A NEW ZEALANDER ABROAD

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 156, 17 March 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

A NEW ZEALANDER ABROAD

TRAVEL IN AMERICA. By TE WHARE. On arrival at Albany we found an electric-car strike on, and 171)0 men had quitted work, with a prospect ot nore to follow. So the hundreds ot cars, wagons and other things on wheels were requisitioned, and were reaping a big harvest in transporting the people from place to place. Albany is the CAPITAL OF THF. NEW YORK STATE—one of the very oldest of jg tiled cities, and with a population of 500,000 people. The whole of the city's old cobble stone streets are now being taken up and replaced with bricks laid upon a concrete foundation, the result being splendid and lasting, and worth trying in some of our New Zealand towns. We visited the Capitol, and were shown through the beautiful building by a courteous guide. It cost 25 millions of dollars to build, and is considered seeon,] only to Washington. English tiling has been used on all the floors, and although down for thirty years, was as good as the first day it was laid. Although the cost- of the building seems enormous, it is estimated that it would cost almost double the amount to build to-day. Tin building measures 400 ft. hv 300 ft.. and is on three acres of ground. The grand staircase and pillars are composed of Scotch red sandstone ,and a good portion ol the main pillars, walls and stairs are of Italian and American marble. In the beautiful room devoted to the Court of Appeal and its six judges, tine oil-paintings of deceased officers adorn the walls, and a bronze statue of Livingstone (1746-1*13) holds pride of place. The beautiful fireplace alone in this room cost four thousand dollars, and every panel in the room, and all the chairs, are hand-carved. Next in order came the Assembly Room, with its paintings of ex-Speakers, etc. Here again there is a lovely marble fireplace, with a big bronze tablet over it, showing the "Treaty With the Indians'' at -Manhattan, beautifully done m bas-relief. Then on into the Assembly lobby and Chamber, where the 150 members meet. Here are beautiful and massive columns four feet in diameter and of Tennessee marble. There are two massive glass chandeliers, costing 40iX) dollars. AMiilst in session visitors are allowed on the floor of the House, and also in the gallery, and wires radiate from over the Speaker's head to improve the acoustics of tho large room. We had the privilege of sitting in the Speaker s chair. All the caps of the grand staircase are hand-carved, and there is not a duplicate among them, the lower strata being busts of poets, generals, etc., and the top storey the 30 Governors being placed in order from the first epoch down to the present date. A disastrous lire destroyed tho beautiful library and other portions of the building four years ago, but this hag now been replaced by a gorgeous room, just finished before our arrival. The whole of the walls are of white marble, and the Hoor of stone richly carpeted, with the State seal woven into every square yard of the velvet pile of rich maroon, and in the lobby a statue of John Brown and very large oil-painting of Niagara Falls. The Senate Chamber (of ;>1 members) was also very grand, the dadoes all being in French leather, and the furniture of mahogany. Here we had the privilege of sitting in the Lieut.-Governor's chair—a very comfortable one it was. All the marble for this room was imported from Italy. In the Lieut.-Governor's own room there were again some costly oil-paint-ings of past Presidents, from George Washington down to Roosevelt. Jn the large room devoted to relic# thereare many glass cases filed with the standards of all the regiments who fought in the wars from 1*62 to 1860 — old cannon, shot and shell, sabres, uniforms, etc., also the lock of the prison that held John Brown.

The city gradually slopes up a hill from the River Hudson, and the Capitol holds a commanding position 011 the top, and with its many broad and massive steps leading to the front entrance shows up well and grandly. We visited Washington Park and had a drive round the suburb*. We bought the same old paper three or four times a day with a different scare-headline in, in red, however, to make us believe it different! We passed the same old hot dog, saurkraut and Hamburger restaurants, met the same two or three dogs, always held in leash, however, and visited the palatial liver steamer, of five decks, that is to take Us to Now York on the morrow. It resembles a line hotel of four storeys and a roof garden, more than anything else. I find that before the advent of Hudson the site of Albany was an Indian settlement, and when in IGII2 a post was established there by Dutch traders, it became the earliest permanent settlement next to Jamestown, within the confines of the thirteen States. Called Fort Orange at lirst, the settlement became Albany, in honour of the Duke of Yoik, when the whole colony passed inco the hands of the British in 1(564. The "Hudson River Day Line" (for there is a night line manipulated by another company) own four btatitiful steamers for the service to and from New York, the " Washington Irving" being the largest and having a Government license to carry six thousand people! They claim that this is the biggest license issued 111 any part of the world. Her powerful engines generate up to six thousand horsepower, and she is a .'l-cylinder compound inclined side-wheeier. The other three are the "llendr:ek Hudson," "Robert Fulton." and "Albany," all line, palatial boats. We left Albany on a blazing hot morning by the appropriately namul steamer, the " H; 11drick Hudson." She has a fine oilpainting of her prototype 011 the top deck, with the date 1 (jl):>. ami we had a line 12 hours' trip down the Hudson (all 111 daylight) to New York. The trip was beautiful in the extreme. Fine loliage trees on both side-, to the very edges, :md a good variety of scenery from the gentle undulating style to the majestic rocky and hilly country, to say nothing of the glorious C'aNkill Mountains in the distance, where the immortal Rip Van Winkle put through his long sleep. Now and again we would come across quaint camp..; and weekend cottages, many of them with humorous titles. This line trip is done for two dollars single, or three dollars return. We call at \arioiis stoppingp'aces, many ol them being pretty large cities—\onker, for instance, thai has a population ol "IMIOU. These line boats are siippl'ed with ally quantity ol ea-y chair.-, and to sit on the top deck enjoying the pipe of peace and watching the surrounding:*, wan very blissful. Beautiful homes and stately castles and arsenals ami torts were met with nil the way down our 101 l miles journey, going through the States of New ork and Pennsylvania on the one sale o| the river, Massachusetts and Connecticut on the other, ami iu-t heloi c get: ing into NKW YORK

w> pas-ed the line tomb of General

Grant. The first stop was at 125 th Street, the second at 42nd, and the j third and last at Desbrosses Street. We were shown a millionaire's mansion on the way who bad amassed Ins great fortune by running a live-cent shop. There are numbers of five-cent and ten-cent shops in these cities, where nothing in the stores is sold at any price above those amounts. You w : il notice a somewhat confusing thing. Albany is the capital of New York State, and New York City is the capital of the State of New Jersey. Wi- struck a very fine private hotel in Washington Square (4th and Broadway), where we had bedroom, sitting-room, private bath and lavatory for two dollars per night. It is called the "Judson," and well worthy of mention. After supper 1 found the street almost deserted, and the quietest business street of all my travels. From 4th to 34th Street this part are all business places, and the quietest in the city after business hours, but the bustle is dense enough further "down town." Nevertheless, N.Y. lias done wonders in relieving her congestion by the fine system of overhead railways and underground railway-, which are the best systems to take if one wants to go any distance across the city rapidly. The part I traversed is woefully badly kept, and the old-fashioned cobble stone streets, the broken footpaths and the disreputable cable cars do not give one a fine impression of the city from this end. However, it is "some city," and has a population ot about 4.085,(N)0, and since 1!)00 three new bridges have been built across the East River to Brooklyn, and each of tlieni larger than the famous bridge of that name. No f"wer than nine tunnels have been put under tiie river, and the cost of these improvements alone came to the tidy figure of 45 niilions of dollars! Additional plans will entail an expenditure of 300 millions more. This is the city of tall buildings and tall things generally. The Metropolitan Life building, for instance, that has a look-out at the balcony of the 50th storey at a height from the sidewalk of 66<)t't. The clock in the tower is 350 ft. above the sidewalk, andw its minute-hand is 17ft long and weighs 100*) lbs. This clock is driven by machinery. More than 31)00 persons are employed in this building, 2000 of whom are women and girls. The Singer Building has 41 storeys, and is 612 ft high from the sidewalk, which makes the once famous FlatIron Building, with its 21 storeys, seem almost insignificant.