SNAPSHOTS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 225, 19 June 1929, Page 10

SNAPSHOTS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF ENGLAND MR. G. McNAMARA ARRIVES IN LONDON

London, the world’s greatest magnet, strikes people in different ways. Every new pair of eyes sees In England and its metropolis something that others have missed, and there is interest in all views. Writing a day after his arrival, Mr. G. McNamara, secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department, who is representing New Zealand at the International Postal Congress, sends the following snapshot impressions: “A cold spring morning at Liverpool —grey mist hanging over grey city and grey river. Not a note of colour anywhere. ... An alert railway company, with a special train. Hundreds of tired, hungry-looking porters. Thousands of tenement chimneys above heaps of grey bricks. “Smoke—a tunnel, and, 10, a glorious countryside. . . Beautifully-kept farms, with stables attached. . . A few castles —smooth-running train—more farms—-semi-detached houses—streets of houses all alike —tenements of hopeless aspect —Euston! . “A cloud of porters. . . Taxis of vintage 1918—Jarvies at the wheel. . • holds-up at corners. . . Piccadilly and silk hats. . . Umbrellas (all neatly folded) carried by everyone. . . London ‘Bobbies’ controlling dense traffic. . . A slow-moving crowd, going nowhere in particular. . . Limbless men, blind men, singing, sketching, and selling matches for pennies. Begging openly. . . one-stringed fiddles. . . able-bodied men selling mechanical toys. . . hope-ess-looking men sitting on pavements. Silk hats again—Rolls Royces—beautiful houses and dogs in Hyde Park. . - Strawberries at 10s. 6d. a punnet. . • peaches at 2s. 6d. each. . . old women in rain at midnight hawking matches. . . Bright, happy city-a dreary prison... Smiling, healthy faces —faces pinched by poverty and hunger. , . A wonderful city of beautiful parks and old buildings, quaint trusting ways, wonderful architecture and statues. . . Reluctant memories of history at school. . . heart-breaking sights day and night. A marvellous old town world of brightness and sorrow— London.”