14 JUNE 1924, Page 3

Mr. Selfridge's article turns our thoughts, by a natural transition,

to the traffic problem of New York. There was an interesting article not long ago on this subject in the Times. London's traffic problem is a joke compared to that in New York. The situation is immensely compli- cated since vast numbers of people have to be transported over and under the sea and across rivers, between island and island, through bottle-necks of narrow streets as long vertically as they are horizontally. All this has to be done by two great traffic corporations, both of which are in the hands of the receivers. These corporations are under the authority of a public body called the Transit Commission which has attempted to reconstrud them and to create a unified traffic authority on a profit- sharing basis. But the municipality has other views and wishes to municipalize the whole transport system and fights the Transit Commission tooth and nail. The example of New York should, at any rate, shame London into more vigorous action.