LONDON

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14737, 31 August 1921, Page 9

LONDON

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, such 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, has done "its best for a hundred years to catch up to us. 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 rapidly too. It is now more than ever the vital centre of the world. Every great world-wide enterprise .has to have headquarters here. Each olty 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 utility. 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 win T dow. It shows itself at its best. Lon-i----don does its best to hide its beauty. New York has the glory of its. skyscrapers, arid a very real gtery It is. London has the beauty of her great white stone historic buildings 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 Wellington square 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 arrangements are infinitely better than New York's. London has a greater charm. It is a Cfty 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. Least of all, London is expensive to the visitor. After a short time he finds very little money left in his purse. New York does not leave you with little; it leaves you with none at alt.