DR. M'ARTHUR ABROAD

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 964, 3 November 1910, Page 4

DR. M'ARTHUR ABROAD

IMPRESSIONS OF FOUR CITIES. ENGLAND'S COURTS. ■ ■ • - LONDON'S POLICE AND PEOPLE. As mentioned , , yesterday, Dr.. A. M'Arthur, S.M., ! arrived. hero by'the Arawa from England this week. Some of his impressions; were given, to. a Dominion reporter, those relating ;to court and police work at Homo being specially interesting. "I was very fortunate," said Dr. M'Arthur, ■' "in having a friend, who had tho leisure; means, and inclination to show mo" many of tho good things jn London. . What specially struck me about. London was its life, and about Edinburgh its elegance, Dublin its dirt, and Paris its public buildings. Yes, Dublin, unfortunately, seemed very. dirty^—at least that was my impression. Of Paris it must bo said that its public, builcliiigs and the finest of its bridges. are . works of tho highest art." What was your impression of the lifo of London? asked the reporter. "Cheerful and contented in tho main, but, of course, as all tho world knows, it has its. shabby side. ' And a very shabby side it is, too! In many streets there are -long lines of. tenements where whole families livo in one room—or, at the. outside, two rooms. But the, London City Council and the various public bodies are heedful of. the position,'and ..they have done a great deal in the way of providing recreation grounds, public parks, and the like. , " 'They., are looking ahead." . •■"'-,' ' ' . While Dr. M'Arthur did not see as much drunkenness ..in London as he was led to believe existed, he was exceedingly ..sorry to observe that a numbor of the publicliouses wero kept open for the sale'of " liquor., on Sundays. These houses were frequented by a very low class of people, male and female, who seemed to attend in considerable numbers on Sunday evening. It was, at the least, a curious manner of observing the Sunday. Auother sad phase of London life was tho number of able-botlied men in the streets who.beg, under the pretence of selling matches. Thero were several great strikes in England during Dr. M'Arthur's visit, but people of the. Dominion, ■ said, the Dector, would kno* as much and'more about them from tho newspapers as ho could tell, for he did not have time to visit' all the, great manufacturing centres. ■ . ' Speaking of tho London police, he remarked, "They earn the ;admiration of everybody who goes there, and the manner in which they control, the traffic, by simply holding up a. hand, calls forth not only admiration, but tho greatest astonishment. I have personally seen traffic blocked and 'stopped for two : hundred yards by a constablo, in order to allow 'a poor woman and two "of. her. little children to cross, , , the'' street. 'The London policeman is also an encyclopedia of knowledge. People ask everything of him, and his information is always given politely and cheerfully. In tho courts I was' struck with the great care taken by the police in giving evidence _ They are .absolutely fair and no points are strained either way. They are' without doubt a 'fine body of men. ■ ■ ■ ' ■ t And what about the courts?—" Well, I paid special attention to the. police courts. Civil' wqrk; is hot dealt with in. the police court's; 'there.' The.civil work done by us,'is: in , England dono more in tho county courts. Magistrates there do not work as hard as in. Now Zealand^jtn^therp-isycertam-ly not the'same dignity-anil respect in those courts as in. our own. •' The decisions are for the most part given offhand, except iii tho cases where there -is ;tho taking of' simple depositions.-.. AH." tho magistrates 'are very able nien, there' is, no doubt about that. And they perform their duties in an able manner. In tho county court, which does' most of tho civil work that would be done in tho Mag-; , lstrato's Court hcre ; .therq js often very great delay in; taking , cases, and very great uncertainty',as to .wheiv they are to come bri. In tho higher" courts these delays or , arrears have becomo so great as to' amount almost to a scandal, and 'thero are'-great complaints as to the long recess, which extends over two and a half months, lliere are also complaints as to the short time each day that some of tho judges sit. Some ' begin at 10.30 a.m.,. some at 11 a.m., and all end immediately at 4 p.m., having in the meantniio/had an'interval .for lunchJ On Saturday.no work at all is taken.. , '.