HARDER & HARDER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 May 1942, Page 4

HARDER & HARDER

PRESENT DAY LIFE IN FRANCE. SEVERITY OF RATIONING. A Frenchman who was in Paris less than a month ago declares that life in the zone occupied by the Germans is becoming every day harder but that the morale of the people remains excellent. Parisians say' quite openly that they wish the R.A.F. would bomb the munitions factories in the suburbs of the capital, the workers themselves being the first to express surprise at, and complain of, the rarity of visits of the R.A.F. Witnesses of British air raids at Brest say that they are always welcomed by the population of the port, even though it may mean occasional loss of life among civilians. In Paris, assaults on German soldiers average two a week. Red posters with black borders make these assaults known to the public, and the persons considered guilty are always described as de Gaullists, Communists or Jews. The most difficult problems at present are caused by lack of coal and fuel (the Germans have pillaged the fine forests of France), by lack of petrol, rendering transport particularly difficult, and by the high price and rarity of clothing. The Germans have requisitioned all leather, even confiscating leather jackets, for which they give their owner an indemnity of 500 francs; but to buy an overcoat costs at least 3,000 francs. Severity of rationing renders the situation still more desperate —10 to 12 ounces of bread per day, and 8 ounces of meat a week —all the more so since for meat the coupons are often unuseable, the butchers having no meat to sell. The activity of the cafes is considerably reduced, and it is only on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and at special hours, that the consumption of liqueurs is permitted. Only young Nazis and old soldiers whose morale is generally poor now compose the German army of occupation . This explains why the daily parade on the Champs Elysees has been abandoned. Officers and soldiers, amuse themselves as best they can. The soldiers go preferably to the cinemas, where a number of news reel items chosen specially for them are shown. All the same, the cinemas remain halflit during the news reels for fear of demonstrations. Cabarets appeal more to the officers, where they smile with Teuton stupidity at jokes cracked against them which are too subtle for them to see.