LONDON REVISITED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14931, 2 March 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

LONDON REVISITED.

BY ARCHDEACON WALSH.

A visit to one of tho great capitals ol the world, after a long absence, is always interesting. Even in the most conservative of cities changes take changes brought about by the development of civilisation, the progress of tho arts and sciences, the vagaries' of taste and fashion. In no case, perhaps, have these changes been more marked than in the city of London during the last ten or fifteen years. Previous to that time the changes had been so slow. and gradual as to be scarcely perceptible. With the exception

of tho Thames Embankment, a few big hotels, and one or two improved thoroughlares, there was not much in the way oi

novelty; . and London— at least, the London of the touristhad not greatly differed from the- London of Dickens. But now everything is on the move; every day brings new changeschanges which cause the bosom of the genuine Londoner

to swell with pride, oven while his heart is sad at the sight of so many of his old landmarks passing away. One of the most striking of those changes is apparent in the general air of lightness and brilliancy -which pervades tho place. London is no longer a city ol gloom. Of course, the fog comes in its season; but it is no longer the " London Particular," thick as and dark as night; and tho old smoky pall, which often darkened the air even on a summer's day seems to bo almost a tiling of the past. Tho wider spaces, the improved factory appliances, tho extended use of gas-fires, and—above —the electrifying of tho " Underground," have minimised tho smoke nuisance to such an extent that, during tho six weeks I spent in London last summer, tho air was as clear and tho skies were as blue as they might have been in Paris. Tho trees had put on greener leaves, and even the sparrow seemed to have changed his sooty coat for ! a gayer garment. In harmony with this general lightness and airiness is tho behaviour of the populace. Their character appears to have completely altered. It used to be a saying of the French,, that tho English people take their pleasures sadly. The reproach can bo brought against them no longer. Everyone, from the highest to the lowest, seems to bo on pleasure bent. Tho imnumerablo theatres, the palatial restaurants, tho luxurious motor-cars, the boating on the river, and the "picture-houses" scattered along tho principal thoroughfares, and extending to the more distant suburbs—all furnish amusement for one class or another. Sunday and Monday, from early morning till midnight, everyone is on the go, and the pace is terrible. At the times of my previous visit, twelve years ago, there were but two motor-busses in Loudon. 'I don't know Tiow many there are now, but I noticed that the numbers on some of them ran into five figures. At that time a few small motor cars might bo seen, and the way they dodged through the congested traffic convinced me they had come to stay. The daily jamb of horse vehicles that blocked the routes leading to the ''City" is a thing of the past. The hansom gets ahead of "tho growler." The motor-bus passes the hansom. The taxi distances tho ' motor-bus, and the demon on the motor-bicycle flies through everything. It is like a scene in a kinematograph. ' . ' And below the ground it is tho same as on the top. All is hurry and bustle. You start early for the "Tube," and think yon will take your time ; but onto you reach the station, and emerge from the lift that has taken you down perhaps 200 feet, you get caught in a stream of people and are swept along through a, lighted tunnel till you reach the platform. Tho pace is infectious, but there is no ; scramble or confusion. You never have |to wait. If you have missed a train. I another will bo along in a couple of : minutes. Twelve years ago the first tube ! railway took vou under the Thames from | the Mansion blouse to Waterloo Station. ! Now you can go anywhere within a radius lof five jor six milesto Earl's Court, ! Shepherd's Bush, Finsbuvy Park, Putney ' or Clapham Common, etc. 1 One of the most noticeable features of i the London of to-day is the increase in 1 the number of foreigners. This foreign in- ! vasion is not. only seen in the multiplicaj tion of foreign restaurants, apd in the | shoals of foreign waiters, hotel managers, j taxi-cab drivers, etc., but in the hosts of visitors from every country in Europe, as well as from across the Atlantic. In tho stream of pedestrian traffic in the streets, in the trains and trams, in the parks and in the picture-galleries, is a Babel of tongues in which French, German and Italian predominate. Every year, I was informed, they have colno in greater numbers, and last year they put up a record. And the foreigner is much more at homo in London than an Englishman would be in a Continental city. He takes tilings as | he finds them and makes tho best of them. J Ho has no mauvaise honto about airing j his small stock of English, and every day he increases his vocabulary. He is lost in admiration of everything (except the cooking) that is different from what ho sees in his own country. Abovo all. he admires the policeman. * Ha admires his enormous siz-3 and his magnificent appearance. Most of all he admires him when, "on point duty," ho stands—a human semaphore— at a street crossing, and stems the surging traffic with a wave of his large and whitegloved hand. And his homage is welldeserved. Without the assistance of the policeman, not only the foreigner, but the visitor from the provinces, would be lost in the endless labyrinth of the London streets. "Three to the right: two to the left; and ask a policeman," he says; or else, " Wait at. tho head of the street, sir, and take a9or al4 'bus. That will take you right there." The topographical changes in London during the last few years have ■ been important and far-reaching. Tentatively at first, and in-the face of a good deal of prejudice and opposition, the London County ■. Council did their work, till, gathing courage, they made a bolder plunge, and in the widening of Fleet-street and tho formation of Kingsway, they initiated a policy which will doubtless result in an arterial system of main thoroughfares to the various quarters of tho metropolis. These new routes, and the buildings that are rapidly springing lip along- them— buildings on a scale and stylo hitherto —together with the sweeping •away of so many of the old familiar landmarks, havo already made a great difference in the appearancc of the city. But in spite of all tho changes it is still the I same old London, still the hub of the Bri- ! tish Empireif not of the universe—tho | Homo of our hearts wherever we may bo j scattered. r. ■ . 1