LONDON AT NIGHT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3212, 6 October 1915, Page 31

LONDON AT NIGHT.

LONDON, October 3. The streets of London have for months been gloomy and dismal at night, but are now darker than ever owing to the new regulations this week-end providing for doubly-shaded street lights. ’Buses and taxis dimly lighted rush about the streets and avert collisions in the most remarkable manner. The houses and public buildings give no outward signs of life. Heavy window blinds and fanlights obscure them, and the gloom is so deep that where an occasional blind is undrawn the shaft of light cuts the darkness like a searchlight. When the police detect it they curtly order the observation of the regulations. Previously the reflection from the furnace provided a clue to the whereabouts of a train, but this is now remedied by curtains obscuring the engine cab. A Zeppelin commander boasted that ho could find London by the reflection of the silver ribbon of the Thames, but the new order does away with all lights on the river font. All.the people are loyally assisting. Searchlights sweep the sky, rest on the clouds an instant, and then there is again complete darkness. THE ARABIC. WASHINGTON, October 3. All danger of an immediate break between the United States and Germany over the Arabic has been averted. Assurances were contained in a Note received by Count Bernstorff, but no disclosures have been made. NEW YORK, October 4. Germany has failed to satisfy the request of the United States that the sinking of the Arabic be disavowed or that liability for the act be assumed by the German Government. Mr Lansing has refused to make any comment. It is understood that a final refusal to meet the wishes of the United States will cause a rupture of relations. MARSHAL YON HINDENBURG’S BIRTHDAY. BERLIN, October 3. Field-marshal von Hindenburg's birthday was celebrated throughout Germany. The newspapers eulogise him as the deliverer of East Prussia. Thousands of school children assembled before a colossal wooden statue in front of the Reichstag and hammered nails into

their idol, at the same time singing patriotic songs. A Zeppelin and a number of aeroplanes paid homage to the statue. According to the Lokal Anzicger, a wooden statue of Marshal von Hindenburg 10 yards high was to bo erected on August 29, the anniversary of the battle of Tannonbcrg, on the Konigsplatz, in Berlin. Iron nails were to be sold to be hammered into the body of the statue. The proceeds were to go to charitable objects. A sensitive writer in Jonaische Zoitung found the idea objectionable, and asked people to imagine their feelings if a figure of one’s own father stood in a public place and people were invited to hammer nails into his lunge, heart, and stomach. NIGHT CLUBS OF LONDON. LONDON, October 4. The Bishop of London has made a vigorous denunciation of the night clubs of London, declaring that they are mostly the haunts and hunting grounds for sharks and loose women, the existence of whom in war time is a national danger. The London Council for the Promotion of Public Morality has kept the clubs under observation for months, and is now placing a report before the authorities. The Bishop urges that the authorities have not dealt drastically with the owners of places of amusement, which young soldiers cannot visit without danger. The newspapers endorse what the Bishop says. A number of the clubs have recently been closed, but the police have difficulty in securing conclusive evidence.