PICTURES FROM PARIS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10292, 29 May 1919, Page 7

PICTURES FROM PARIS

WORLD’S STATESMEN

SIDELIGHTS ON THE PEACE CON- - , FJSBJSNC®., I

Writing in the “Evening Standard’’ from Paris, Sir John Poster Fraser, special correspondent, deals with the lighter side of the great gathering of statesmen at the Peace Conference. Commissions and committees are hard at work' collecting pass, on to the Council of Teh/ whichimeets. each morning in hi, Pichoh’s room 'at the Quai d’Orsay. There is a constant see-saw of officials between London and Paris. Some come by the slow sea and land way, occupying about eleven hours. The more adventurous come by aeroplane, taking- a’'out four hours. ;Mr' Bouai travels by aeroplane, fairly comfortably, for he is in a closed cab and cun spend the time reading. I dined with a man last night'who , had flown oyer in a ’plane carrying quite a ton of mail. The chief ,thing; he had to say was that the journey was monotonous, and that he hecame exceedingly hungry. * Some of the British- sections are working hard—right up to 10 o’clock at night. The lady secretaries, who had an easy time during the first fortnight, are now kept busy, and the Hotel Majestic expects another swarm of typists from London in a day or two. WHO ABE THESE STRANGE PEOPirBP Being in the Majestic is rather like being on board ship! One is always meeting the same people in the lounge, which is the equivalent of a promenade deck. At dinner there is probably the most wonderful crowd of British people that could bo brought together—all tho Premiers of the Empire, statesmen, diplomats, soldiers. You will have to guess the name of the most important person who put on his pince-nez the other evening, gazed round with beneficent countenance, and remarked, “I don’t know a soul-; but they look an interesting lot.”

• Anyway, it is not the same statesman who startled all in his neighbourhood at the big Conference at the Quai d’Orsay by exclaiming, when a strangelooking delegate rose at the further end of the salon. “Who the is this?’^

I’think I wrote, about Saturday’s proceedings that, momentous though they were, they inclined to dullness, especially during the translation of speeeches, and that Mr Balfour and Lord Robert Cecil found amusement by scribbling jaunty notes, tossing them along the table, laughing, and then letting the Prime Minister join in the fun. There is an awful rumour that Mr Balfour and his nephew were writing Limericks about tho various’ speakers from Siam and elsewhere. THE SILVER BATH.

Tho joke of the week was about Mr Winston. Churchill’s silver bath at the Majestic. In far-off war days the Majestic was exceedingly popular with Americans, and in ono of the suites was a silver bath for tho benefit of democratic but luxurious nabobs. :

Of course, when tho new Lord Chancellor was hero last week he had the suite with the silver bath. When “F.E.” wont and Winston came, it was only natural, being old friends, that tho Lord Chancellor should pass on tho delight to tho Minister for War. It is rumoured that when Mr Churchill is out taking his walk of an afternoon, select parties visit his bathroom to see where ho disports himself each morning. Ordinary folk at the Majestic, like Prime Ministers, for instance, think silver baths must bo uncomfortable. Tho question, over coffee and cigars, is whether Mr Walter Long, as First Lord of tho Admiralty, will have

the right to turn the War Minister out of the polished bath when he comps over to Paris? - _ , •TOMMIES WELL-BEHAVED.

If reports /reaclj, ,yi>u' in, London that the Parisians .’ace gettting.'apgry, the mui'dqfs.,, hold-upsy insults to women, and rowdyism, tor which foreign soldiers in this city ar’e held responsible, I would like to say that the complaints are not directed ;agaiu^* j , Britisha-tofe diers. ’ ' f -" z

Qur men-aro exceedingly well-be-haved, and-the Parisians comment on their courtesy and quiet'good humour. The way '" u our 'Tommio3,’ r knowing ‘no French, find their ‘way*about the boulevards, and enjoy, themselves, is delightful.' ..Well; some of them do . make a plunge at the . language.' I heard a Cockney chauffeur , tell another driver to “get a move on, toot bally sweet.”' It is, perhaps, ■ a thing that when the.: delegates'to -the- Confer-, ence are not discussing methods to make the ‘world’ better they ‘ * are debating Paris restaurant prices ”6r the brigandage of taxi-men. * But food -is not always expensive. On Saturday •P ■ was a guest at the restaurant which' “Be’ Journal” 1 has "started for tho benefit of the literary stafffor, if I am not giving away a secret, all literary men are not millionaires. There is no apartment at Buckingham Palace quite so decorative as that dining room on the premises 'of : t: Le Jour” mu.’”

The walls are covered with exquisite pointings by famous French artists. The food and the wines were good and cheap—a steak with potatoes cost Is oid, and that was the most- expensive item on the menu. Of course; the proprietors of this wonderful paper, with h daily, circulation^ *V millien~and aquarter, bear all the attendant expenses, and food is sold at cost pHces, THE WORLD’S PRESS. J All this causes me to refer to the courtliness of the Frenchnewspaper men'to the hundreds of confreres gathered from all over the . world. There are something like, 450 .Hpec.ial correspondents how in Paris. I’ve personally run across men not only, from London, but men whom I last saw in New-York,'Buenos Ayres, Sydney, Tokio. We British are the most phlegmatic, the Latins most demonstrative, the Americans most - * pushful. Many!.of the French'statesmen are newspaper men-—M. Oiemenceau,the Prime Minister,.- and’M;" Pichon, the Foreign Minister, for-example. ,■■■!. Yesterday the Villa Dufaye I—the most ornate residence 1 on the Champs Elysee—was opened on behalf of the French Government aa*a club for the convenience* of foreign’ nowspaper oorrespondents visitittg 'Paris.' With all the carving, • giltj-Tnirrors; ‘stationery, crimson upholstered- furniture, It reaJly seems too- magnificent . a- place for scribes to- smoke their pipes ■ in whilst hurriedly ■- preparing- dispatches for abroad. - -The most* famous-of French journalists were present to give us welcome at luncheon, and Sir George .Riddell Was delightfully; happy.; when,, he expreSsecT'cmf ‘indebtedness. .... , Meanwhile* the complicated wheels of the Conference are slowly grinding along. Behind the clip-phrased official communiques are big issues. Each nation is presenting its case on affairs in.which it,is specially interested. I know nothng about what other countries have done • but I do know that tho case for been, pre.-.. pared wtih j elaborate? carefulness Indeed, some departments. have been working on their sections for eighteen months. : ' The Council of Ten have been. tackling tho problem of demobilisation w all lauds. With the rapid’ return-'ot soldiers to- civilian “life, 'particularlyiAu Britain, America, and Franco, I have heard expressions of some- alarm--that more vigorous action is not, taken*-to enforce tho< -demobilisation df* the "German army.* - ENEMY STILL AT WORK. " It is not .overlooked that tho. German soldiers, have .been,,received with enthusiasm in Berlin as the saviours of their country, heroes who for years

■resisted invasion by they foe. Soma diplomatists’take the'ground that it is necessary, to press upon the Herman people that they have.suffered a military defeat or, when the ; Allied armies Of occupation ’ are depleted, the Hermans may turn found-and strike another blow. The answer to this is that General Foch has- drawn the teeth of the enemy in the stores and guns which have been claimed and the ease 'With which the enemy transport can be crippled. But T find a belief, -esepoially ’ ip Parisian journalistic circles, that Herman subtle" influences are at work to set the different Allied Powers by the ears, to create antagonisms which would be to the : advantage of Hermany. Some troublesome times are ahead; but it may be taken that the Allies are on their guard.