LONDON.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XL, Issue 13156, 16 August 1913, Page 10

LONDON.

IN ITS MOST ALLURING GUISE

FACTS BEHIND THE PIOTURE.

(By F. A.ivMcKenzie.)

It was in' Piccadilly Circus, at 8 o'clock m the evening. My driver, 6bedient to the wave of a policeman's arm, pulled up sharply, "and X T 'gaied' at the scene around me. , . . . . , „s r The streets were packed, with motorcars. In a little over, a minute a line of vehicles had drawn up, stretching back as far ad one could see towards -the Royal Academy. Regent street showed a waiting triple line* of. -cars on each side of the road. Motor-cars o.f every kind — many of them six-jcylindeaed monster.* costing from £1000 to £1500 apiece— were gliding, down.; Coventry stiieetj up. Shaftesbury Avenue, or u in the direction of the Athenaeum: Mostly k *. -they --(-on? tamed parties m evening dress, going to opera, ball, or theatre*. • The v whole spectacle made a brilliant picture of crowded wealth, of .luxury, of prosperity, * These packed streets; meant that London is: ''full up"; as she has not been before m my time: v -. ■ ■ ■

If London were a \sWefltern city its boasting qitfzeii3.i^oydi|>nrake,'t'he world ring with the tale.i^f their. era, of wellbeing. Sinoe>. London ,- is jnerely ,-tb.e capital of • the world, : we take,,i>ur prosperity calmly, almost, as a, right. Yet this thing, that, is happening immediately under our .eyes. is. worth rioolcing; into. If. prosperity showed i itself solely m., a flourishing, crowded, . and .wealthy West End there would be comparatively little m it. But it is being , felt m. Elast and. West alike. . ..-. In oneJmonth recently the pauperism of all Londbfi clecKned by 10 per cent. ; m: the- ;C6nteal district the decline -was 15 peivcent. ; Our. : distresscommittees are- doing,. less because there, is less for them to do; 1 Many of ourfactories- — Greater- London, as. thei lar,gestand most important -manufacturing 'cenr tre m the world — are- woEkJngr. overtime. "GOOD TIMES" :.-IN xA! -THOUSAND WAYS. Prosperity, is showing, itself m :a thoutsand ways. Banks- and insurance com-; parties are re -building': on; ;& sumptuous scale. Rehousmg .schemes '.ar«h'afoofe.' Kinsgway, lon^Aa waste, i»: being .rapids ly transformed into. Jan (avenue -of business palaces. Newi hotels are. being completed and opened as speedily as can be. The 'trade m expensive motor-cara —a- sure test -.of p'rospefrity-r~-has risen from 30 to 40 per oeiit. m a year.. The big importing 1 and< i shipping houses have tiever known better; days. Fifteen or twenty ,;years ago- .London was a somewhat solemn -and 1 : solid, place.If you wanted- good: or supreme cooking you ;'wenb , itc vjParia. > • 'If. you wanted- a* goodliholiday-.^ou did; not come to 'London^ befeause- London-. '.had relar tiveiy little to offer. . 'All thai;. has;. been, changed, and thb world hats discovered the change/ Oufihotels^val those.: of. any land. The- great <*ooka come: to. London. .-New> York trie's to-, .draw them from "Us,^ bat wfiile;:Nev Xoxk offers, them high '.wages: and .harsh: -atmosphere* London offers high- wages anfl .a >conge.T nial milieu;- So they-come ;here-;*nd stay. We have more ••amusementSv.^of every kind and. better amusements' tluto our fathers ever imagined.;. . The. coming of the motor-car; ■: has- niade London no longer a place -•■of", somewhat streets: You canltveinithe-cehtre. ,of it and have the most beautiful \ rural scenery on earth 'within an hour's journey. The world lias discovered the beauties of London. ■<• ■■■•••■ THE WORLD'S HOLIDAY CENTRE.; And so London has,become the world's holiday centre. Th» year the number of visitor.* will easily surpass all records,Americans have' for , long ' formed;'themost important section, of our visitors.' In 1912 many events, notably. the loss of the Titanic 1 , - the Presidential ; election i and the bad summer, combined tor cheek the American invasion; -This- year the Americans' are coming in 1 double- num : hers to make up | The enormous Tecent growth of Canada^ has led- toba, growing incursion of prosperous Canadians Tli<* Anglb-SoutH Aitterican returns -for his holidays m ever-increasing numbers 1 , and lie comes witfi bulging pockets:' To-day; tctoj the omnibus companies find it; -worth their w-hile to print guides m French visitors from- acrpss the Channel. .Ftfeneh London has grown out of all knowledge m five years. The French visitors are rivalled m number by the Germans.- . The season thia' yearv thanks partly to the early Eastet, commenced ; f ally' -a fortnight -earlier than- usual. Hotels 'were full up two months ago. Hotels whicK have banqueting departments and ballrooms report that never has.. there been so much private' -and public entertaining. "We are turning away. . numbers of applicants for rooms ."daily," is the monotonous reply of manager, after man-, ager m the West End when asked about the state of business. Great hotels, however,- accommodate but a small proportion of the. visitorsTens of thousands of the transients have to consider cost.. .At one time, these were mainly, catered' for' by. boardinghoused. Many of the old Bloomsbury boarding-hotiseu havetfiow become hotels;, and a number of new hotels have arisen — many with hundreds- of 4 bedroonis I—to1 — to cater for middl^clasa visitors. 1 To the. avetag^ Londoner it might, seem -that the V>tel busiiiess, vr&i) b«ing /overdone. As a matter of fact, the supply cannot keep pace with the demand: ' VAST *feW'- Ht>TEL&.

As I wri)^,. indeed,; jßiiorjnottdi sites are being cleared m several of the choicest parts iqf^West London. to, make room,, for more hotels. In ,£Lwsadilly, facing the Green Partc, there will 'soon be a vast establishment of first rank, the Park Lane hotel, unde* the control' of the manager of the PHeutt' hotel of New 'York; The site alone is said to 'haVexsost £975,----000; arid anothe*' l i!60&,000^*is 1 being spent on £he buildings Not fa*nofly. m Glasshouse street; cornering on Piccadilly CSrcusi Sir Joseph Lyons- is erecting the largest hotel m the world, with over 1000 rooms. An hotel v with '300 rooms . is being bt^ilt over the District Railway Station at' Ylfciioviay and • another, with a trifle of 566 bedrooms, over Baker street. Station.- i" • ■

Houses, furnished and Unfurnished, :in the West End "were fot' some time a drug m tho market*. Mtwiy were pulled <lown to roakfe room' fo'r -flats. With, the new era of 'prosperity this-transforma Ilion has been check«d; '< The. old houses arc now being coinpletily modernised and are letting better than ever.- THis peason furnished houses and flats tin the right parts of the ■W6Bt/'£n& ire in.great d email d . Owners and 'agents have even been able to raise tfcelr prices; -For. good houses m the best Bquafes ; 1000 guineas for the season iV bejt^Aiiced and obtained. Good entertaining , houses m streets off the best squares wi!l bring 450 guineas for the -season. You can obtain * good flat m the charmed circle for 15 to 25 guineas a week. These prices only obtain, of oourj», m. the best •streets. Those content to go a little further afield can obtain' good "houses and flats for a* third to a. fifth of these sums. ''",'.-• The prosperity of •London, is shown, too, by the, condition, . of 'retail , trade. Naturally, tradesmen did not' care to Rivo away thi secret* of .{heir business, but many West End houses ape'anakinig.twicp .■ns much this spring as last. .The fig'urer rpnWished by, the leading djrapery houses tell their own story. „ Harrod's made! last year a, net profit available for dividend of £369,124. , John barker, earned not far short of £10(>,OOQ. , The gross profit of D. H. Evans: and Co. Wav £198,656. Another ' comparati vely . now Sious© earned £104,028. There is still -profit, m- London., for , th«e trader. Men 'talk of ,the West .as", 1 the land of opportunity. , This new L6ndon of ours gives as much .' scop© for' enlarprise and as princely rewards, for energy <as Canadian proving pr Western State.