TRAVEL IN SWITZERLAND.
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR, —I have just seen the letter of your correspondent, the Rev. H. A. Hall, in your issue of August 7th, and, while having no desire to discourage English travellers from coming to Switzerland, our experiences have been so different from his that I think it may be useful to some of your readers to know them. We started from Dublin, and in order to obtain pass- ports there had to go to three offices, including those of the Detective Department and the French Consul, the charges in which amounted to 15s. each. A further visa had to be obtained at the Swiss Legation in London, costing 8s., where after waiting a whole morning we were told the office closed at 1 o'clock, and we must return at 2.30. The intervening time we spent in the endeavour to procure Swiss money, and after visiting two of Messrs. Cook's principal offices had to be content with one note for 100 francs. Our destination was Mon- tana-sur-Sierre, so on arriving at the Gare du Lyon, Paris, we applied to have our luggage registered to Sierre, but were informed that it would only be accepted either for Montreux or Domo d'Ossola, and that it would be necessary to reregister it at Montreux, where we ran the risk of missing the con- nexion. Our passports were examined at Frame, the French frontier; at Vallorbe, the Swiss frontier, the same formality was gone through, but here a fee of 50 centimes on each pass- port was demanded. To meet this charge we presented our note for 100 francs, which was angrily refused, and we were told we must procure change. Asking where this could be obtained, we were told at the burette. Only one of us was allowed to proceed on this search, the other being detained as a hostage. No change being forthcoming at the burette, I was further directed to the guichet at the end of a long subterranean passage, all the while in fear of the departure of the train. On arriving at Montana I discovered that my trunk had been broken into and a number of articles stolen. Since leaving Montana a similar experience has befallen my friend; her things, however, were taken at an hotel from a locked box in her room. As regards the officials, we have found that they, like so many people nowadays, seem to regard civility and servility as identical, and, therefore, are anxious to show as little of the former as possible. We have found the hotels most comfortable, but a syndicate of Swiss hotel proprietors has been formed, by which all charges are fixed, and which, in some respects at all events, has legislated against English visitors. In the bathrooms of the hotel notices are affixed stating that the prix minime of a hot bath is five francs, a franc being now almost the equivalent of a shilling.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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