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liOCAL TAXATION IN COPENHAGEN. 3 improvement of our own city, mention of them will be worth while making. Apart, however, from any consideration of that kind the comparative study of municipal institutions and con- ditions has interest in itself. Som© oan contribute to such comparative study from knowledge of on© city, some from another; some from cities having strong resemblances in many respects to Manchester, others from cities Buffering from few of her disadvantages and lacking also in some respects where she is favoured. I need no further excuse than this for the paper I have to offer you. I hav© had opportunities which do not fali to every Englishman’s lot of studying the bright and busy Capital of Denmark, and I offer you to-night som© of the fruits of the pleasant experiences I have had in that city. Like many other Continental cities, and unlike the cities of our country, Copenhagen shows to the visitor a gay and cheerful aspect, emphasized by the habit of lounging, not in stuffy public- house bars, but in spacious cafés, outsid© which, in summer, numerous tables and seats ar© placed. In the freedom from the habit of “ taking their pleasures sadly,” the people show also another Continental characteristic. It is hard to say what will most strike a visitor from Manchester, but if he seeks for con- trasts to what he sees at home he will find abundance, some pleasant, some, perhaj«, otherwise. One I noted in particular, for it seemed to be eloquent of the sense of the dignity of man as man, little as it is probably connected with such a sentiment in the thoughts of those who practise the form of which I speak. In going down the Street one sees men greeting by an inclination of the hat not merely their lady friends and acquaintances, but those of their own sex also. This is no extraordinary thing, but it is worthy of note that the greeting is not confined to those of similar standing in society to the person who is thus rapidly iuining his hat brim. Does he enter a hotel, the porter lifts his hat, but the gentleman does not pass with a nod or in com- plete indifference; be retums the greeting in kind. So, too, on entering a tramcar or omnibus, though a stranger on the route,

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