LONDON LEAVE

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21184, 6 August 1940, Page 8

LONDON LEAVE

ANZACS IN METROPOLIS WESTMINSTER ABBEY VIEWED (Times Air Mail Service) LONDON, July 2 New Zealanders on leave in London have been escorted on tours and visits of inspection by a number of well-known people, including Sir Hugh Walpole, who travelled down by river to Greenwich with a party, and Mr James Agate, the critic. Writing in the Daily Express, MiAgate said: “I spent an afternoon this week showing a party of Anzacs round Westminster Abbey, throwing in a bit of history here and an anecdote there. For example, when we came to the Henry VII Chapel I drew attention to the wonderful gates by Torrigiano, Mishelangelo’s pupil. “I added that it was to Torrigiano that Michelangelo owed his broken nose. A Maori said: ‘What was the fight about?’ The fight, which was the culmination of a jealous quarrel that had gone on for some time, led to Torrigianois leaving Italy and coming here. If Michelangelo had not received a broken nose we should not have got our wonderful gates. “A few of us had tea together afterwards, and I told a young New Zealand doctor from Wellington how I and a fellow-townsman of his shared a tent during the last. war. ‘He was the most appalling case of catarrh I ever met with,’ I said. “ ‘Oh,’ said the doctor, ‘then his name is—. His daughter and I were fellow students in the same class!’ The name was correct.” The Manchester Guardian also had an anecdote to relate about the New Zealanders. They seem, it stated, “to get plenty of quiet pleasure-out of London. For them it is obviously a good comedy to have their boots blacked professionally in front of Charing Cross, and the pavement artists are better to them than a pantomime. “An air-raid alarm in the small hours brings out their resources. One alarm caught Covent Garden in the business hours, and some of the work was delayed. One firm, however, whose men as soon as the all-clear was sounded were attempting to make up lor lost time in loading fruit lorries had unexpected luck. “A party of these handsomely uniformed soldiers, looking for fun, volunteered to take a hand, and, working in a competitive spirit, loaded with such address, that they beat the fruiterer’s men at their own game, and a job that started late was finished half an hour before the usual time.” On another occasion New Zealand soldiers were passing a bank in Fleet Street when they saw a group of workmen struggling with a big safe in an attempt to carry it to a waiting van. Once again the New Zealanders came to the rescue. They lent willing hands, the safe was deposited in the van, apd they jumped up themselves for a short ride as a small recompense for their labours. Opinion of Vergers Commenting on the visits of New Zealanders and Australians to Westminster Abbey, the Evening Standard said in its Londoner’s Diary: “Vergers report them to be far more interested and better informed than English soldiers who sometimes lose themselves at the second or third corner of the tour.

“Three of the 11 vergers served alongside the Australian and New Zealand troops in the last war and take a special interest in the Aussies of today. After all, say the vergers, they have come 15,000 miles to see the Abbey. They deserve a good account of its history and treasures.” Some of the New Zealanders have found London’s, traffic and the traffic lights at certain comers rather confusing. One party was observed at Hyde Park corner completely “bushed.” Three main roads meet here, and traffic also pours into the ‘circus’ from Hyde Park and Constitution Hill. The soldiers evidently became fogged by the lights, and hesitated in the middle of a road. They turned back, and then “about-faced” again.

Worried bus drivers and taximen began hooting their horns. This only added to the bewilderment of the soldiers. But if they were “bushed” they were not lacking in initiative. They hailed a taxi, jumped in, and drove all the way over to the other side of the corner. Then they paid off and tipped generously. The Anzacs have added a picturesque note to London and have really provided the only “colour” since the war began. London has been a drab place during the last 10 months, particularly during the black-out, and the “strange hats” of the Anzacs, the splashes of colour on their arms, together with their gay, unworried temperaments, have provided a good tonic to the city.