On my arrival in Berne, I found an unusual state of affairs. The Minister and members of his Staff were being besieged by thousands of British visitors in Switzerland clamouring to return to England, every one of whom had to be provided with a special permit or passport. The same thing was happening in a minor degree at the American Legation, where the American Minister and his Staff, like ourselves, had to face the question of difficulty of transport through France and across the Channel. There were some eight thousand British subjects derelict in Switzerland, many of whom, besides, had momentarily exhausted their financial resources. Mobilization was taking place both in France and Switzerland, and the amount of rolling-stock available for through transit was extremely limited, so that it was clear that many of these visitors would have to remain in Switzerland for a certain length of time. At this juncture, the Swiss hotel proprietors behaved in a very public-spirited manner. The Swiss banks, owing to the financial crisis temporarily supervening, were unable to cash cheques on England, with the result that visitors, willing as they might be, could not, in many cases, settle their hotel accounts before departure. Realizing the situation, the hotel proprietors not only declared their readiness to accept deferred payment, but further offered their British clientèle the use of their hotels for as long as necessary. This attitude on the part of the proprietors at a moment of extreme difficulty not only reflects credit on themselves, but is one on which our national pride may dwell with pleasure, since it makes clear the confidence inspired by the British visitor abroad. The financial situation was further complicated by the fact that ready money was practically unobtainable, H.M.'s Minister himself being only allowed by his own bank to draw frs. 50 per week. A solution, however, was soon happily found in a provision in the regulations of the Swiss National Bank to the effect "that if gold be deposited at an authorized centre, the Bank might issue notes against such gold." At the request of the Minister, H.M.'s Government deposited £25,000 at the Swiss Bankverein in London, upon which the Swiss National Bank opened an equivalent credit in notes in favour of the Minister at Berne. Mr. Grant Duff was thus enabled to issue cash in exchange for cheques, and so facilitate the return of stranded British visitors. Mr. G. P. Skipworth, the representative in Berne of the Westinghouse Brake Company, volunteered to undertake the detailed work in connection with this transportation, which, as a matter of fact, lasted over two months. It suffices to say that it was no light matter to assemble parties of three to four hundred visitors scattered all over Switzerland, and to see them safely off to their satisfaction, if not comfort, whenever through conveyance could be placed at their disposal by the Swiss and French authorities.