A CHAT ON LONDON.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19802, 29 May 1926, Page 17

A CHAT ON LONDON.

AUCKLAND DOCTOR'S IMPRESSIONS. EXTREMES OF WEAL TE. AFFAIRS IN DUBLIN. After being about a year ia London and Dublin, Dr J. A. Dale, of Auckland, who is paying a brief visit here before returning to complete his studies, gave a Star representative an interesting account of conditions in the Homeland. The trade of the great Metropolis, he said, was in a bad way. The large shops in London and the outskirts were holding huge sales at the rate of 10 and 12 a year, but still the cost of living was high. At the average hotel or boarding-house one had to pay £2 12s 6d per week for bed, breakfast, and tea. At a restaurant it cost 3s to 4s for a meal that could be procured in Auckland for Is 6d, while dinner ran the diner into 6s, A noticeable fact in England was that there was little home life, and most people dined at restaurants or hotels. Clothing wets about on a par with that purchased in New Zealand, but hats and shoes were much cheaper than the artiiles sold here, and were also of better quality. Meat was extremely costly. It costs Is to get one chop, and other meat was relatively high. Small goods were 2d each. Against that fruit was cheap. Grapes were procurable at 6d per bunch, the same thing costing from 5s to 3s 6d here. Building, said the doctor, was being carried on on a high scale. The biggest building a&f being erected was Devonshire House m Piccadilly. This was to be let as flats. The rental was enormous, but there appear to be people who can produce the money, as the fiats will not be long vacant when they are completed. The premium is £ISOO per year, and a extra £IOOO a year after that. “It is a city of extreme wealth and extreme poverty,” said Dr Dale, “and I have never seen so many beggars in the streets of any city. At every street corner there are men and women begging for a crust of bread or anything to allay the pangs of hunger, while passing by on the roads are beautiful motor cars, the occupants lounging back in luxurious ease.” A visit to the slums of London was an education in itself. Here were to be found 10 of a family in one room that contained a table, a chair without legs, and sacks for bedding, and yet the occupants appear to be happy. A noticeable feature of the East End of London was the number of white women married to Chinese. It was explained to a slumming party that these women are happier than most of those who married white men. The morality of the poorer classes was infinitely higher than existed in the upper classes, despite the awful conditions under which the poor people had to exist. The children in the slum area were in good condition, and, for their mode of living, quite healthy. Thera was an absence of disease that waa truly remarkable. Getting above the slums. Dr Dale spoke of the night clubs that sprung up m a night and existed until they wore raided, and then reappeared in another locality the next night. They were in reality drinking dens, where people assembled at midnight to drink and to make use of drugs until 5 a.m., at which hour they were dosed. The price of drinks was three and four times as much as the ordinary price at the hotels, and more could be obtained if it were charged. As frequent aa wore the police raids it was not enough to stop the clubs from running. An old Rugby enthusiast, the speaker proudly related the times in which a team of New Zealanders in London defeated the Civil Service by 17 points to nil before 20, COO people, and then again the defeat of the Royal Air Force by 1 points to 4. The doctor nlaved half for the team. Dealing ’ with Dublin in particular, and Ireland in general, he stated that conditions there were very bad, Dublin, he considered, was the poorest city in Ireland. Thera was absolute poverty everywhere, and the conditions existing in the slum areas were disgraceful. While the people were quite orderly, the terrible poverty that existed had enveloped the place in gloom. Money was tight and trade was bad. “I consider that Ireland is cutting it* own throat,” said the doctor. “All 'big commercial contracts are being given to foreign countries, while there are firms in their own country that are equally capable of doing the work. The solo idea seems to be to cut out British manufacturers and contracts, but it is not going to do any good. The cost of living there, too, is very high.”