LIFE IN NEW YORK.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 338, 14 March 1910, Page 5

LIFE IN NEW YORK.

' - -Tr' \UAX ■■■ York < • " - - -< *' As * " ■' r '» .-. I V? J/«i !/> . » .!/, -< .. . . , . < i, .i ..- x.. '• ■*/*?■/, rfx r - <. <»' 4 «•- 1 /wi j,v > ' '! y ■. m- ! Ji'/«»: V' /,J#U /.« ,«{. jin Ufa \ii- Jtiy<r*\ ' .v and i* 'vuJ/ ,y [ IjiSi'l'iSt. ih S'l'/a. v'-i. y~» ,r ■ -,' in i io!lJ{';<t .1, ttt-, ■■ '.nC irig-. to-Acr fjr.&u ',iu» structure yet v.- k/. fwAy; -!♦ EiffeJ Tower. mi<i \ittir Wiu*a.\s*ik i?« sunk deeper ir. the eartJj, '!:# gti'ST.*, of suspension river, linking the citv wai Brwkiri, and rapid railway? rifii, cot amh '-a the ground and under Uie Li*. <a the air as weij. Jt, office'building* aft tka most stupendous ever w:eived. Some of them hous<- in busineijs hour* populations surpassing those of many -it | our country' towns, lu one buildiaj I alone there are 10,000 workers. Thi | hotels of the city, in size and splendour, have attained many imitators without ever being surpassed, and the mansions of its millionaires ar<! described a_s "the most luxurious of the dwellings of man;" as the streets in whie.ii they stand are "the grandest of residential avenues." • Nor is this all. The largest newspapers in the world are published in X»w York. Its banks lead all others in volume of clearings; one of its financial houses never c oses its doori day or night. From year's end to year's end the making and the spending of money continues vithout interruption. New York dozes, but never sleeps. The thunderous roar of its traffic has earned lor it a further distinction; it is the noisiest city in the world. Also, it is the most cosmopolitan. Away back in the beginning of things, when the place had only a population of 300 —wliieh was not very long after, the Dutch purchased the Island of Manhattan from tl-e Indians for less than. £5 worth of beads and libbons—no fewer than 18 languages were spoken in it. To-day, with a population of four and a-half millions, the confusion of tongues is not Jess conspicuous. But, marvellous as the city is, visitors to it do not always obtain entrance from abroad without a litt'.e baiting. I could fill a column, Mr. Quinn writes, with instances of th« vexatious and oppressive treatment to which passengers were subjected, but one or two will serve to show the petty nature or many of them. A German professor forgot his spectacles, and returned to the ship to fetch them; thu spectacles wevq seized and held indefinitely in the public stores. The captain of a White Star I'ner came ashore with a young niece, to whom he had given a box of chocolates—the chocolates were conliscated.

Similarly, immigration officers aW H<vt supposed to have any discretion. Here are two instances that came under my own observation. An English" lady "of means, refinement and cul • ture, aged abvtit sixty, was observed smoking a cigarette. The shocked officials searched her cabin, confiscated four packets o; the objectionable weed; and sent her, a prisoner, to the immigration depot on Ellis Island, to await an enquiry into her •sai.'ity. "A womitt "who smokes." declared the officer, "is probably insant." A few days later f saw the same lady on the deck of t'ia outgoing Maurctania, lomeward bouni Whether deported or not, I cannot say; the newspapers were silent on ths point. The other case was that of a lady, also a saloon passenger, who hill come to join her husband. Though she met the requirements of the law IB every particular, she was refused a landing ticket, and toll that slie muse remain on hoard until claimed by her husband. Happily, the husband wan on the wharf, and when, after considerable delay, she got a message conveyed to him the dek officials refined to allow him to cross the gangway. This was too much fov the husband, a hot-headed Irishman. He swore he would go on board, if lie had to trample the American Constitution under foot, and pushing past the astonished officer, he cleared the cangwa and joined h'B equally indignant wife cm deck. From the docks w'ifre these things happened [ used to look Across the harbor to Bartlioldi'.s' Liberty, standing on her islam] perlestal with 'uplifted tore 1 !, gazing out to see to meet the expectant eves of newcomers—"a symbol of the freedom and awaiting them as the 'new' world"—and I eott'd not but find consolation in the reflection that, if these outrages were perpetrate! in Liberty's name. Liberty knew nothing of them, for they were done behind her back!