IN SWEDEN

Hokitika Guardian, 10 May 1929, Page 8

IN SWEDEN

LAND OF GOOD MANNERS

(By Sir Pereival Phillips in “Daily Mail.”)

STOCKHOLM, April 3

A fellow-traveller of mine who is acousto'med to the rough-and-ready civility of various international types of humanity was so impressed by the courtly politeness of Swedish porters and other servants of the public that he wrote home to his wife the night he arrived here that he had come to the Land of Good Manners.

All seandinavia is a friendly place, particularly for English-speaking peoples, but Sweden takes especial pride in what may be described as good form.

If the Last Trump sounded suddenly, in the manner depicted by certain old-fashioned ministers of religion, the Swedes would arise on the proper side from their graves, and stand about decorously until they were.able to, ask the nearest newly resurrected policeman whether the kit for Judgment Day was ordinary shrouds or, so to speak, “taiLs.” Those wiho were damned would give no trouble to the agents of the Lord, but go to hell like gentlemen. **** * * ' * Every class of society observes the Code. The Swedish officer is as punctiliously correct in Ins behaviour as the ore-war Prussian, but without the latter’s brutal offensiveness when crossed. They have without stiffness, and the tribute to a lady’s baud is less of a kiss than an act of reverence. A porter will <pockct his Gd tip with the formal bow of an ambassador. Young girls still curtsey when greeting their elders. Even the gyrations, of jazz are executed with a certain stateliness, and such emotions as love, anger, and astonishment given .»>:rression in a polished way. One sees little evidence of desperate poverty’ allhough it exists, but even semi -starvation is endured with innate good breeding. What would be slums south of the Baltic are clean if pinched areas of destitution. Food may’ be scanty', but in this paradise of bathrooms no one thinks of remaining unwashed because of the necessity for remaining unfed. Drunkenness is wo res than a vice; it is bad form. The modified form of Prohibition existing here which makes alcohol a mere alp'penda.gei ‘to food, undoubtedly lias some influence on the national thirst: but even in the clays of unlimited Svenska Punsch and Aqu ftvit,- those fiery national stimulants .the temporary dilapidation of Swed ish legs and brains was not offensive ly advertised. Good manners ware the last to go. Scandinavia has tackled the problem of strong drink in different ways. Norway threw total Prohibition overboard some time ago, and now permits its citizens !to inibibo alcoholic fluids, subject to local option and pertain other restrictions. Sweden is more severe in this respect.

One phase of semi-Prohibition however, is practical as well as novel. The man who wants to drink must pay for his taxes. ITis “drink card” a kind of passport, is worthless without the endorsement showing that his debts to the { S.tato have been satisfied. Imagine the effect in England of a law requiring every man in search of a cocktail to obtain tlio consent of his incomfc-tax /collector. .Thaty jia what the |Swedes insist upon—politely, of course.

Everyday] l(iije is strictly regulated by Authority. IN*) iSwtedo ‘objects to that. It is good manners to obey the law. Traffic policemen find their task easy for even the wildest speed maniac realises that it is bad form to cripple pedestrians. No Court in Europe is governed more rigidly by the protool of ceremonial; the upper strata of society is hedged iaboiut by ibarridrs carefully guarded against the invasion of outsiders. Vet no people are more hospitable or kindly in their treatment of foreigners. ***** They love beauty. They take a jus. pride in possessing one of the most charming capitals in the world. Whether draped in snow and ice or smiling under’ the midnight sun ol summer, Stockholm is a peer among cities, with its .stately public building'* set amid winding waterways and inmuuorablo little wooden islands on the outskirts where Suburbia is seen at its best. It might be described as a Pleasure City, but for the air of solid ii-citifry v 1 )i'c»b ihwatbar'ises its well-dressed people. They ; work, but they appear extraet the maximum amount of enjoyment from the simple amusements of life.

Even the telephone operators are models of good behaviour. The service they give would interest many a harassed London business man goaded to airy by the familiar apology: “Sorry youve been troubled.” A rather nervous foreigner had some difficulty in making hmself understood over the telephone at my hotel, due to his imperfect knowledge of this difficult language.. Ho could he heard shouting into the receiver. The head .‘porter gifted his eyebrows and hurried to the telephone box. “Tut, tut,” his lifted ihoulders seemed to to say as he gently 'beckoned the inmate outside, iVthis irritation will never do.”

Smoothly lie interrogated the operator. They exchanged a few polished phrases. The foreigner was interpreted quietly. He slunk away feeling that he had committed a frightful faux pas. Ho had raised his voice.