CORRESPONDENCE
A LETTER FROM SWITZERLAND
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sta,—Of course, the great events of the past few months in Switzerland have been those at Geneva and Locarno, but -as these are rather world-wide than national, I pass at once to matters that come clearly under the latter heading. In the Swiss Parliamentary Elections, notwithstanding the feverish campaign carried on by means of imposing posters and inge- nious methods of propaganda, the Communist Party was crushingly defeated. For instance, out of some 1,250,000 votes in the Canton of Vaud, under the Proportional Representation system, only 6,500 went for the Communist Party, while among 185 deputies only three Communists are to be found. Even politics and social questions, however, are temporarily for- gotten in the active preparation for the winter season.
The electrification of the Swiss Railways goes on apace, and whilst this little country boasts of the longest tunnels, it can with equal truth boast of the cleanest. The Simplon as well as the St. Gothard lines are now entirely electrified. And the great Barbarine Dam and Reservoir recently completed, and hallowed with priestly blessing, is a colossal achievement of which any country might be proud.
Not enough has been written of the peculiar charm of the Swiss autumn. In the Alps autumn is no melancholy mourning for the summer that is dead. Rather do the mountains deck themselVes in-all their multi-coloured splendour to welcome the majesty of winter, which comes arrayed in bridal garments Of purest white, sparkling with a million jewels in the genial warmth of the Alpine sun. It is to be regretted that English lovers of Switzerland so seldom know the attraction of her autumn.- October and November are often more sunny than August and September, and always more bracing and invig- orating. For those in search of quiet repose amidst Nature lit her grandest an autumn in the mountains would be a revelation.
If the calculations and prophecies of the Abbe Gabriel prove correct, Switzerland will enjoy one of the finest sports seasons on record. At any rate, the Swiss hoteliers and the tourist agencies owe the learned Abbe a debt of gratitude, for the bookings for this winter are greatly in excess of those of previous years. _Many hotels are already refusing visitors
For those who can do so, it would be a wise move to defer their winter holiday to, say, late in January or February. February is as a rule the best of the winter months. The hotels are less crowded and noisy, prices are rather lower, and for the glory of the winter sunshine,' the blue of the sky, no other period can approach it. Yet, at centres like St. Moritz by that time the English have departed and the German season has begun, while at other attractive centres hotels begin to empty when conditions are often at their best.
" La Suisse Romande " does not mean to be outdone by its ambitious neighbours of the Engadine or the Oberland: French Switzerland is well to the fore in its preparation for the season. Villars with its new Bob Run and its picturesque conning tower, with the perfection and extent of its ice, will be second to none. But for surpassing loveliness of view, surely that mountain plateau on which lies Montana-Vermala, so placed that neither peak nor cloud can deprive it of its sunshine, must carry off the palm.
If English visitors have in recent years deplored the high prices prevalent when they reached Swiss soil, they have at any rate at last the satisfaction of receiving their frs. 25 in full for the pound.14 am, Sir, &c.,
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