A CITY OF CONTRASTS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 195, 28 July 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

A CITY OF CONTRASTS.

PETROGRAD IN WINTER AND SUMMER. Tlie contrast between summer and winter is more acute in Petrograd than m any other capital in the world. Peter the Great ordained that the rew capital of Russia should be built on the mudy delta of the Aeva —a position so swampy that whole forests of pin? trunks had to be driven into the soil beforo even the plans for the new city could be contemplated. It would be difficult to say exactly what induced the Czar to choose this spot for his capital, but the fact that the Neva commands the whole of the Baltic was doubtless prominently before Irs mind. Yet in summer the climate of Petrograu is so unpleasant that only those who are unable to rent a country villa reside in the ciy during that period. The melting of the winter snows :n the upper reaches of the Neva render the city etremely unhealthy and severe floods are of frequent occurrence. Indeed, so serious are these periodical inundations that a gun is fired at the l fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul for every metre the water rises, so that citizens living in low-lying areas may have time to move to other levels. As i \ other northern cit'es tlie sun never really sets during the summer months, and in the winter it only rises above the horizon for a very brief spac.e each day. For five short months the trade of the city is in full swing, and then comes that dreary period when the Baltic is frozen over, and the waters of the river cease to flow between the Neva Quays: A LONG WINTER NIGHT. It is in the latter part of September that winter makes its first appearanco in Petrograd. Scarcely have the floods subsided .when slight night frosts occur—one says slight beeasue a temperature of twenty degrees below zero is by no means unusual during a Russian winter. The arrival of frost, however, marks the period when preparations for the 'ong dark winter must begin. As is the case in many Alpine villages Russian houses are provided with double windows and doors ; and the '"closing of the windows" is an all-im-portant measure to which every Petrogradian must attend the moment the first indication of winter appears. The operation consists in hermetically sealing the outer casements so as to exclude all possibility of draughts, and a layer of sand is then sprinkled on the ledge which "separates it from the framework of the inner panes. A small aperture is left, of course, for purposes of ventilation, but with this exception the windows are kept closed until the ollowing spring. Variations of temperature occur suddenly :n this part of Russia; autumn weather may continue for a few more weeks, but one day thc> thermometer drops far below zero, the sky becomes overcast, and small hard flakes begin to fall. In an hour the city is covered with a mantle of white, but the storm continues for whole days and nights without ceasing. Then .t is that the stoves arc lit in the houses, to be kept burning until the arrival i f the thaw, and the winter may be sa'd to have begun in earnest. The arrival of the snow signifies n complete change in the life of the ci v * The tram-lines are only kept free by the constant use of snow ploughs, and with the exception of a few taxis and an occasional carriage all wheeled traffic is suspended. Heavy wooden rollers aro trundled up and down the streets to render the surface of the; toads hard and smooth, and temporary curbs, made of pine trunks lashed together, are laid near the pavements to prevent skidding sleighs from injuring pedestrians. But after good roads have heen made all further snow-falls are c leared away, so the respective levels of the roadway and the pavement may remain the same. Were it not for the rumble of tranicars and the tinkle of thesl eigh bells the noise of the traffic would aease entirely. As it is, Petro--s'rad is probably the quietest city in the world at ths season, the sleigh runners making only a pleas*ng "sing' as they glide over the snow. Everyone, of course, is attired in furs, and it "s often so cold that the drosky-dnver has to provide some protection for his liorso. As in other Russian cities the streets and squares of Petrograd are wide and spacious, and when the cold becomes very severe braziers of fire ;\r,e placed at intervals in the Nevsky Prospect and other important thoroughfares so that the police und city officials might vaini themselves from time to time. But what would at first appear strange to the Britisher, with his very limited experience of severe winters, is that railings and all other street ironwork are carefully covered with leather. This ;s done so that people may not let their hands come into contact with the metal, as the cold is often so intense that their flesh would freeze to its surface. It is for a similar reason, too, that the Petrogradian never smokes a. pipo in the open at this season t beins well-known tliat the month-piece would literally freeze to his lips. A FROZEN HIGHWAY. Anyone glancing at the swiftly-flow-ing waters of the Neva during the summer months would arrive at the co.iditsion that it would never freeze. The river swirls itself into foam as ; t rushes under the bridges in its anxiety to roach the se.a, but in spite of the efforts of powerful modern ice-breakers it has only been found possible to keep a narrow channel open between Petrograd and Sell ussel burg for a few months of the winter. Once the surface of the river has frozen the tlrckness of the ice increases so rapidly that in a short time tram-lines may be laid across its surface, near the bridge of St. Nicholas. The frozen river at once bee-onus the great highway for traffic. All classes avoid the streets ot the city whenever possible. They preler the broad, straight surface ot the river, along wlrch lamps arc placed at intervals. It is owing to the freezing of tVe Neva that only two permanent iron bridges spun its surface; in the summer pontoon bridges are swung across it at various points, but they are removed the moment winter arrives. ; s the force with whic lithe ice-floes are carried clown the river is sufficient drive all More them. In tiin sof peace, winter is a gay M\a<on iu Petrograd. It is then that the Court arrives, and th.> Czar spends most of his time at the Winter Palace, nis luxurious home, facing the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, but which is now doing vrv : cc as the Czarevitch Alexis Hospital. \\ inter sports are indulged in by nil classes. Tobobggan ice "hills" of a kind with which every Canadian is familiar are set up in the parks and squares, and the noise of skates resounds at all hours ot the dav and n glit from the frozen Neva. But tlier is no gaiety in Potrogr-id to-day. All Russia is working 'as one to help the wounded who arrive de.'ly from its western battlefields, and even the tramcars in Petrograd are now being employed to convey them from stat'oii to hospital. General Winter lias taken command of t.ho Russian front, and it is to ho hoped that ere the sun agan gilds the domes and |>eristyles of the Cathedral of St. Isaac our Ally's hosts will ntico for all have turned the t : de of invasion in the East.