IS LONDON GOOD TO LIVE IN?

Dunstan Times, Issue 3101, 9 January 1922, Page 8

IS LONDON GOOD TO LIVE IN?

(By H. JJ. Tee).

[•'or l 1 10 first time iai ten years lam

living in London. .By London 1 mean any place within half an hour’s omnibus ride from Charing Cross. No place in the world has nicer suburbs than London —the fringes of Surrey, Kent, and Essex. But London itself? Not for me. I wonder if anyone really likes London I do not agree with those people who condemn it for its alleged noisiness. Better a month in London than'a dayin Paris from the point of view of (juietude. Paris is, a raucous ganglion of nerve-shattering noises. Compared to it London is an oasis of peace —especially bv night. ’ Statistics prove to ns that London is healthy. A famous specialist, summoned to "the country jjy a man anxious about his wife’s health, staggered him when he gave in return for Ins cheque the advice, “Take her up to London. Let her run round the shops and the theatres- for a week nr so !” On the other hand, there is a story attributed to the Bishop of London when he was head of Oxford House in the East End. He is said to have asked a tired and elderly woman why she persisted in drinking gin. “The only way to -get out of Bethnal Green lor twopence,” was the unexpected reply. London, of course, is the centre of England for work and for making money. There may he many rich people in such provincial places a,s Manchester, Liverpool, Bradford, Edinburgh. Bristol, or any of the pin-points! of commerce, but the average earnings of the average man must be higher in London than anywhere else in the still-United Kingdom. I am prepared to be told of London's sunset glories, to hear of its historic. treasures, to be reminded by the Hickens-lover that there is no place in ihc world like it. And yet? To like London one should work in it. own a country house, possess a> motor-car dc luxe, and have at least ten thousand pounds a year. The fact remains that I do not like London for itself, and 1 have never yet met any man who could honestly say he did.