A German View of London.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 191, 12 February 1887, Page 3

A German View of London.

At the time of the first industrial exhibition, when London wag, so to speak, first discovered by Germans, a Frenchman and an Englishman were discussing the advantages of their capitals on board a steamer bound for Hamburg:. The Frenchman counted up the number of monumental edifices at Parie, compared to which London had nothing to show. That was only a matter of appearances, retorted the Englishman, because Paris wa-i a small town wher© everything was crowded together. The Frenchman wa^ struck dumb at this remark, and the rest of us laughed. When we arrived at Hamburg all traffic was stopped at the first street corner, because two vehicles had come into collision, and it was a long while before, after a great deal of scolding and shouting, we could pa^s on. We looked at each other, and thought "how smoothily did the tenfold row of carts and carriages roll along in London !" I have often thought of thia incident when, after a long interval, I returned to London Yea, it is no exaggeration to Fay that Parip, Rome, Berlin and Vienna are small towns compared to this sea of house", which still grows faster than any of the other capitals. The English themselves are beginning to ask where the end of this town will be, and people, on making excursions, are surprised to pee that there are yet some rural part 3 to be found. The extension of London would be impossible without the railway which connects the great lines with each other and the outskirts with the centre. "A splendid invention!" say Londoners, but a stranger sees its shady sides as well. It is true the numberless multitude of men who are " something in the city" would have to live for hours in a tram or 'bus without the Underground Railway, which enables them to reach their offices in 20 to 25 minutes. And the hurry, the stops of halfminutes, the looking for the right train, the changing from one train to the other, and the tar larger measure of attention and activity which in England is required from "travellers, are things to which one may become accustomed. But the atmosphere is terrible. Even where the line runs above or between houses, tunnels and covered stations are frequent, the name of Underground is but too well deserved. ... At the stations and other places one is often tempted to doubt whether the English are really the practical nation for which they are so much admired. The inside walls are all covered with placard?, in the middt of which the name of the station appears ; next to and all around it are the names of commercial firms, apparently printed unintentionally exactly like the name of the station, and sometimes an advertisement is made more prominent by the introduction of a bad joke, such as, for instance, by advertising a certain kind of mustard as " mustard station." Omnibuses are similarly swamped with advertisements, and the names of streets and localities which, after all, are of more importance to the public than the address of manufacturers of soap, pills or clothes, are crowded into the smallest possible space. Of course ; for the Londoner himself knows his way, and of the stranger no one takeß any notice. It is the same with the names of streets. There is no regularity, becauee every parish is indeponrient : the writing soon becomes quite illegible through smoke and rain ; but again, what does it* matter, since all the inhabitants know their whereabouts ? If it wei c not for the policeman, whoee civility is above all praite, strangers would be at their witß' end. To ask passers-by is not alwavf advisable. An Englishman advises to ask in a shop, " becau?e a Londoner only speakßan untruth in his own house if he can do a stroke of business :" but this advance 5s not always po?sible to follow in districts where shops are few and far between Trams, by the way, are not considered fashionable, and are just allowed to touch the borders of the wealthy quarters, while omnibuses are everywhere admitted. The gods only know the reason for the classification. One of the curiosities of the London streets is that the roofß of trams and 'buses which are often occupied by ladies, have no solid enclosure, but merely an iron bar, so that anything which one might drop rolls at once down into the Rtreet. If now and then a board is put up along thi whole length of the carriage, it is only because the board holds an advertisement. In the face of such facts one is tempted to a?k whether the English, great traveller? as they are, do not notice the bettor arrangements in other countries ; and in answer to this question it must be said that they blind themselves on purpose to every thing foreign. Eventhebest educated and unprejudiced Briton i8 astoundingly dense in this respect. An Englishman has always been, and still continues to be, the raoßt perfect of God*a creatures — his customs ore right, and what he does not like is indecent, or at least unnecessary.