coal short*

age is that Germany' coal-miners to dig the coal, nor enough rolling-stock to transport it, and also that at present many rivers there are frozen, or partly frozen. Only about, 135.000 tons of* coal arrived in Switzerland in December, 1917, instead oF the 200.000 promised by Germany, atd the 250.000 to 300,000 which Switzerland really needs for her railways and other requirements. In Canton Berne, where we live, ve have now milk cards, which allow our household of threo (our two selves and a Swiss maid), about two halt-pints daily- For children under six tho daitv allowance is twice as much as for an adult. Other parts of Switzerland, however. havo not yet milk cards. Then we have in this Canton, but in by no means all others, a butter ~ard, which allowed us in December and allows us this January uot- quite threequarters of a lb —again for a household of three, and any visitors who taav come, aiid for a whole month. xJut —tell it not in Gath—this month \>e contrived to get u pound from another Canton, where it is more plentiful. Butter, however, may not be sent from one Canton to another by post, so that no one here can -satisfy his or her desire for bread and butter simply by finding out a dairyman or farmer in j some other Canton and having butter j sent him. To most people tho_ rationing of butter is the worst privation, after the coal scarcity. The getting of the various household cards every month is a considerable addition to the work of daily 'ife. I do not do it, for T have no time, but on certain days, whether convenient or not, our maid has to go and r.et the cards for bread, butter, flour, rico, sugar, maize, ana macaroni (vcrm*celli and all Toigwaran), that, is, all tho various Allied products. * There is one card to each person. Vermicelli and similar kinds of products which are used for putting m soups, are much more important to a Swiss household than to an English one. Of rice wc havo rather less than an English pound each per month. of macaroni, etc., in all about half a pound each per month; of maize slightly more than an English pound each, and of sugar at present about lib Cot. each, of all sorts, which is certainly j not much, but last summer during the jam-making season tho Government, contrived to allow each household a certain amount of preserving sugar. In order to lessen inconvcniences we have all the stipulated quantities of rice, sugar, ete., bought at once, as soon as wc get the cards, but quite poor people of course could not do this, and must be much inconvenienced.

Most important of all are the bread cards which include coupons for abo.ut 21b soz of flour, the ration for a household of three for one month. The bread allowance was at'first nearly nine English ounces daily per person (with an extra allowance for persons engaged in severe physical labour): out it is now not quite eight ounces daily per person, which all people with growing children tell me is quite insufficient, but. which we just make hold out, especially as some considerate persons bring a roll with them if they come to dinner. Of course if either or both of us go away anywhere from Berne we must always take a breadcard. When the baker brings the bread to the house daily, the maid takes the bread cards, and he snips off the necessary number of coupons. Since a Swiss maid eats a good deal of bread, we do not find our present ration too much, and hope it will not be further reduced. , Many persons, however, found they were 011 the right side with the first and more ljberal bread cards. , Consequently at the end of the month they rushed to the and order • ed all manner of cakes, thinking they j must use up their cards.. The authorities, of course, came to know of this, and next month .took measures to prevent anything of the sort occurring again. At present, until'l see how the January breadboards work out, 1 am allowing no coupon to be detached for a cake, for of course a great many kinds of cake have wheaten flour in them, and can only be bought on presentation tothe confectioner of a coupon for •" a , certain quantity of flour. . Many other cakes, however, and .extremeiv good ones, though dear, are made with potato flour, and they are - plainly marked "ohne Brotkarte verkauflich —no bread card heeded. I do not think many people! here now emulate New Zealand housewives and- make cakes at home: it is too difficult .to get sugar, eggs, and butter, not' to speak of flour, and of the. risk of exceeding the gas ration and drawing down upon one the wrath of the gas man when he comes. •

We are now threatened with fat cards which will, I think, probably come, and with meat cards, which, rl think, will not come, at all events not,yet. Cheese is. also running short, especially, since so many people eat cream cheese in default of butter, and only a small quantity of cheese can be botight at once. Olive oil is another very scarce and very dear article, and every kind of fat, suet included, is hard to get. Indeed, no one here need plan a suet pudding for dinner; first of all it is necessary to go and see if the butcher has any suefc -

To add to the small troubles of everyday life here, we are having a severe winter. For us, after all, it matters little: it is our poor men in the trenches who must be suffering, and perhaps our "unfortunate prisoners in Germany.

"We certainly had a very severe and a singularly sunless -December, with a great deal of snow also; ' but riowr, though January is proving onco more the truth of the ola saw that "as the day lengthens the cold strengthens," we have had sunny days, though extremely sharp and early morning tempciatures, so I am told, in exposed parts down to 7 and 8 Fahrenheit below zero. Gardens suffer less;than any-; one might think' in' such weather, -be-' cause all low-growing-plants are cover-! Ed up inches deep in snow-.. ,My- pansies and-forget-me-nots, which -P" always plant in autumn, VIIL code tip smiling, ( I feel. sure,: as, soon"as the snow, melts and there are a few warm days, A biit my : wallflowers, which' it -might be thought were less tender, will probably-- not'recover, for they, - being taller, stand up out of the~ sndWj and already look almost hopelessly frostbitten.

There are yet . other, inconveniences of the great cold and bitter frosts, of which New Zealanders would hardly think, but -which are frequently present to the dweller hero in such a winter as this. Sometimes the potatoes freeze in the cellar, and also the apples, both of which it is customary to buy here for the winter. The danger of this has been so great that the Government has issued instructions as to how to prevent potatoes freezing. Many of the vegetables on the bi-weekly markets hero are frozen, and not very good, besides being extremely dear, Is perhaps for • a cauliflower just enough for ourselves. And as for flowers, or even mistletoe, they are so badly frozen as not to be worth buying.

As to the political feeling here, it naturally changes daily almost. There is, or was recently, si Btrong feeling that peace was coming soon (a feeling which has probably vanished after Mr Lloyd George's speech of January 6th): but it .must always be remembered that the ideas in German-Switzerland are dominated by Germany, and she, without any doubt, has been disseminating the notion of peace beinp near. In thinking of Switzerland in this war time, so far as any British subjects have time to think about her (> it must be borne in mind that there is the sharpest distinction to be drawn between French-Switzerland and German-Swit-zerland. The French-Swiss are in no sense pro-German, nor ever were. They are rather pro-English than pro-French, I might say. The German-Swiss, especially the Bernese, and certain classes, the so-called "patricians," and some of the military, are very pro-German indeed, although the humbler classes arc, I xuust admit, less so. Of late we h a ve spent any frco days wo may have Jiad , at Christmas or at other times— they I

"atfc ver^,the atmosphere "being so t— ""*"<l so much raore sympathetic- • 'J of German-Switzerland; and,'l ""think, § many of the other British residents do j likewise. 1