LONDON TO-DAY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1713, 2 January 1920, Page 6

LONDON TO-DAY.

A CROWDED HOUR,

NORiLTry And gentry

Tltoro never were Bitch times. Tlio country is hopelessly bankrupt, uiul rolling in luxury—so writes Mr Alexander M. Thompson'in tlio Daily 3jl}til. The London streets, he continues, never wore so crowded. The fashionable restaurants, the hotels, tho tlii;ajtics, the music halls, the picture shows, the bin West End stores are packed beyond record and precedent'. Never in the ljigji and palmy state ui Rome did such a motley horde throng til,' places of ptihljc assembly. There is more wealth and splendour in London to-day than in the Arabian Nights.- Sucli a bustling, hustling; intermixed and ' ititertangling wonder! There is- a cosmopolitan medley ol frock coats, mantles, burnous, hats, caps, turbans and gaberdines. Within a hundred yards' walk along tin; Strand or Pieadilly you shall jostle .Japanese, Chinese and Americans, an Archbishop, a victorious /'general, the hero of the last football match, an infinitinle of Dutch, a bevy of famous actresses, a tattooed Islander < from tlio South. Seas, a lhi.su to chief, a trader frpin Tiorra del Fnego, and even natives of Rudsey. vAMAZiNG MIXTURE.

Thorp arc linbillies of Court .an Police Court., ot Church atitl turf, ol Slock Exchange and Parliament, : wonderful mixture of orfrth'wonns pigeons, rooks, vultures and carrioi crows, ■ fitiiiki'ys, and panderers, tin cankers oi" a fevered timo, and topsy tun'.v world. AVllati arc. those phenomena doin< here? "Whence conies the money the; so prodigally lavish? bankruptcy? Kconomy? Stint? Why the ca.i- or luxu rv never rolled so njei 1 rily. 'The gotieral air of 'prosporit; and plenty-nf-nioney-to-spond is th downing, constant wonder of th amazing pageant. Tii the eoiirso of an hour's trudgi through IhiT rain and slush, the onl.\ people T saw who showed signals of tlis tress 'were the, blue-chinned, broken down actors in buttoned coats am mouldy liats, the wire and yellow vet crans of ' the stage, who eternally (T< hover between, Short's and the Bodega Ip all tlie war's changes they haven' changed) * They still wait in irrepres silile | expectation of the lilessoi Philanthropist who is to conic, one day to take ith'eni by the hand, to iiffon thajn unlimited 'fluid assuagement, iiiy engage them all' to play' Hamlet til the sheeted'(lend do rise to squeak am 1 gfbbei'ii'n the London streets. WwVIMUCJI.NOJVIJ/ITY. » I went to one of the highcst-pric.ee restaurants for luncheon. The place was packed; After a short wait through gross and shameful favour!t ism, J suggested a seat. Judging Iron ifliVj quality and quantity of the wine. l which were being imbibed, the pcopli ' wove all of the highest war-rich nobil jty. They drank as generously as tin lord of the proverb.' The . "duchess" at the next table whose jewellery must have cost thou sands, called the waiter "Jo.w," aw when slie ordered tier sumptuous am delicate repast she asked him for "s doublu 'olpin' of oraoklm.' '■ The »cenc a; the exit recalled memories of tlie ! days when I played forward at football. I Everybody wanted cars or taxis, a'iicl

pushed aside everybody else to {jet tliom. Out* fat-paunched “marquis',” of-obviously foreign origin, inserted his elbow in the small of my bank what time a puffy and profusely perspiring plutocrat in a fur eoatMid 'me thfc honour to stand on my Victory corn. Then the blood of " mine ancient, but still hefty Yorkshire race surged in ,ipy sanguinary conduits, and, sparing neither foreigner nor war contractor, 1 rudely split the serried ranks of Britain's new chivaly and quit. TURKISH HAT If,S FULL UP. Then J met a theatrical manager from Chicago,, a stupendous man who knows more about ,jii/./. dances and bedroom scenes than Shakespeare. ever guessed, \Vben he landed in this hamlet lie had an iiifprcssion that London was down and out, with the s’liuttersynp arid the brokers in. After trying every hotel from Elision to Knightshridge he partially recovered. Having come straight from Chicago, where the brain waves come from, he lift'd one. “I will try,” lie said to •'himself, “a brilliantly bright and wholly original idea. If 1 cannot get a bedroom I will charter a cubicle in the Turkish baths. 'The British are a brave and thirsty race, lint' hi the cerebellar subtleties they cannot touch Chicago. This stunt is pure ’Mericnn.” But when he got there the enphdards wore not bare. The place was full oi mutton-headed persons witli straws in their hair, silly primitive cattle dealers from Kogwash-iri-tlie-Slusli, who yet had had the sense to hook their cubicles a full week earlier. The Chicago ‘Hum was very much surprised. He inquired vvhqther he could have a duhicle next day. The manager answered that every divan "in the place was engaged for quite a week ahead. “The only place we can offer you;” he obligingly added, “is a shelf on the top of the main boiler. The stout gentleman who occupied it last night lias not yet come down, hut if you care to wait a minute I will send an attendant with a sheet of blotting paper to collect him.” The man from Chicago having thought it over 1 , concluded that a scat on the Kmhiuikment might peradvonture he bettor for liis cough.