POOR GERMANS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4820, 9 March 1925, Page 2

POOR GERMANS.

ON HOLIDAY IN SWITZERLAND. PLENTY TO SPEND. There are many more Germanspeaking than English-speaking visiters in the Upper Engadinc. They are staying longer than the English—they can afford bettor holidays. Their clothes and equipment are all new and specially designed, and of the best quality. Individually they spend on the average more than .the English, and in mass they arc probably spend--ing twice as much. For these facts .; you will hear various The ' commonest excuse is that these Germans are solely of the war-profiteer class. That is obviously untrue. The Ger-' mans are of all classes, military, commercial, and professional, as well as the mere pleasure-loving. They are of all ages—schoolboys and girls ; stu- . dents with duel marks on the cheek; country and small town people; and ■ metropolitans from Frankfort, Berlin,; and Hamburg—particularly from “pjor, ruined Hamburg.” In one of the larger hotels arc aPrussian major and his wife, a pre** fessor and his sister, and yet another professor and his family and nursemaid. These professors are typical of the “intellectuals” who fulminated . the Hymn of Hate and who, we were' told by charity-collecting pro-Ger-mans, were reduced to beggary by the, fall of the mark. How many English professors could take their families, to St. Moritz for a month ? The German women are a curious . mixture. There are hosts of the Kit--chen, Kirk, and Kids variety, fat, homely, and husband-idolising. There are a few of the fashionable, slim outline, wearing blazing jewels at all,r hours of the day. There are fewer-,', still who do a little sport, usually skating. I have seen one German so<jseleet that he lunches in brown kid gloves and dines in white ones. • For the most part their ideas oi Alpine dress would make the angels roar with laughter—in particular, their “Scottish plaids.” In breeches a Frau sticks out like a tyre advertise—ment. One of the frequent sights is checkered magenta and canary-yellow breeches, with the tops buttoned over silk stockings, high-heeled shoes, a peak-a-boo blouse under a short fur coat, and a white tammy with Italian, ribbon streamers. German family parties bulge out; from two-horse sleighs, plough through fat lunches with imported French wines, drink sweet afternoon chocolate with tall dishes of whipped cream, and raid the pastry-shop counter for fresh relays of eclairs and. meringues. In the space of a large dining-table they dance, a dozen couple at a time, between each handful ofpweets. Their men, with shaved heads and double chins at the back of the neck, get up lethargically when the band starts, bow to any stranger girl or her chaperon, and carry her off to waddle with much shoulder-shaking through a foxtrot. They ski little, but when they Jo they all have coaches. They occupy tlrn dearest seats at jumping and rink displays. They have the best cam- ; eras, many of them private kinema apparatus. They appear in costly fancy dress and make-up, and they gamble fieely on the machine which is the Swigs equivalent of “boule" or roulette of 9 numbers (and which, by the way, unlike the French Boule, pays only 6 to 1 for hitting the num- ‘ her). In minor ways they are economical.?' There is an excellent express service between Bale and Berlin with thirdclass coaches, and these are packed— . another proof that the holiday-makers are of all classes and not alone profiteers. ; This year I have heard no complaint of German rudeness ,to English' men or women. On the contrary, they are noticeably polite in their stiffbowing fashion. They “mix” with ill-. concealed pleasure when a festivity offers opportunity. Vlhat is the object? They have won the peace so far as paying up. is concerned. Having got off lightly, are they-out “to make friends” with us, to say all is forgotten, to prevent any - awkward reopening of their obligations ? At any rate, they are doing very well, thank you, and thoroughly enjoying the winter—of our discontent.