STORIES FROM BERLIN.

Taihape Daily Times, 24 May 1919, Page 7

STORIES FROM BERLIN.

DRUG HABIT WIDELY PRKVAI ANT IN THE CITY

“There is no doubt tin idea is pvcity general that Germany is going to ■'•ome well out of the peace negotiations,” said a repatriated British flying officer just back from Berlin, interviewed by a Weekly Dispatch repre-a ntmoivo r<>ccntly. “The war spirit is by no mean's killed In Berlin after the armis ice 1 witstanding near a high official watching the Imperial Cavalry going down ibe Unter dcr 'Linden. On each horse a girl was sitting astride in front of the rider and crowned with laurel wreaths, and an enormous crowd was cheering like mad>

“Life in Berlin, provied you were not short of money ,was as gay as

ever. Prices, of course, wore rather stiff. You can get better whisky in Berlin—pre-war Scotch —tbau in London.

"Many German officers take cocaine, and the drug habit is widely prevalent Cocaine can bo got very easily not only at the chemists (at 3 marks a gramme) but at the night clubs from waiters, flower women, and programme sellers’ ’ Describing his attempts to escape, the officer said that on one occasion he climbed into the brake-box of a

goods .train. The brake girl said. ‘Yon can’t ride there.” Ho told her in German, which he spoke like a native, that he was Swiss. She was a pretty girl, and she much admired his field boots, and she sat on his knee for the

two and a-half hours of the 'journey