LONDON LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 25, 30 January 1934, Page 9

LONDON LETTER.

MORE PARTIES.

THE SEA SERPENT,

NO FLOGGING AT HARROW

(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 21. There can be no doubt that politically Great Britain is moving towards the Continental state of many parties, and the next general election may witness a confusing appeal to the electorate. There are now six parties represented in the House of Commons. For the National Coalition still contains, within itself, the National Labour party, headed by the Prime Minister, and the National* Liberals, of which Sir John Simon is the lender, as well as the Conservatives, led by Mr. Baldwin. The Liberals are further divided between Sir Herbert Samuel and Mr. Lloyd George, while the Socialists are split between loyalty to Mr. Lansbury and to Mr. Maxton.

There are at least two otjier parties who will go to the poll, whenever the next general election takes place. One is Communist. The Communists havp in the past returned two members to Parliament, although not both at the same time. It is unlikely that their membership will bo substantially increased. But Sir Oswald Mosley, at, the head of his new Fascist party, i* promising an election diversion on n grand scale. As many as MO candidates aie rumoured, and there can be, no doubt that Sir Oswald is in control of large funds which would be able to meet the enormous expense, including the possibility of not a few forfeited deposils. In these days of turmoil, it is not at all improbable that other leaders and other parties will present themselves during the next year or so.

£20,000 for a Monster. The strange sea monster, which, according to a formidable list of witnesses, has been seen in the waters of Loch Ness on various occasions during the last year or so, is causing a great stir among naturalists everywhere. Some express doubt as to its very existence; some hold that it may be a member of the prehistoric group «t plesiosauri, hitherto believed to lie extinct.

Ono learned gentleman, who harecently visited the neighbourhood of Loch Ness and interrogated all supposed witnesses, expresses the theory that the monster is some 50 feet long and ?ix feet in itis greatest diameter. Possibly it has come into Loch Ness from tl'.e sea at flood tide to escape the killer shark or one of its other dangerous enemies. Nearly all the experts seem to be agreed that it is harmless "i:d : should be preserved for purposes of I observation.

So preat is tile public interest in this apparition in tlicsc tranquil Scottish waters that Mr. Bertram Mills, the famous showman, wants it for his circus. He has actually offered £20,000 to anyone who will catch and deliver it to him alive at Olympia, on or before January 25. He has even found a name f Ol . it—"Mac Kipper." "I don't care how it arrives," Mr. Mills says, "by sea,

land, air, or parcel post, so long as it is alive and well."

PRAISE FOR THE MODERN BOY. The modern boy, like the modern girl, has had many adverse critics. He has been called by some "effeminate" and brothers "brutal." But he has one critic, eminently in a position to know, who pays a high tribute to his character. Dr. Cyril Norwood is ceasing to be Harrow headmaster to take up the presidency of St. John's College, Oxford, and has voiced his opinions after eight years on the hill.

Before going to Harrow, ho was six years at Leeds Grammar School, 10 years at Bristol and nine years at Marlborough. After 33 years of school experience, he believes that the boy to-day is sounder in his outlook than in any previous "feneration. Dr. Norwood is in favour of a changed educational object arid a changed curriculum, which will result in a training for citizenship and not for matriculation. But it is, perhap.s, on the question of punishment that Dr. Norwood says some of the most interesting things. He says that he has never birched a boy in his life and regards all such correction as totally unnecessary. Those who still proclaim loudly that they were liberally flogged and are all the better for it, may pause before these words of a famous headmaster. They may learn, too, a lesson from the significant fact that only the other day the celebrated Eton "swishing block" was sold by auction for charity.

TELEPHONES AND TELEGRAMS. At first sight, one would feel surprised to learn that, whereas in 1913, 75,618,000 telegrams were dispatched in the United Kingdom, in 1933, the number was only 36,041,000, or not quite half. This seems to be against the current order of things, for we are accustomed to colossal increases in the numbers of almost every-

thing. The answer to the mystery—if it be a mystery—may be found in the enormous increase in telephone calls. No longer do persons in a hurry spend sixpence, or a" shilling, on a telegram, only to ue limited to a meagre dozen or so of words. They can ring up even the most

distant friends and talk to them at the rate of 100 words a minute. The figure tells the story in a startling degree. In 1913, there were 790,000,000 local calls, 37.973,000 trunk calls and 112,000 foreign calls. In 1933, the numbers had risen 0 to 1.380,500,000, 128,013,000 and 1,171.000 respectively. Equally surprising is the growth in revenue and the number of subscribers. In 1913 the revenue was £0,84(5,980. and the subscribers 499,090. In 1933, the revenue was £24,440,000 and the subscribers 1,278,025.

NOISE WHICH IS NOT HEARD. | A committee of the British Association has been making investigations od the subject of noise. As a result, they have found out that the most objectionable noises, in order of abomination, are motor cycles, motor horns, aircraft, car exhausts, lorries, street music, wireless and gramophones, car gears, buses, road drills, dogs and milk carts. The National Institution of Industrial Psychology has been doing research work and has observed in great detail how habit deadens sensitiveness to noise, so that, in time, factory and other workers seem to be unconscious of the din surrounding them and even to miss it when it is not there. They have discovered journalists who cannot write in quietude, but must have the bustle of a large newspaper oilice as a background. The general conclusion is that nature develops its own protection even against the incessant hub-bub of modern mechanical life in a great community.

READING UNDER OBSERVATION, j Xo one will ever tell how many [ scholars owe a great part of their learning and reputation to. the British Museum Library. Bloomsbury has always been full of students of all nationalities, many of them very poor, who have gone there, day after day, in search of wisdom and information. There must be many of them to whom the place is as familiar as their own homes. But there are probably' things about the library which even they do not know. One is the manner in which the books and manuscripts are secretly guarded even when borrowers are reading them. From concealed places, known only to the staff, watchful eyes arc on the readers, to be sure that no book is stolen or mutilated. None of the public know where they are. They may be concealed in the walls or in special observation chambers. They are watching carefully all the time, for many of the treasures they guard are > priceless.