“SO THIS IS LONDON!”

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 190, 8 May 1937, Page 10

“SO THIS IS LONDON!”

Not since the World War have there been as many New Zealanders in London as there are this month, nor has there been so much New Zealand interest in the pageantry and pleasures of the storied city. The Dominion’s representation has many distinctive features. There is a record Ministerial delegation to the political heart of the Empire, to say nothing about a High Commissioner, five members of the Legislature (four as guests of the Empire Parliamentary Association, the other a Maori soldier), four heads of State Departments, and a quartet of private secretaries. Also, there will be New Zealand soldiers mounting guard at Royal Palaces on special days, and New Zealand batsmen possibly letting their guard down too soon to English bowlers on the most aristocratic cricket pitch in the world. Moreover, a record number of touring citizens of the Dominion will stand occasionally on London Bridge, gazing at the mighty dome of St. Paul’s, mocking the dismal vision of Lord Macaulay. All of them at one time or another will say, either in admiration or disillusionment, “So this is Londonl”

It has been well said that the greatest charm of London is its unique distinction in offering many separate Londons for all tastes and preferences. The amazing place has survived conquest, pillage, pestilence, fire, tyranny, riots, and politics. It has seen the coming and going of many dynasties without having to use the headsman's axe too often. For one period only, London was the centre of a robust Commonwealth. Although so old, London has not withered. It still suffers from growing pains. The romance of it all, with vital dates, would make interesting home lessons for children not at school.

To-day, however, most interest will be concentrated on the lure of London as a rendezvous for Royalties and ambassadors and representative men from many lands. Greater London, of course, is too vast for discussion in detail. Enough to say that our own Stewart Island, with its 670 square miles of bushland beauty, could be tucked within London's boundaries and still leave 20 square miles for outward development. The population of Greater London now runs near to 9.000,000. This means, roughly, that every fifth person in the British Isles is a Londoner. Gathered together they are the best-natured, most friendly, most tolerant, and the least impatient multitude on earth. It may be imagined that the majority of New Zealanders in London now will be more interested in its modern features than in its history. If it is true that the face of England is changing industrially and economically, then it is truer still that London has changed the most. Old heavy industries have given way to lighter activities, due to the advent of telephones, gramophones, electrical apparatus, aeroplanes and hundreds of light-metal trades. A recent New Survey of London Life and Labour reveals.the distinctive qualities of London’s economic life and its almost disquieting development. In the area covered by the Survey, domestic service heads the list of occupations with 418,000 employees. Transport is next with 316,000, then food and catering trades, 272,000; dress trades, 264,000; commercial occupations, 227,000; building trades, 165,000; and professional occupations, 153.000. There are 86,000 Government servants. It is estimated that, including domestic service, in which there are thousands of men, almost half the whole of the working population never take their coats off at work.

However, London’s problems of expansion may be left to Londoners, and they are not worrying. They have never been happier, in spite of new taxation. Their unrivalled metropolis still is “the capital city of a great country, which is itself the capital of the world’s greatest Empire. It is the world’s financial centre, with a far greater accumulation of experience than any other city in the handling of large and delicate financial transactions.” Such is a Londoner’s proud claim, which is not boasting. Men with new schemes may amuse the old city, but they cannot teach it very much. It has a limitless capacity for taking all things unto itself without a great deal of fuss, and with a great courtesy. To-day, and every day throughout an English summer, London is, and will be, a mellow pageant; by night in floodlight a gorgeous fairyland. So that is London!