LONDON'S DEPRESSING SIGHT.

Shannon News, 24 October 1923, Page 2

LONDON'S DEPRESSING SIGHT.

HOPE IN EMPIRE'S YOUTH. Dame Nellie Melbav in an article in the Weekly Dispatch on the eve of her departure for Australia, records her experiences during a farewell walk through London streets. She. met a soldi'er selling matches and singing in a trained soprano voice one of her own songs, noted the disappearance of classic poems from bookshelves, and saw as well flaring posters tellings of disagreements "between the Allies—all of which seemed to be symbols of Britain's discontent. Dame Nellie wonders whether the nation has forgotten the lessons of the war, and whether the sight of the man who had once grappled with the foe on the westem front timidly offering a pathetic box of matches inspired a thrill of horror. It seemed to her paradoxical that there should be a million unemployed in Britain while Australia was able to absorb more than five times as manymore. ''She admitted that there were difficulties, but the nation that triumphed in the war should not find them unsuperable. Though it was unpleasant to say it, she felt that "the glory of the spirit" had departed from England, which had become disillusioned. Happily, however, the country possessed the infinite confidence of the Empire 's youth, who were ' capable of restoring all the best national characteristics.