THE BATTLE OF ROME

Hokitika Guardian, 24 March 1930, Page 6

THE BATTLE OF ROME

(By J. M. N. Jeffries in “Daily Mail.”)

ROME, Jan. 17

Returning to Rome after nearly five years’ exile, I perceive that the great conflict Between Past and Present which occupies all the other cities of the world is Being, waged Is ere too.

Von know the form which that conflict takes; the ousting .of old houses By new ones, the old streets )>y new streets, of continuous, dawdling traffic by speedy traffic tempered with congestion, the ousting oi desultory play u,\ organised sport, of conversation by bridge, ol cooks b\ caterers, and so on. in ad the "ays 01 life.

The surprising thing is that the Present is having more ol a vary success here than 1 should have, thought likely. .For Home is the one place where the Presen: stands no ultimate chance, much as eison nei e the Past stands no real • banco at

DIGGING (DP THE PA-TIT Jti Rome- new; hduses y.pd new •si-rei'e. have - incridsed out of count, it itrue. '"aThe' popumtion of -Rome is swiftly approaching ' the midion. On the other hand. Rome is the one city where the past centuries are not altogether on the defensive. Parts of tlie city have boon cleared so thatmore and more of the pillars and walls of ancient Rome may see the light, a- : ■ . There is an official order eitherpreventing or deferring seriously all building upon sites which prove to he over classic ruins. 'So much so that the other day some persons who shall be nameless, engaged in a construction of moderate importance, telephoned to other persons in authority that the foundations which they had sunk revealed minor classic remains. “What are wo to- do?” they asked. “Do?” cried a nerve-ridden voice at the other end of the telephone, “for heaven’s sake don’t inform ns officially. Jump on them, erase them, build on them, give us a chance. Everyone in Rome who wants to miser n shed seems to have found classic remains. There’s no end to it;” ; ; Rut this offensive is not' the strength of the Past’s position. • It lies in the miraculous, unalterable character of the city. Against that character there is no prevailing. The new houses and new streets play the same role in Rome as the new population flowing through them; they are hut spectators of the Seven Hills. In otlier ' cities' tile houses'of- yesterday draw aloof ' from the ' ever-increasing flood of to-day’s and grow old-fash-ioned. ..But here a s each new building loses its freshness it only becomes more Roman. As each new street appeal's like a line on the fcneliead of Rome, Time, sweating in his unthought of predicament, must smooth it away.

Where, then, is the temporary success of the Present in this ..gitwt battle ? Well, in exasperation the Present is. using its most potent weapon, noise. The noise of taxicab and motoromnibus horns in Rome is worse than in Paris, even, there is no cessation; one long, high shriek. ton have the sensation of all the taxis circling in a ring round St. Peter’s and the Forum, round the churches and temples, palaces and gardens, howling as they go, just as savage warriors circle howling round the steadfast square they will mwer break.

But the tiling has become a nuisance which interferes with the use of the city by its population and the appreciation of it by its countless visitors, and the present Governmen is not one to stand a nuisance. There is talk of abandoning Ue effort- to force modern traffic through some of the narrower streets; K.'unan citizens may presently have to w>some way to their omnibuses and taxicabs. This may or may not be true, but it would he in the traditions of the citizen-soldiers who footed it much farther to an Empire.