Evening star., 1951-12-25
U.N. Search for Peace
Is a Hard Life for
Night Club Diplomats
By jones Moyo


PARIS, Dec. Is (NANA).-Be-
fore the doors of the Cabaret of
Montmartre. where you must
drink champagne or nothing.
stand sleek limousines with the
United Nations emblems on the
windscreens.
Across the river, in the night
clubs of Montparnasse, the lesser
diplomats are recovering to the
tune of a samba from the rigors
of pacifying the world.
In very nice hotels off the
Champs ElySee, British typists
imported from London are strug-
Cling along on SIS a week-free
Of tax-and the office-boy mes
sengerS of the United Nations are
roughing it on $40 a week.
Once more the great wheel Of
the United Nations General AS
sembly, the great machine Of
words and paper and resolutions,
is in motion, and If there aren't
going to be any Big -Four meet
ings or any banning of the atomic
bomb. well. what about q little
Paris by night?
Regular Guide Printed.
There it lies on the counter as
you go into the stately halls Of
the U. N. Palais de Chaillot, the
buff folder of social events, the
happy diplomats guide to careless
rapture.
The cost. dear taxpayer, is only
81 per head. and. after all, who
knows what problems may not be
solved between a couple of kicks
Of the French can-can?
Then there is the special Paris
by-night tour. starting at 9:30I
pm.
The announcement is in curious
English-"a careful selection, al
lowing our patrons to acquaint
with the most complete possible
night tour ever proposed. Six
different and first-class night |
clubs are visited under escort"
The price is $12.50 a time.
Another consolation for an anx-
iouSly watching world is the
assurance that most delegates will
go at least once to the Folies
Bergere.
Russians Attend Play.
Only the Russians, it seems,
never want to know where to 60.
Andrei Vishinsky and Jacob Malik
so far have been only to see a |
classic French play "The Middle
class Gentleman"-with no can
can.
The three receptionists includ-I
ing. by the way, Miss Barbara
Bray, Of London, are not the only
pinups in the place. Pretty faces
pop out at you all along the u. N.
corridors. and even the elevator
girl is a glamorous brunette.
The women delegates make up
for the competition by hard work.
Late into the night burn the
lights Of committee three, where
Chairman Mrs. Ana Figueroa, of
Chile, keeps her 13 women dele
gates with their noses to the
humanitarian and cultural grind
stone.
It's a comforting thought, that
Mrs. Ffgueroa and the women are
burning those lights to draft a
charter on the rights of man.
They often are there when all
other delegates are slipping the
traditional champagne or cocktails.
and, judging by the number of
invitations going about, the
cocktail, as an instrument of
peace, is rapidly ousting the dove
tail.
It's All Good Will.
The diplomats claim that good
will is spread just as effectively
In social circumstances as in the
Palais de Chaillot.
Some parties are thrown in the
lush hotels. where a boiled egg
in jelly costs 80 cents and q
single whisky 81, minus tip. :
Another little expense is the
quarters Of resident diplomats or
high officials, who have their ,
flats paid for. in the case of one
British diplomat. to the tune of
$275 a month.
The British typists, however.
are happy. They have just had
their living allowance raised to |
81 a day which, with their basic
pay Of $26.50 a week, brings them {
in $75 a week.
That, though, is one of the
lower rates of pay for U. N. staff.
One grade above a typist and you
get $40 week just in allowances. !
Two grades up and you get $85
q week in allowances, and above
that 500 week-all exclusive of
salary.
Multiply all this for the sos
regular U. N. staff shipped over
from Lake Success, N. Y, at great
cost, plus wages and overtime for
625 staff taken on locally-and
you get an idea of the daily cost
OF keeping the palace of uneasy
peace running.