IMPRESSIONS OF TRAVEL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12411, 22 March 1911, Page 8

IMPRESSIONS OF TRAVEL.

A BIT OF LONDON EXPERIENCE

■"*"' (By Henry Hill.) tin ( four . successive Sundays London has been , enshrouded m a fog... One '.had often heard of a London -fog, but to 'have experienced j fogs . on week.; days and • Sundays ;is something as unwelcome as ; it is " Colds appear, to be^ari , attendant 'of . the fogs judged by one's f ' oww Qltperience, but these would almost foe fc&rable if only the soot and grimy fcAttiosphere were absent. You cannot go out for an hour but you feel begrimed with soot, and this sticks to you like bricks tq mortar unless you happen to have an abundant supply of hot water available. A lady doctor friend of mine, hailing from Canada, said the other day «tftet, an experience similar to my own ihftt she did not wonder at the preval «nee of pneumonia and bronchial colds m and about London. The air of her beloved Canada was much colder than that of London, but it was purer and less moist. Whilst on the subject of lady doctors it is curious that so many young ladies from Canada should be attending the London hospitals for the completion of their degrees./ Toronto can confer and does confer the medical degree of M.D., but it is to London that medical men and women from the States and Canada come to obtain experinece and attend lectures m order to obtain the diploma known as the M.R.C.S., Eng. and S.R.C.P., Lond. In the house where I am staying there are nine medical students, of whom four are women, 'and only last week one of them obtained, her special diploma of L.R.C.P., after, examination. It appears that wdmeh medical practitioners are very popular' m Canada, and quite a number of university lady students are specialising m the medical profession. Some of the hospitals here are closed to women students, but deputations to the authorities are directing attention to the subject,' and no doubt the time is not far distant when the same rights will be afforded to women as to men m all the learned professions. The Suffragette movement is affecting many more channels than the mere political claims set up on behalf of women. John Bull is slow to move. He hates innovation and "what has been ought to be" is the proper thing m the opinion of a certain class of people, but once let the new thought get a hold and the "movement ' quickly increases m strength. It is difficult to understand the strange whims John Bull appears to have m the matter of women's rights. I had the' honor of occupying a seat to the right of the Chairman oi the London Council at their meeting near Trafalgar Square, on Tuesday last, and to my surprise I saw" throe lady councillors among the members. One of the ladies, I was told, was actually an alderman— there is no feminine word for elderman unless it be alderwoman — and two of them were occupying seats among the progressive section t df the council. Now, if women are entitled to become members 'of such an important body as the London County, Council, which occupies a position' m the State far greater than is exercised by half the States of Europe to-day, it does seem somewhat of an absurdity to deny the same rights to all women as are now granted to men. The women m the X3ounty Council are recognised as invaluable m certain aspects of government where the interests of women and children are concerned, and surely if so much is required, the same results would hold good on the average, just..- as. .they have done "m New. Zealand.

By the way, I noticed m the Birmingham Post of a recent date that the Hon. ■ Mr Reeves has been addressing a Birmingham audience oh New Zealand matters — political and otherwise, but from the reference made it would appear that Mr Reeves is not infatuated with "women's rights," as illustrated m New Zealand. Of course, we are all entitled to oup opinion and to express that opinion openly, but had I been present at the meeting, different views would have been expressed had the opportunity been offered. No doubt women have been influenced and possibly are still influenced by their husbands, but ,the time is coming when- young women will express their views independently, of the men. If men fail to recognise women's rights, equally with their own, the women will assuredly try to help themselves on similar lines with the men. ' Most': oi your readers have heard of Fleet street m London. In reality it is a continuation of the Strand now that what, is known as Temple Bar has disappeared. The Btreet is about midway between St Paul's Cathedral and the Strand, rind is certainly the most remarkable street m the whole world for newspapers. Some months ago I tried, on a leisurely occasion; to count the number of newspapers that tare represented on a single side of the' street, but after counting 190 I gave up trying, for still the . numbers appeared to increase, and m looking down the opposite side of the street the names could still be counted by the dozen. Fleet ,street is the earth s centre for news. Every country, dominion, and colony is represented, and I verily think that every town of any importance m tho British Isles has its "own correspondent" m this marvellous Btreet of newsmongers. Now the street is full of historic associations and I have l)een spending .. a quiet week visiting ( places of historic importance m connection with men that have lived and have left their mark on London and on the ' histdry of their country. To begin with let me just refer here to a pleasant visit — nay, to pleasant, visits, I havo 'made to that celebrated hostel known as "Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese/ This place was rebuilt in' the year 1667, and is situated m Wine Office Court on the north side of Fleet* street. Here is the house frequented by the celebrated Drs. Johnson and Goldsmith during the progress of the Seven Years' War, and the place to-day remains as it was when those literary lights frequented it to eat their pudding dinner made up of rump steak, larks, kidneys, and oysters. Now, I was mOst. anxious to partake of a dinner such as that old gourmand Dr. Johnson was so fond of, and so with one of the present literary lightß of Fleet street I wended my way to No. 16 Wine Office Court, and sat myself down, half an hour before dinner time, m the doctor's seat with my friend m Goldsmith's seat, and there, on a brass plate where I sat, we read as follows: *The favorite seat of Dr. Samuel Johnson. Born Sept. 18th\ 1709; died Dec. 18yi, 1784." In him a noble understanding and a. masterly intellect were united with grand independence of character and unfailing goodness of heart which won the admiration of his own ago and remain as recommendations to vie reverence of posterity. "No, sir, there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness has been produced as by good tavern."— Johnson. We waited until dinner was announced and to be sure a pudding was carried into the room such as J. had never seen the like or conceived of one so large.; Two^men had hold of it, and they placed it on a special gravy table towards the middle of the room and where it could be seen by the now crowded room, men and women, who had arrived to partake of the celebrated pudding, which is known the world over. Of course we looked at the first editions of Johnson's Dictionary and "Rambler," etc., the price of each being set down at 10 guineas and at £7 respectively. One dare not relate even a tenth of the interesting spots that may be visited by, persons desirous of seeing places made sacred by writers whose trials and sufferings have m tho end shown the world something of their sterling worth and manliness, hut one more place must bo mentioned before leaving Fleet street and its associations. In Johnson's Court, where now are premises occupied by a Mi 4 Sell; stood the office of the "Monthly Magazine m the days of Charles Dickens. It was into the letter box of the "Monthly Magazine" that Dickens, m December, 1833, dropped his first original work m manusoript entitled "A Dinner at Poplar Walk," which, to the young r authors delight was published m the magazine and was the starting point that gave rise to "Sketches" by Boz. My rambles along Temple Bar and down Fleet street will . not readily be forgotten> and * I knowj ' gf feyf ' places

where so much can bo soon and learnt iri a short time as m the streets named, if; only the desire exists to sknow something of the great men who;' have. acted their part well on the stage, of -life,"' as represented by ; :' a life m London. What strikes,. one like .myself ia the* utter ab\ seneevbf^i.n formation, possessed by most Londoners 1 ' on v things : and >. places m this mighty;' city. •'.' To «: me ' there is greater variety m the streets of -London than are to-be found amid the glorious fields and flowers among which one loves >to ramble. For . sights — contrasts, sad • and sorrowful, grand and beautiful— there .is nothing more fascinating, nothing more suggestive, than a great city. In the country the flood occurs, and rivers overflow their batiks, bringing about devastation now and then. Sometimes an arm breaks from a tree and falls upon the passer by, and life is destroyed. You Bee m the country nature operating seemingly indifferent to life and death, always active, always moving. Desstruction and const ruction are realisable m a city where population is congested, whore tho production of wealth or the obtainment of it is the leading thought m a community. What does it matter amid millions of folks if a few hundreds or thousands fall and faint by the wayside. There are Samaritans who do not forget that we are all of one flesh and blood, but Levites are very common and the business world quickly forgets the woes of others if perchance woes have not been felt by themselves. It is m a large city that one comes to realise the marvellous .powers possessed by man generally.

This day has been one that will live with me and form a pleasant reminiscence m the years to come. The morning was spent m the local Government Offices m the vicinity of Westminster Abbey and the afternoon m paying a visit to Dr. Stuart, for many years Bishop of Waiapu, and latterly of the Persian Mission of Julfa. A letter of introduction from tho High Commissioner brought me into touch with the Right Hon. John Burns, M.P., President of the Local Government Board. Mr Burns is by ho means a prepossessing man, but you have only to refer to matters with which he is conversant and at once you realise the soul searcher and the humanist. A 20 minutes' conversation taught me how intense m feeling and how practical m realisation is this man who is at the head of all that goes to foster the health of individuals and the maintenance of the sanitary and hygienic condition of cities m the British Isles. A man 'of strong individuality, Mr Burns has brought a lifelong experience to bear on the working of the poor law m relation to workhouses and' few people realise the importance of the changes that have been carried out m the administration of the laws since he took office as President. Speaking of the colonies m relation to the Motherland, Mr Burns expressed regret that certain colonies had shown such little thankfulness for all that had been done for them by England from the time that the lands had been' acquired up to the present. The cost of safeguarding the countries m ships and men had been enormous, and even now amounts to about 16s 8d per head' of the population of the British Isles, and much of it is spent for the direct benefit of the colonies. And what have the colonies done? They haye even refused to admit their own flesh and blood into lands which would have been overrun with Chinese and^ Japs but for England's protection. Wo haye — said ,Mr Burps— plenty of good raw material which rightly employed would be of inestimable value to the colonies themselves. The raw material must be licked into shape for the good of the Empire, but the Mother Country has done her share m acquiring the lands and m giving protection at a time when the colonists could not help themselves. The ring of Mr John Burns' earnest words are m my ears as I write, and can anyone deny their truth or their cogency? No doubt Australia and Canada and New Zealand are beginning to see that the Mother Country cannot be expected to do everything, and yet, strangely, some writers oven now are claiming Colonial Preference, as if they have not had Colonial Preference m the way of Protection ever since England first established her colonies ! Before * leaving, Mr Burns presented me with the three following pamphlets, containing addresses delivered by him on important occasions, and m each ho wrote his name as a presentation copy : "Labor and Drink," "Town Planning," and "Tuberculosis." People may laugh at Mr Burns and his salary of £5000, but I believe that he earns every penny of. it, for both-Lon-don and Great Britain' find they have a real live practical President at the head of the Local Government Board, and great good is being done as the outcome of his enlightened policy and control.

Following my visit to Mr John Burns, I had the great pleasure of seeing Dr Stuart, late Bishop of Waiapu. We had been m communication for some time, and starting for Hertford m the early afternoon I was met at the railway station by Miss Stuart and was Soon afterwards enjoying a conversation with the aged bishop. He had been ailing for a few days but at the time of my visit .1 found nim cheerful and anticipatory. He was delighted with the accounts of the mission m New Zealand, and he gave «me an advertisement where it Was stated that the Archbishop of Canterbury would hold a meeting to receive the missioners on .their return to England. As the meeting takes place on the ninth instant I hope to have .the opportunity of seeing the missioners and hearing something of their experiences m New Zealand.

To;day, February Ist, has been a red letter day for Londoners. The launch of H.M.S. Thunderer took place at Canning Town and the sight was one never to he forgotten; Our little party had received an invitation to be present from the High Commissioner, Sir Wm. HallJones, and New Zealand was well represented. At 1 o'clock, some thirty or more colonists assembled at 13 Victoriastreet, Westminster, ready to be taken to Canning Town, some six miles away, where the launching was to take place. Motor buses were ready, and as the day, though cold, was gloriously fine, the drive was refreshing and somewhat exciting. Scores of buses were moving towards Canning Town and each Colony or Dominion was led by its official representatives. There were thousands on thousands of flags and banners flying' and we actually saw a' flag hanging from one of the houses m Blackwall, representing the old Maori flag of New Zealand's independence ! We could not stay to inquire, but a 'friend took note of the houses and intends to call m the course of a few days. The crush m the places provided for invited guests was great, but all were anxious to see the launch*, inpr of the greatest fighting ship that has ever been attempted m the history of the London docks. Punctually at 2.30 a service began on board, and at 3 o'clock everything was ready for Mrß Davidson, the wife of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to do her duty m declaring the Thunderer launched. As soon as the string was cut, which brought into action strains and stresses, that were interesting to observe, there was a movement measured carefully by a machine of exactly half an inch. Presently it 1 was observed that the bridge blocks underneath the hull were being bent inthe direction of the slope, and slowly, and gently the creaking went on, then' the motion increased and every spectator was on the tiptoe of expectation, the mighty thunderer slid gently and slowly from "her moorings towards the river 'amid the cheers from tens of thousands of throats who rejoiced m the fact that yet one more battleship had been added to England's bulwarks to help guard the shores of Great Britain and the Empire from danger m time of need. The. strains of "God Save the King" were heard, but I felt that a tune to the words "God Save the* Empire" would have been very appropriate on such art occasion for representatives from far off lands were present whose hearts throb-, bod at the knowledge that they were, citizens of an Empire with privilege'"! such as Romans never enjoyed m the days of ' Rome's highest power and pres-, tige. We were somewhat late m getting away and I had promised to meet-M,r H. Bridge, formerly of Fairfield, near' Waipawa, at Horeox's hotel m the Strand for dinner, and for a five days' wandering over London to see some of thethings that can only be seen under special conditions.

As I Avrito, \vc have already been into a district known as Silvcrtowh, situated on tho Victoria Docks. The Rev M{ Smyth is tlie vicar of a parish m Silvertown known as St Mark!s. We first visited the Central Meat ■'•■'Market to. see the kind and quality of the meat on>n ordinary market : day. Tomoana and Hastings, wofks were well represented, and this., season's ' lamb was placarded m a number/ of places. It may not.be generally, known' that the Queensland beef, in '. mriny instances', has been attacked by a-wiroworm, or weevil of some kind, which passes along the dennis almost m the same way, as is seen m the case of a borer m: a' fruit tree. The meat inspectors see that the parts affected are cut away, but this does not add to tho appearance of the Queensland beef. How tho borer or weevil gets into the meat is not known except that it bores itself through the hide whilst the animal is lying down when alive, whilst tho skinning does not destroy the borer which appears to develop even though tho temperature is below freezing point. I mention this point so that careful observation might be made m the freezing works throughout the Dominion, as it would be a serious matter to have the New Zealand animals attacked m the same way, and should any cattle be introduced into tho Dominion from Queensland, the strictest observation should bo kept, so that none of the borers or weevils be introduced into New Zealand. We noticed that most of the butchers have provided low forms or tables on which to place the meat that is covered with a wrapper, and few could take exception to the general cleanliness prevailing everywhere. On our way to Silyertown • we met quite a number of huge enclosed cars carrying meat to the city. One would imagine that with good organisation railway night service might be instituted, and even the underground railway system might be so modified as to have meat carried from the ships to the markets m half an hour and so avoid the slow passage through the city. I

Our purpose m visiting Silvertown was to see for ourselves what we had read of .m a tiny little booklet entitled "Twenty Years m the Orient." The writer is the Rev Stewart Smyth, the vicar of St. Mark's Victoria Docks, London, who says that "For twenty years and more his life had been spent among the sights and sounds of the Orient," — not the Orient with its glamour and romance, but the Orient of grim reality, with its monotony and unending misery. During these years," says the reverend writer, "I have lived far away m Silvertown. If it be objected that this is not 'far away,' I object to the objection. Geographically it is near, within an hour's ride of the centre of the richest city m the world, but to the vast majority of English people it is an unknown misery. It is a' land where the children cry for food-r^-and cry m vain, where the men seek work and seek it fruitlessly ; where the women sicken and grow prematurely old because of the burdens which pass unremittingly on their shoulders." It was to see this parish of ten thousand souls, that we wended our way on a very cold morning m winter so that we might see for ourselves whether the words quoted above were true m fact at this time of the year. Introducing ourselves, we found a man full of fervour and sympathy and earnestness whose mind appeared to be fixed on the pariah m which he has worked so unremittingly for nearly twenty-two years. "You want to see something of the work that is being done m this district? W r ell, if you accompany my daughter and our lady district' visitor to the parish school you will see something that is being done by us m the way of helping the poor. I will be across m the course of a few " minutes." Thus directed we made our way to the parish school, where, standing m a yard near the entrance were about 260 boys and girls shivering m the cold and presenting a picture of utter misery and poverty such as I had not seen previously m England. The ; children's clothes of both girls and boys i were of the meagrest. All the children had been to the Board school but there was no food at home, and no fire either, so the children had wended their way at midday, shivering and hungry, to the ■ place whero huge boilers of soup are made daily or the, supply of as many : hungry children, women and inch as : choose to visit the schoolroom at 1 [ o'clock m the day. The first to bo serf-, ed are the children. In a lamo room fitted up with trestle tables there ran ; along each side of the tables enamel basins holding from a half to a pint of soup. This was smoking hot and as soon as ready the poor children went to their several places opposite a basin. As they entered a large 1 slico of bread was given to each. This was put down by each child, beside the basin of soup near which he stood and, when ready, the children^ ted by one of tho adi'lt visitors sang, "Be present at our tabic, Lord," and surely the presence of the Father , of Love was sincerely asked by the little ones whose voices went up m raro sweetness, thankful, aye doubly thankful no doubt, for the basin of hot soup and the piece of fresh new bread which had been provided for months past by the good vicar of St. Mark's, with the help of friends. When the children had finished their meal and had left quietly and m excellent order, the women came m and as they took their places, my heart sank within me. I had never seen a picture so dismal, so sad,' so pitiful and must it be said so inhuman ! I say inhuman for to allow womanhood and motherhood to sink so low as the poor humanity that had gathered m the room — compulsorily so— to have a basin of soup and a piece of dry bread that they might not die from sheer cold and exhaustion, is to me a disgrace upon the vaunted civilisation. How those women were clad? They were women, mothers, whose sufferings and anxieties had seared their soul, had made them hopeless, and -prematurely old, and had destroyed all that sweetness to be p;enorally fo.und m motherhood where home to a mother ib Teally a home and a place of refuge. Imagine two hundred men waiting for admission, all capable and willing to work, all striving one against the other to obtain a day s labor so that a few shillings might be earned to keep the home going as the rent must be paid whether food is provided or not. And this is the picture one sees at the parish school near the Victoria Docks day by day throughout the winter and those angels of mercy, who spend their lives helping the poor are there with their practical sympathy and their word of kindly greeting to young and old alike. I went with the lady visitor into some of tho places occupied by • persons who were just above the soup and bread life of poverty, but it is useless to describe the terrible straits into which the people have fallen by lack of employment. Casual labor is the source of the trouble, and society must endeavor to provide a remedy. The strength of the nation is being sapped and \ destroyed by these •lapses of our industrial system which permits the rich to grow richer whilst' the poor grow poorer and yet poorer and become the mere outcasts of poverty. Had these poor done something wrong to society one could understand punishment coming upon them, but why these ten thousand poor? Why aro these thousands out of work and yet willing to work ; why artf the children punished m body and mind, aye and soul by this environment of misery and sorrow m a civilisation that is supposed to be an example to the world? The wholo business is the outcome of trying to harmonise the individualistic and the so-called commercial system. In the old days of slavery men and women when beyond work were duly cared for, but when capable, of working, not a man or a woman, but their services were utilised to the most economic good of the community. t Here, however, men are free . and yet never wdre there such slaves to misery, to sorrow, to the daily torments of what ■ is nothing less than a perpetual hell of misery.

But I must stop hero. My' letter is already a long one, and Mr Bridge and I are off to see some more of London's contrasts, for to-day we visit the Convict Suppression establishment, Scotland Yard and the Imperial Technological College at South Kensington, and you shall'Ttfear something of our visits, for at the latter an old college friend is Professor of Mathematics and Mechanics, and we hope to see the celebrated chemist, Dr Armstrong, and Professor Perry, the Mathematician, who is Dean of the College.