WONDERFUL LONDON

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1931, Page 13 (Supplement)

WONDERFUL LONDON

FURTHER IMPRESSIONS

T.C.L.)

(Part ll.—By

The construction of wide and wellbuilt roads and by-pass roads around the suburbs of London has considerably eased the traffic problem, though it has not entirely solved it. The motor traffic has grown enormously in recent years, and but for the new roads the business of the city could not have been carried on satisfactorily. Along these roads rows of Pottages have been erected, and open fields have been'converted into thickly populated districts. Before long further circular roads will require to be built, for population is increasing so rapidly, and the present lateral roads will also have to be improved to carry the increasing motor traffic.

Considerable as the motor traffic problem is in the suburbs it is greater still in the city itself, or in the cities, for London is an aggregation of cities. It is no uncommon thing for traffic to be held up for ten or fifteen minutes .at a time to allow the traffic crossing it to pass. Recently several of the streets have been declared “one way” streets, and this has helped to facilitate and speed up traffic, which, however, is growing so much that it is likely tc bring about its own cure. Already private owners hesitate to use the main streets at busy times of the day, preferring to use the tubes, which are subject to no traffic interruptions and take you to your destination to time. It is quite impossible to depend upon any surface means of transport. It is possible, therefore, that in the future there will be a decrease rather than an increase in traffic in the main London streets* ' / ■ The control of the traffic is one of the marvels of London. It is in the hands of the Police, who do their difficult and onerous work without fuss or any show of officiousness. They are always, patient and courteous and kindly, particularly to strangers and foreigners. One has often been told of how the London policeman will stop traffic to escort a child or an old woman across a street. It is quite a familiar sight, and one’s admiration for the force never ceases. Hyde Park corner is one of the busiest, and certainly the trickiest, parts of London, because traffic from all parts converges there and separates to go its own way. Not long ago the sight was witnessed of a policeman holding up the traffic at this point to enable a duck with a clutch of ducklings to pass from Green Park to Hyde Park! The London Police are specially selected and trained men, and it is not surprising that they are regarded as the finest type of police in the world. Many of them are University graduates, who, unable to secure openings in an already congested labour market, have been attracted to the police force by the emoluments and pensions offering. The force is enriched thereby, its traditions are maintained, and the public are benefited. They are in every way a wonderful body of men, and a credit to the nation. Recently “silent” policemen have been installed at Ludgate Circus, one of the busiest intersections in the City. Lights are controlled electrically, red to stop traffic, yellow to indicate change, and blue for traffic to proceed. The system has been in force in Canada and the United- States for some time, and operates quite successfully. The authorities are said to be satisfied with the London experiment, and propose extending it to other busy intersections. Its. general adoption should result in a considerable saving of ‘both money and labour. London, despite the bad times, is still exhibiting growing pains. Large buildings like the Hotel Cecil in the Strand are being demolished to make room for more.commodious and modern structures. In every part of the city rebuilding is proceeding. The Bank of England premises have been in process of rebuilding, for the past six years, and the work is still far from completion. Gammage’s, of Holborn, have just erected a fine new building in Oxford Street, not far from the Marble Arch, and almost facing Selfridge’s. It is a new departure in that its top stories are utilised and let as flats. Ground rentals, are so high in this neighbourhood that every means to obtain revenue from the buildings has to be sought. Park Lane, facing Hyde. Park, once the home of England’s wealthy aristocrats, is rapidly changing its character. The stately Victorian and Georgian homes are making way for hotels and flats. Grosvenor House is perhaps the largest building. It is a great pile of bricks with little, or no pretence to architectural beauty outside, but inside it is attractively and conveniently ar-, ranged. Near by another pile of buildings is arising, which will also be? utilised as a hotel and for service flats.

Not far away at the rear is Berkeley Square, where the Canadian Pacific Railways have purchased a large block of land on which they propose to erect a mammoth hotel costing millions sterling. The C.P.R. is one of the most highly organised and most efficiently run businesses in the lt owns not only the extensive railway system which serves every part of Canada, but large areas of land alongside the railways, as well as steamship services across the Atlantic and from Vancouver to the East. Its Empress and Duchess ships are the very latest in design and equipment. It also possesses huge hotels in every province, the York Hotel in Toronto being said to be the largest in the world, and the Empress Hotel in Victoria, 8.C., the best equipped. Certainly the traveller who visits England and the Continent sees nothing finer or larger than these Canadian hotels, which depend for their existence upon the travelling public. The C.P.R. have always felt that their organisation was not complete without a hotel in the world’s metropolis, and had been seeking a suitable site in London for years. They have now been successful, and it may be taken for granted that the building to be erected iwijl be worthy of the fine site and the city it will serve.

It is said that the hotel accommodation in London in normal times is not equal to the demand. Some of the exclusive hotels are not very large, and now that the Hotel Cecil has disappeared it is not always easy to liouse important delegations in any one hotel. The C.P.R.’s new hotel will remedy this deficiency, and cater more particularly for the overseas visitors. The hotel tariffs in London, by the way, would shock some Dominion visitors. For quite a modest suite (room and bathroom) in a first-class hotel it is not unusual to pay three guineas a day, meals having to be paid for a la carte, generally costing' twice or thrice what they do in a first-class New Zealand hotel. Then there are the tips, amounting to 10 per cent, of the bill. The waiters,

who are generally foreigners, are as hungry as cormorants when it comes to the recognition' of their very indifferent service.

The tipping system is the bane of the Dominion visitor. He can get nothing, he can do nothing, he can go nowhere without the payment of backsheesh. At first his nature revolts against the system; it seems all so demeaning, but after a time he accepts it as inevitable, as part of the life of London, and reluctantly falls into it. ■but inwardly he is glad that in his own country the system has not the same hold and that the people he has to deal with whilst moving about still retain some measure self-respect and