Many of our hotels must be used to criticism, but whether they are ce not does' not seem to move them and we get very few changes riy' direction with the older estab-Tished premises. Our waiters also must be used to eritfeism and this Week My. George Reeves Smith, chairman of the Hotels & Restau-Fants Association, and managing director of the Savoy group of hotels, m giving evidence before the Basal' Commission, said that the English waiter, for the most part, was not nearly' so good as the Con-Lingntal waiter. Most people agree That the foreign waiter has an air, aplomb, fascinating slickness, Which make his English brother Seen almost uncouth by comparison. Br. Reeves said that one of the reasons for the indifferent English waiter was that he was never proerly trained, and, as he does not Come from such a good class of the community ax the foreign waiter, his manners are not so good. On the other hand, cham-Pions of the English waiter point Out that there are few things more charming of their kind than the Benial relationship which exists between the average English clubman and his waiter.
'As regards hotels, which most English people have' given up as hopeless, the existing Heensing laws. were blamed by Sir Francis Towle, to a great extent, for the dificult: fes under which the hotel system Ju this country labours. He thought that new hotels were wanted in the chief centres and smaller hotels on the main roads. There is no doubt! that the increase in travel has! created an international standard of accommodation and travellers are Jnot content with a lower standard jin one country than they can ob-[tain in others. To many, the chief failure of most provincial hotels i the fact that, during the winter they utterly lack comfort in the way of heating, since in very few of them fare there central heating systems. Without comfort, one cannot be; to attract a clientele, The Living-in System Not very long ago, the aystem, which was generally fol-Towed by most of the large drape ery establishments, was done away Now Sir Sydney Skinner has notified his intention of introducing, this system in connection with the business, of John Barker & Ca. Kensington, of which he is chair man.
The reason for this is that} he believes it will lead to the re-cruising of a superior type of young person for the drapery trade. In the old days, they recruited the sons and daughters of farmers, many whom became successful men and women, They do not get so many due, he thinks, to the fact'
mothers to-day' have a fear lof sending their daughters to the big towns, He did not believe in boys and girls coming to London and being at the mercy of some' woman who ran a lodging-house and Aecced her lodgers.
There is, of course, this point of view, but there is also. the other! side of the picture, and Sir Sydney Skinner's experiment will be watehfed with interest.
Every week, London is undergoing a transformation, and it w be more and more difficult for vi ors who have been away for some time to recognize it.
Presumably' the theatres are doing well, be-Jeause not only are a number of on being built, mostly on inconspicuous sites in the Leicester Square area, but some of those in existence are being pulled down and built, such the Adelphi, which now doomed to demolition, though is to be rebuilt, This is one of the older London theatres and ought to disappear, but there are num: bers of others which are no better. ght tae Guy, teen te Maoaion fouse is gradually being altered in its appearance and very ig build-are being erected in nearly: every street round the Bank of England, which is itself being re-' modelled, The vacant space near the Bush Building It on.
The development of this piece of land)
very costly but apparently it! is. paying.
Kensington is rapidly' undergoing a complete to the disappearance of family and the transference of all houses into hotels and boardinzplaces.
The Baker Street district be soon unrecognizable. structures are erected over the station and by the station itself. Flats, however so dear that the saturation point must almost have been reached.
The velopment of the Duke of ister property round Vie~ toria Station ix continuing rapidly' and there plenty of room for ity) ax the property in Pimlico as a whole is very poor. In Westminster itself, near St. James' Park Station, the Federation of British Industries is erecting a huge structure in close vi mity to the gigantic building now occupied by the London Underground Railways, Pre: sumably Bloomsbury will very soon alter appearance, when the London Universi buildings begin to take shape, which ought to be short, that it pays to remodel all|Gypsy Moth; hanced lines.
Causes of Collisions at Sea An interesting report has been published by the United Kingdom Mutual Steamship Assurance Assojeiation. The committee write that, although last year was far from
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.