IN LONDON.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 206, 1 September 1936, Page 11

IN LONDON.

AUCKLANDERS ABROAD. "WALKING TO DUBLIN." "London is full of New Zealnnders," writes a London correspondent. "I stayed for a while in Bayswater, and within a good old colonial 'eooee' there were quite a dozen Aucklanders living. Miss Marjgrie Petterd was just round the corner, rushing about so much that she said she really felt she would have to get a 'job' to get a bit of rest. Miss Kathleen Bailey, of Otahuhu, was 011 the other side of Hyde Park, doing a spot of work for a month prior to setting out on a month's tour of the Continent. Miss Laura Montgomery, having completed a year's training" at the Chelsea Foot Hospital, was 011 the eve of leaving for New Zealand—a trifle fed up with the weather in London, and the endless round of rushing about that is a part of the peaceless lives Londoners live.

''Miss K. M. Knight was there, doing a round of Wren Church and hunting for tho 'peapods' 011 old Gibbins carvings. Staying with her was Miss Ida Withers, just over from Paris. England, Miss Withers said, was paradise after France. France seemed to live under a great strain all the while. Its political unrest made a mark 011 the lives of the citizens, and there was none of the good old English peace in a French home. There were occasions, however, when one felt at peace. Travelling 011 c day by bus. she was left with half nn hour or so to (ill in a small village miles from anywhere, and she went in search of a chemist's shop to buy some modern patent cure for wind-burnt lips. She was directed (o the 'apothecary'—and tremblingly pulled a bell oord outside a little door in a huge stone wall. All the bells in Christendom rang out, and soon the door was opened by a nun. Miss Withers stepped through tho door —into the middle ages. Tho place was a convent, not more than a few hundred yards from a modern thoroughfare; but time bad left 110 mark upon it. Everything was just as it had been hundreds of years before, and just as silent.

"The English, Miss Withers found, were a very favoured race on the Continent. Arriving in France, she never had any difficulty with Customs officials. Because she was English they took her word for what she wa.s bringing into the country, but other nationalities were searched carefully. It was very amusing sometimes to watch the things that came to light during a search. Once in a bus coming back from Switzerland they were held up on the border. Everyone said they had nothing to declare. They were asked their nationality. She, being English, was the only person who was not searched. Everyone else was asked to- turn out their pockets, their cuffs, the linings of their hats, their handbags; and a great deal of Swiss embroidery came to light. One woman had the seat of the bus stuffed with things, and the wary official hauled them out one by one. On some of the railway stations the difference between the treatment meted out to English people and the rest of the world is ludicrous. It was nothing to see the sign: j'English passengers —this way. All the rest, this way.'

"I met Mrs. Tidswell, of Epsom, looking for her husband outside 0110 of the many entrances to the Piccadilly Circus station. She had been told to wait there. Her query as to whether the spot where she was standing was the only 'way out' from the station was rather pathetic. But I expect she found him all right. Everybody finds everybody in London. What's a mere twelve million souls? They are all here. John Brodie, whose new book is getting excellent reviews in the Press, is at Gloucester Gardens. and if re. Douglas Robb are holidaying on the Continent. Dr. and Mrs. E. E. Bailey are leaving in ten days' time for an extended motor tour of France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Tyrol, Miss Knight and Miss Withers tell me they are doing a walking tour of Scotland, and if there is no other way of getting to Dublin for the horse show, they intend to walk there!"