Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-02-17
Singular Laws and Customs of
Munich.

Munich.
A writer in Macmillan's Magazine de-
scribes some of the veXations incident TO
the police restrictions in Munich, and
adds the following:
"There is a curious instance of meddle-
someness in the law in Munich which for
bids medical man to practice where he
sees fit, unless the Polizei-Herren see fit
also. The town is divided into districts !;
each district has its fixed number of med
ical men, according to the population, of
which there are stated returns. But,
granted permission TO kill and cure in a
certain quarter, that is not all. The ply
stefan may not take house too near his
fellow practitioners. He may neither set
up next door, nor opposite, nor in the
same street; the Polizei-Herren step in
and measure distances, and point out the
streets in which he may choose his dwell
ling. If he object to the streets pointed
out they are mildly inexorably informed.
Such is the law, they have no option |;
either those streets, Herr Doctor, or none.
Other stringent regulations there are !;
soma vexatious, like the aforementioned,
others full of sound sense. OF all the
sensible ones perhaps the most sensible is
that respecting the clearing away of snow.
In Munich, where the Snow season may
begin any day in December and continue
to the end of March, or even later, such
an event as a block-up is unknown. Ev-
cry householder is bound to do his part,
either personally or by proxy, toward pre-
venting the snow from becoming an i'm
pediment. Doorways must be cleared,
pavements swept. Woe to the hausmels-
ter (porter) before whose door last nights
snow lies after eight o'clock Not only
must the fresh snow be swept off, but that
which has been trodden down by foot
passengers into muddy ice must be chip
ped from time to time, at least once In the
twenty-four hours, to obviate the acct
dents which otherwise might occur. From
town to country there is a clean, hard
side-path on which even the aged may
walk in safety. One day l was taking
my walk mile or so beyond the Lud-
wigs Thor, on this beaten side-path, and
wondering, as L looked on at the long,
never-ending straight line in front of me,
how the roadmakers liked their cold
task of keeping the ice-path
in order, when up came his Majesty King
Ludwig.
~ watched the old man walking down
Ludwig strasse when set out and had
purposely taken the path on the right, he
having taken the other, because else /
must have stepped out of the track into
the snow to make my courtesy. But
King Ludwig had chosen to return by the
opposite side of the road to that on which
he had set out, so that my courtesy was
not to be avoided. l went on slowly as
soon as | perceived him, looking for a
spot where the snow would be less piled
up. | found a favorable place, stepped
aside and made my courtesy-ln white
soft snow, about two and half feet deep.
The beaten ice lay at least a foot and
half above the gravel of the pathway
Off came the old Kings hat. There is
quite enough room for us both, Fraulein,
said he, with his grand bow, as he passed
swiftly on.
"One more instance of the paternal in
reference. Is there a commener COM
plant than that of the imposition prac-
ticed on ladies by porters and cabmen Z?
In England it is bad enough. In most
parts of Italy it is too bad. Yet it is GER
tainly not for want of tariff. A tariff
there is--for every one to infringe, il
would seem. In Munich there is tariff,
and if any man dare infringe there are the
Polizei Herren, ready with the dark clos
ct and the twenty-four kreutzer fine. But
| never met with a case of imposition.
You hire a cab +; if by the course, you paw
twelve kreutzers (fourpence), if by the
hour, forty-eight kreutzers. Cabby looks
at his watch, and tells you the hour, ifl
you do not also pull out yours, that there
may be no mistake. 1t is very cold day
and his hair and mustache are frozen, you
may be sure he will not refuse a few
zreutzers over and above his fare but it |
S as much as his liberty is worth TO ask
or any.
"Packtrager (porters) have their zettel, |
lips of paper on which their number and
he name of the district and company to
which they belong are printed in neat
characters. For each quarter of an hour
Employed in your service, they give you
me of these slips. No packtrager would
De so insane as to try to make his EMPLOY
n take zettel too much; the first at
empt at imposition would bring him under
he surveillance Of the ever-watchful DO
ice ; the second would entail the loss of
us character and place. Neither may the
Employer pay his packtrager without re-
ewing the zettel, one for every fifteen
minutes. Each is bound by law, one to
1--WE, the other to receive, the zettel. The
rst time l employed one of these men
vas when had been trying to find the
Iariahilfe Kirche and had lost my way.
first of all he presented me with his num-
er. Our walk finished, he pulled out
hese slips of printed paper and presented
le with five of them. ] paid him, and
fter glance at the papers let them, with
ut more ado, drop on the pavement, and
'alked on. Gracious, madam!' cried
ne man, picking them up and Fastening !