A LETTER FROM BOSTON. [To the Editor of the SrEcTATou.1
Sin,--The building " boom," now at the end of its third year, has been marked by several attempts to obtain comes- sionswhich would have exposed us to the charge that we luid been unable to hold out against the tendencies of the times,' and had gone in for skyscrapers after all. With the single exception, however, of the Custom House Tower we have nu such structures, and Boston continues to be " different " and still refuses to adopt the cloud-piercing architecture oh Manhattan.
Among our British visitors of late. Prof. Gilbert Murray and Lady Murray have left behind them most delightful memories. The Professor delivered a lecture on the Creek Drama under the auspices of the Lowell Institute, whilst Lady Murray also made a few addresses, and Boston filled Symphony Hall in a valedictory meeting in their honour. Major Sir Nevile Wilkinson and Lady Beatrice have been showing that marvellous miniature, Titania's Palace, to large galleries for the benefit of our children's hospitals. Miss Margaret Bondfield huts made addresses at the foruink in Ford Hall and the Old South Meet lug House, having debated what she called " England's black record of exploitation," while Mr. Arthur Ponsonby had an excellent hearing for his " common-sense " appeals in behalf of the paeilie settlement of disputes between nations.
An agreeable episode of late has been the addition to our Statehouse Gallery of Portraits of the Governors of the Colony and the Commonwealth of several likenesses which were obtained through the good offices of the English-Speaking Union by means of advertisements in the Times and the Spectator, access to the Union having been obtained through the British Consul-General here, Mr. Edward F. Gray. Most prized of these are original portraits, procured in England, of Sir Harry Vane and William Shirley. Copies were obtained also of portraits of Sir Francis Bernard, Thomas Pownall, and Sir Edmund Andros.
We have been reminded recently of the historic connexion betweeen the port of Boston and the Cunard Steamship
Company. When Samuel Cunard established the North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company he chose, to the great satisfaction of Massachusetts and all New England, to ntake Boston the home port on this side. First of the long list of vessels came the Unicorn ' in 1839 and the following year the 'Britannia,' a sidewheeler of 1,154 tons. Mr. Cunard himself was extensively entertained here and a group of citizens presented him with an elaborate silver cup which is now on exhibition in the office's of the company, having been returned to Boston for the purpose. These new offices are situated in the historic street at the foot of which was built the famous Long Wharf of colonial times.
The Cape Cod Canal, constructed by private capital but an essential link in the internal waterways system, is now to be taken over by the Federal Government. Recently also the United States Shipping Board, against the strenuous opposi- tion of Baltimore and Philadelphia and over the protest of New York, transferred the fleet of the American Republics Line from New York to Boston, to be operated by the C. II. Sprague and Son Company between Boston and South American ports.—I am, Sir, &c., YOUR BOSTON CORRESPONDENT.
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