GERMAN LAW AND ORDER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8343, 1 February 1913, Page 4

GERMAN LAW AND ORDER

The London “Standard” of December 26th has an amusing article concerning some new street regulations which were to come in force in Berlin this year. These are no doubt designed for the better control of the thoroughfares and traffic of the German capital, or, as our contemporary suggests, to make it “a happier place than it is at present,” .but one effect will no doubt be the swelling of the Imperial revenue to a considerable extent. It is, however, we are assured, not correct to say that the - new regulations are officially expected to provide for two additional super-Drcadnoughts in the German programme for 1913. Among the offences for which pedestrians are made liable to summary fines are: “Walking more than three abreast on the pavement”; “swinging walking-sticks or umbrellas”; “talking ioudiy, whistling, singing, or shouting”; “dropping cigar or cigarette ends, paper, or fruit on the pavement” ; “wearing of long skirts or any clothing which drags or produces dust.” It is also provided “the windows of any room in which music is played must remain shut.” We always understood the Germans to be a musical people. Perhaps, however, their reputation in this respect is more honoured abroad than at home; in any case ; as we all know full well, there is music and music. The “Standard” points out one or two matters whicn ;!io authorities seem to have overlooked, with all their zeal for decorous conduct in public and all their desire for i,uieb streets. There is, for instance, nothing 10 prevent a person wearing a loudly-ticking watch, indulging in a public sneeze or cough, or displaying ‘loud” socks, ties, or suits. Also, the scandal of the squeaking boot appears to hare been completely overlooked, and it is clear that when all the people are conversing in the approved legal whisper and no sounds of harmouv or of discord aro permitted to escape from open windows, the squeaky boot nuisance will be aggravated, very greatly. However, there is time for such omissions to be attended to and the regulations duly amplified.. Unless the public

is extremelv careful in its bonaviour and strictly conforms to the now conditions, which is, perhaps, rather much to hope for just at first, there should bo quite a number of prosecutions and fines until pedestrians, resident and visiting, become thoroughly drilled into the new order of things.