TRAVELERS HOTEL

THOMAS RICKSON, Proprietor

GUARDIANS OF THE WORLD
IN PEACE TIME

By R. M. FOX, Well Known Writer and Author

WHEN I saw him, he was standing in the
midst of the circling trafic at a busy
Munich crossing. He stood on a drum-
shaped structure—lit from beneath with
glass sides, so that the glow could be seen
from every direction.

With his shining helmet, white gauntlets
and massive sword strapped to his belt he
looked a superb statue. But every now and
then he raised a white-gauntletted arm and
signalled a stream of trafic along. In the
winter, I was told, the drum was heated
from beneath—an excellent idea in the
days of pre-automatic traffic signals.

The people of Munich appeared to be
kindly and easy-going, in spite of stormy
events in the city’s political history. Some

Courtenay District Headquarters
Renovated
*

RECENT alterations to the Courtenay
district headquarters office have much im-
proved the accommodation, and materially
added to the comfort of Sergt. A. “Andy”
Fairbairn and his men.

Another room has been added to the
north side of the police office, and modern
cell accommodation on the east end of the
building has removed the nuisance of noisy
prisoners adjacent to the living quarters.
Altogether the new arrangement meets
with general approval and fills a long
felt want.

of that history had its beginning in the
great brewery—the Hofbraukaus, where big
meetings were held in the gigantic Festsaal.

“When you reach Munich,” said a Ger-
man woman doctor whom I met on the
train, “don’t forget to go to the brewery!”

“But why the brewery?” I asked won-
deringly.

I soon found out. The Hofbraukaus is
no ordinary brewery. It is more like a
palace or even a cathedral, for its great
windows have figures in stained glass.
Bavaria is famed for its beer, and here at
Munich this beer is made and sold. In the
evening, from all over the city, the people
swarm round the brewery like bees to a
hive.

Upstairs is a great hall with long narrow
tables where hundreds of people sit under
the shining chandeliers with immense beer
mugs in front of them, talking and drink-
ing. Down below is a courtyard, entered
through heavy stone arches, like cloisters.
Dotted around the courtyard among the
trees are tremendous beer barrels, turned
on end. Their bottoms make admirable
counters for the beer mugs to rest on. And
the burly citizens of Munich stand round
in clusters. Alongside in the shade of the
trees are planks and tables, where men,
women and children can rest and enjoy
themselves in pleasant beer-garden fashion.

An endless stream of beer mugs flows to
and from the dim interior where the beer is
served out. Here among the shadows I
saw a big-muscled man wielding a mallet

New B. C. Police Headquarters, Courtenay, B. C.
WINTER EDITION

Photo by Const. W. T. Davis.

Licensed Premises

WESTVIEW, B.C.

BELL'S STORE

MARK MACARTNEY, Proprietor

GROCERIES, MEATS, DRY GOODS
AND HARDWARE

Phone 4361
Wildwood Heights P.O. Powell River, B.C.

HOME MEAT MARKET
AND
GROCETERIA
GROCERIES AND FRESH MEATS
Wildwood Phone 242 P. O. Box 275

POWELL RIVER, B.C.

TRAVELLERS’ HOTEL
AND CAFE

Mr. and Mrs. E. J. O’Connor, Proprietors

Good Rooms, Reasonable Rates,

Courteous Service

WESTVIEW. B. C.

as he knocked the spigot out of enormous
barrels. :

Yet although the brewery is such a
gathering place for the people there is
little drunkenness in the city. The beer is
light and well diluted with much talk. The
beer garden is a nation institution and it
is a harmless and enjoyable way for families
to spend a social evening. So when the
crowd streams away from the brewery—
like from a football or rugby match—there
is no special anxiety on the part of the
police, and no flood of cases for the magis-
trates next day.

So far as the casual observer could tell,
the most exciting task of the Munich police-
man was to stand like a shining statue on
his raised platform, directing the flow of
traffic all around him.

In Amsterdam the police have a more
dificult problem of traffic regulation, for
here in the narrow streets of the Dutch
capital they enforce a one-way traffic rule
for pedestrians. On one side of the street
the people have to go all one way, while
on the other side they go in the opposite
direction. A sword-clad policeman motioned
me over to my proper side when I attempt-
ed to go against the stream. When once
the system is understood it seems very
sensible and convenient.

Streets are narrow in Amsterdam, for
land is scarce. Many of the wider streets

Page Thirty-seven