WINTER DREADED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 December 1941, Page 4

WINTER DREADED

BY PEOPLE IN FRANCE.

CONDITIONS OF LIVING.

The French in occupied and unoccupied France look with dread on the approach of winter, all the more terrifying in view of last winter’s sufferings. . Many letters that have come through from France contained the information that there was no coal to be had in Paris last winter. One old lady wrote that in order to keep warm, she had to heat water over her gas stove and put her hands into the water. The Vichy Government also fears the coming winter, .for their inability to do anything of real value for the French people only makes more evident the extent of Vichy’s submission to Germany. Sudden solicitude is shown, by Vichy for the old people of France. The Vichy Government has discovered that they will need entertaining during the winter, so they have proposed the organisation of entertainment in common, in small halls and other' buildings, whers the old people.will be able to chat together, or play cards, or listen to concerts. The promise that they shall all be able to enjoy a warm fire reveals that this is one more attempt of Vichy to prevent complaints of lack of coal in private homes growing too threatening. “Paris Soir,” in its issue of September 24, informs its readers that methylated spirits is becoming rare and that “the municipal authorities are considering its rationing.” The same newspaper advises readers to choose one room of their house or apartment,, “the most easily heated,” for the common living room during the coming winter. Another announcement is to the effect that trains in France will only be heated when the temperature falls below freezing point—a way of saying they will not be heated at all. No newspaper blames the British blockade lor the coal shortage—the French know better.