NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19658, 9 June 1927, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

A DEFENCE OF THE TRAMOAR. Though the rival merits of the tramcar and the motor omnibus are hotly debated in many countries, Germany, or at least Berlin, seems to have been able to make up its mind quickly and easily. That was the assertion of a German engineer who was recently in London. "We sent a commission of engineers here last autumn," he said, "and the members returned home horrified at the traffic congestion on the London streets, particularly in the city, on the Strand, and at various important West End points. Our commission was unanimous in its report that neither in London nor in New York had the bus demonstrated its ability to handle what we call 'mass transportation.' At present the surface tramlines of Berlin carry 54 per cent, of our traffic, the steam railroads which form a belt line, 29 per cent., the subway and elevated lines 12 per cent., and the buses only 5 per cent. So far as the buses are concerned, we intend to leave the proportions at abont that. I have forgotten your traffic figures, but we in Berlin have found that 300 street cars, with a peak-load capacity of 70. will do the work of 475 buses seating 54 passengers apiece. As we see it, the bus is a pleasure vehicle rather than a serious oi helpful adjunct to urban transportation." NORMAN BLOOD. France is about to honour the nine hundredth anniversary of the birthday of William the Conqueror with a special celebration at Falaise early in July, and in order to invest the event with special eclat it is proposed to invite as guests from England members of the aristocracy ■who are descended in the male line from the Conqueror's companions-in-arms, says the London Observer. How many families there are in this country at the present day who can claim such descent is a difficult matter to determine without exhaustive research, but the number is a fairly large one. The Earl of Huntingdon is the lineal descendant of the Conqueror's steward, who accompanied him to England; Viscount Hereford represents the family of Devereux, whose ancestors came over with William, and %vere given grants of land they have held ever since. They took the name, it is understood, from Evreux, in Normandy. The Viscount has a number of relatives who are also descendants of the Conqueror's companions. St, George Beaumont, Bart., is another name out of many others that might be similarly cited. The number of actual descendants of William the Conqueror himself in England must be exceedingly large—one authority, indeed, is of opinion that the percentage might be even as high as a quarter of the present population. In those days, it must bo remembered, the daughters of kings married into the families of the nobility, and Henry 111., Edward 1., and Edward 111. each had large families, who spread the Royal blood all over England. BLESSING OF INVASION. Announcement of the French celebration has led a writer to moralise on the results following the Norman invasion, and the Saxon defeat at Hastings, or Senlac. Our neighbours of Normandy are getting ready to celebrate the ninth centenary of the Conqueror, he says, and it is not alone the healing power of time that enables us to join in the honours of the occasion. Apart from 3 tributary tear to the gal lant Harold, who put up so gallant a fight at both ends of his kingdom simul- j taneously. it would be hard to find any grounds, either sentimental or rational, for regretting what happened in 1066. That the racial, alliance was a sound one. we may modestly hope that subsequent history bears witness. And it is probable that only a conqueror of some kind or other could have given England the strong social basis of the feudal system, the franchise of- European chivalry and the spiritual refreshment of Romance literature. Hastings might be described as the most memorable of all blessings io disguise.