BERLIN IN 1927

Hokitika Guardian, 8 February 1928, Page 3

BERLIN IN 1927

John Drittkwater, the poet, describing in an English paper Berlin as lie saw it at the end of 1927. says: •'E-r----lin itself has an attraction curiously difficult to define. Its utilitarian virtues are manifest. It is. for example, easily the cleanest capital city that 1 have ever seen—collecting capitals is a l obby of mine, and Berlin is. I think, tnv fourteenth. 'I lie publicservices and hotels are efficient, the shops good, and a mark means a mark, and not a mark, plus an indefinite something according to your accent or the cut of your coat. And yet the city makes, on a first impression, a somewhat undistinguished appearance. The architecture is mostly solid and inoffensive, but not notably characteristic- of a people or period. Some of its decoration, such as exfoliating pillars fringed and coloured like sea anemones, is, indeed, prostrating, and the Sieges Alee • nuist- represent the

world's peak of sculptural horror. But in general the buildings of the city are comfortably sufficient.’’