"THE WORLD'S METROPOLIS"

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 61, 15 March 1924, Page 13

"THE WORLD'S METROPOLIS"

REMARKABLE ACTIVITY IN BUILDING TRADE.

"New Zealand soldiers may be interested to know that the N.Z.E.F. headquarters in Bloomsbury square, London, have been demolished, and that in their place there is being built a palatial hotel," writes Mr. H. T. B. Drew, Government Publicity Officer, to a friend- in Wellington. "The new building covers the who]e block occupied by headquarters." The writer adds that "there is remarkable, activity i n the building trade in the city. Half Regent street is being re-built; several new huge business places are being erected in the Strand; in fact, it seems impossible to walk down any important street without' seeing old buildings in course of demolition or new ones being constructed. Adjacent to where the V.M.C.A. hut stood in Aldwych is .1 huge, ungainly American edifice, and where the Canadian huts occupied an old gap in the Strand, opposite the New Zealand House, is the new Tivoli Cinema Theatre, a gorgeous American film house. Talking of-cinema houses," continues Mr. Drew, "it might be interesting to know that the business at all places is so good that unlessyou stand in queues for the cheaper seats you have to reserve a day or two beforehand, and at the leading houses such seats cost from 5s 6d to 7s 6d each. The films you see at them are 80 percent. American, copies of which are released in New Zealand probably months or at all events, weeks earlier. This entertainment craze, which at present seems to grip London, extends to all theatres and music halls. It is difficult t{. see where all the poverty is, which one hears so much about, as the resuß of unemployment. One knows that £50.000,----000 per annum is being spent in doles, but there is not the evidence of poverty and hard times there was in- London when I was first here in 1909. Livin<* is dearer here than in New Zealand, notwithstanding that clothing and boots are very much cheaper. It is difficult to get a reasonable meal under 3s, and flats cost more than in New Zealand. Housinc accommodation of any description is very scarce. I believe bricklayers and carpenters have been difficult to obtain for the Exhibition works lately, to meet the latter-end 'push.' By the way, though hotels are not giving way to the temptation, owners of flats and suchlike accommodation have informed agents that prices will be increased durin«- the Exhibition period."