LONDON.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 14726, 3 August 1921, Page 7

LONDON.

THE EMPIRE'S CAPITAL.

STILL THE LARGEST CITY. London still leads (writes F. A. .McKenzie in the London Daily Mail). New York city’s boast that’ it has ■at last surpassed us in population is vain.

New York wishes to compare 'Greater New York with the County of London to show that it is larger. "But Greater New York includes vast areas of rural land; the County of London excludes very large and thickly populated parts of the metropolis, suchi, for example, as Hornsey. The only real basis of comparison is between Greater New York and the London City and Metropolitan police districts. Greater London has well over -seven millions population. Greater,, New York has, over five and a half millions. “Little Old New York,” as the man on Broadway loves to call it, 1 , has done its best for a hundred years to cafch up on ns. Its population increased for a long time at a much greater rate than ours. Not long -ago it seemed likely that New York •would really pass London in 1930. But London since the war has been growing very ranidlv too.. It i? inow more than ever the vital centre of the worlct. Every great worldwide enterprise haa to have head--quarters here. ‘< v Each city has its own distinctive charm. London can show nothing •to compare with the glories of New York Bay and the New ,York sea •approach. New York cannot show •anything so charming as the view from Richmond Hill. New York is the more splendid. The great Public Library on Fifth Avenue is an example to us, not only in beauty, but also in sheer ptility. We have nothing to compare with New York’s two big railroad stations. They are super-palaces. New York puts all its splendour in its front window. It shows itself at its best. London does its best to 'hide its beauty. New York has the glory of its skvscrapers. and a very real glory it is. London has the beauty of her .great white stone historic in the City. • *

Our streets Are on the ■whole more conveniently arranged for traffic. Some New Yorkers will howl at me for saying so, but it is true all the same.

New York City’s long straight •streets are about as inconvenient as anything could be for transit. To prove this you need only ride on top of an omnibus from Washington Scmare to One-hundred-and-forty-third Street on a May afternoon. But do not make the experiment unless you have most of the afternoon to spare for that journey. London is better governed. London Port arrangement a’-e infinitely better than New York’s. London has a greater cbarm. It is a City of Homes as New York is not. And yet no one who has lived much in New York City as I have done can "be blind to the wonderful attractiveness of its vivid, virile, vigorous life. It is the City of Strength. Last of all, London is expensive to the visitor. After a short time be finds very little money left in his purse. New York does not leave -you with' little; it leaves you with -none at all.