London Duck's Triumphal Progress

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22819, 28 August 1937, Page 6 (Supplement)

London Duck's Triumphal Progress

M. Morand, in a very penetrating book on London, voices the puzzled amazement of a Frenchman at the following conspicuous example of animal veneration, adding that in no other city in the world hut London could it have happened. In the heart of the city in a busy thoroughfare a cat was permitted to walk across the street while traffic was held up for the purpose, n quaint old lady on the opposite footpath making beckoning gestures with her umbrella —and all this failing to rouse a smile or any sign of surprise among the-passers-by. Some years ago a duck and her young family made their way in safety from Sb. James Park to the grounds of Buckingham Palace, successfully contending with traflic 011 the way. Since then, the duck plies annually between these two spots. Of course, now that the journey has assumed the dignity of a custom, the country would rise in indignation at any interference with it, but the duck owes her first lucky escape from heavy traffic to the love of birds and animals which is so deeply entrenched in the hearts of the great British public. One more instance will serve to show the Knglislimau's laudable sensitiveness to animal suffering. An objection was lately made in the House of Commons to the extension of an electric railway through some good hunting country on tin- grounds that foxes might be electrocuted. We more brutal "breeds without the law" might regard this as the most merciful end a fox could hope for, but it is difficult for us to plumb the depths of feeling which beset the British public: when animals are subjected to the same rude conditions under which their brother man is obliged to live.

ring where we can boil the kettle and get ourselves tea or a light supper. The breakfast is plentiful as well as good —to-day's sample consisted of rolled oats, lamb's fry, toast and marmalade. Dinner, which is extra and costs Is Gd, is also plentiful and well-cooked—roast beef, pumpkin and potatoes, apple pie and cream, and a cup of tea constitute n typical meal. Sydney is a frightful place in which to lie hungry. It bristles with shops full of.strange and enticing delicacies, and you go along feeling more like breaking a shop window every minute. One day we got a cake called "Singapore eakfe" foils Gd. 11 was iced, with a thick layer of cream, crystallised fruits and liqueur in it, and was done up in a box with a little cardboard plate to lift it with. The little restaurants are most quaint, and a description of them would fill a book. You can get anything from a three-course meal for ninepence to a most expensive dinner with chicken and wine. We hod our first "hamburger" to-night—quite nice, and the place was very clean. They told us we could got a good grill and vegetables