IN VIENNA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 238, 17 March 1915, Page 6

IN VIENNA.

lililil.lX'S IIKAVV IIAXD. THR (IKSIMAX VI I'AV. (By Charles Tower, ;n Ule Tjonilon Daily News.) be Journal, of Paris, publishes an in-tere-tinsr account of the conditions prevailing in Vienna, rppanntly some weeks ago. The account is written by M. Paul Balmer. a ceneva barrister, who has been makin ;; a tour Austria. "Vienna is amusing hcjsi'lf." he writes. "Vienna fcrsrots in movement and noise, in her artificial lij:htheartedneess, the L r r:'v:' anxieties whicli obsess her and which' incr. ase continuously. Ordinarily this tovji is eiilia anil delicati l : the coarse '<■xulierauec of the public street i:'U-t be looked for in I'crlin. Hut a sort ef 'Cerernl Post' has s'.'t in since tlie war beL'an. Berlin is worl;lng with energy, method, anil decision, leaving to Vienna the laughter and levity."

The corri -.poedent thus drscribes the public amusements of Vienna. The thea.t res were crowded, and he fail-'d even hy brili. rv t'i -eenre a seat at the Poyal C-pera for the performance of "Lucia di Tainmennoor." The llnr.uftheater and the Deutsc'ies Volkstlieater were also sold out, and he had finally to conti'nt himself with a seat in a crowded picture palace.

"This crowdim: of the theatres." he says, "is altogether symptomatic. It iexplained in pert, by the fact that this is the season of festivities, and that prices have b.'en con-iderablv reiluci'd. For example, an orchestra stall nt the opera now costs only 7 kronen ((Is 10d). Four months afro there were fears that the war would unfavorably affect the ",u----ilicnces, but this was a, mistake. Moreover. the invasion of refugees of all classes befoiv the Pu-m:iii armies has cinccntratcd upon Vienna a 'run 1 suflieient to restrre to the theatres their threatened prosperity." The correspondent the (lill'erence between the attitudes of Austrian and Cerman police. Tn Bi'i'lin the war trophies exhibited 1 ;iVre the Palace (in the I.ustgarten. at 11'.■ • end of the Linde'.') are carefully guarded, bv pidiee. li Vienna, children are allowed to play round the Schneider guns cantureil fro:r. the Russians and exhibited before "'.he monument to Maria, Theresa. *'fn fact the Austrian policeman is.bon enfant."

OEDMAN SUPREMACY. There is an "cxnuisite frerdnm of manners" apparent. If you stop in the street to revd a newspaper, two or three people will immediately lean over your shoulder to gather the latest .sensational intelligence. Berlin goes to bed at midnight, but in Vienna all the bars and niirht restaurants remain open and are filled with merry gue.-ts. Most striking is the supremacy of Germanism in Vienna. The "\\ aeht am Bhoin" is the most frequent air heard in the night cafes, anil the portraits of Cerman generals Ilindenlmrg, von der ('biltz, Falkeuhavn. etc.- have the places of honor in the shop windows; whilst Austrian generals are practically out of the running. Similarly there is a lavish display of photos of 'William 11., in "shining armor," of course, but they do not appear to prove very attractive. Beerlin and Leipzig illustrated papers ; till the windows of the book stores, and at the kinvmatographs the films show a. succession of triumplis for tlie (iennaV. "pickelhauben," rarely or never scenes of the Austrian fighting. The complete supremacy of Germany in Vienna is remarkable. Even the directorate of the Austrian lied Cross, according to the correspondent, is exercised by Germans. The corresnoudinit believes that this subordination of Austrian officialdom would not have proved so irksome if it had been carried out with some consideration for Austrian feelings. The irritation felt is ke 'li enough, though it is not openly expressed. Austrian* may perhaps recognise that it was necessary to supplement the efficiency of the Austrian General Stall', and to introduce a better system of coordination between the. various services, and also a closer collaboration between the two armies. This, the cnTespundent notes, necessitated the preponderance 'A one of the two General Stall's. "Bui there is n, polite way of doing these things which was neglected. The Austrians were injured and chilled, and they now revolt. Tt would have been wise to conciliate them."

A DISJOINTED EMPIRE. The Viennese declare that they were forced into war at the very moment when they were on the point of concluding with Russia an entente whieh would have safeguarded at once their security and their proper pride. Despite this irritation. the correspondent noted certain Pan-Germanism '•alliuities which disregard frontiers." The truth is, he says, that Austrians of Vienna feel themselves much more akin to fhe burgher-, of .Munich or Frankfurt than to' a "Serbising Bosnia!; or a Slovakan peasant lost amongst the Carpathian-.." Austrians, in fact, are weary of the expenditure of blood and tn.iMirc on behalf of Itun"arians, Czechs. (Jalieians, Slovaks, anil Italians of the Trentino, pet-pies yiiom Austria has |o educate in peace and su'ipin't in war. Some 200,00(1 refugees, many of them Polish or lluthene dews, have flocked to Vienna, and strings of them are to he seen at any pari of the boulevards of the l!izstrass C . (which replaced the old circle of fortifications). Galicia, the Au-tria-ns complain, has n .«t millions without, bringing in a penny."