Traveller.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 426, 9 June 1904, Page 7

Traveller.

LUXURY ON THE RAILWAY LINES. SJjKHE unaccustomed voyager is always: wMrk scm9wnat puzzled when he finds ■ fj&s that the menus of the sumptuous meals served on board the Eng. lish mail-boats are not written, but pointed. Perhaps, in his ignorance, he jumps to the conclusion that the bill of fare for each day of the voyage is drawn up before the vessels sails, and printed on shore. But thiß ia not the case. All firstclass passenger steamers now carry a compositor, a sufficient supply of type, and a pristing-press. What would Oaxton have said if he had known that the art of printing was to be employed in mid-ocean in this fashion? It is not on board ship alone that those who travel now fare luxuriously. The American system of serving meals on trains has become acclimatised in Europe, and every year sees its further develop, ment. On all the great lines from London to the North, breakfast, luncheon, tea, and dinner are served regularly on nearly every through train. The traveller is thus spared the rush to the. refreshment room for a hurried meal during the stay of a few minutes which the train makes at a particular station. The amount received by the railway companies from these travelling restaurants is enormous. Some years ago one of these companies took a thousand pounds weekly for refreshments served en route, and its receipts must now be much larger. All over the Continent the system is spreading, and a man may travel from Ustend to Cjkstantinople, or Calais to Naples, without needing to leave his carriage during the journey* No doubt this indicates a vast improvement bo far as speed in travelling is concerned ; but those wfio remember the old days, and the admirable refreshment rooms which were once to be found at Dijon, Macoß, and Strasbourg, for example, will feel that the improvement has not been secured without some loss. One of the charms of foreign travel thirty years ago was the stoppage of an express at one of these stations for twenty or twenty.five minutes, whilst the travellers dined excellently, to an accompaniment from the chief functionary in the restaurant of the cry, ' Don't hurry, ladiea and gentUuvin! You have still fifteen, tea, or five minutes (as the case might be) to spare.' It was then that the passenger had an opportunity of tasting local dishes and sweetmeats, Now he oan cross Surope, from the Straits of Dover to the Bosphorus, without once setting his foot on the ground, and all the while he will, have the same fare, the same eternal table d'hote chicken and its accessories. - Epicures, and all who are fond—as most sensible people are—of the pleasure of the table, must regret that the modern system of travel has established a sort ot cosmopolitan cookery which differs very slightly in different countries. The local drinks, too, are no longer available in the restaurant car. No longer does he get his Munich beer drawn from the cask when passing through Bavaria, or his delicious iced quash—the most wholesome of all drinks, and non- . intoxicating—in Russia. He is eves for- ! { bidden to drink vbslauer in Austria, and * natural unbraadied Sherry in Spain.