LONDON LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 190, 13 August 1934, Page 11

LONDON LETTER.

WORLD OUTBREAKS. NELSON'S £5000 PENSION. HOW THE AIR MAILS ARE GROWING. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON', July 12. The Nazi executions in Germany seem to have been the starting point for an extraordinary .series of violent outbreaks in various parts of the world. Even peaceful Holland has been having its share of trouble. Tanks and armoured cars were thundering through the streets of Amsterdam intimidating demonstrators who were protesting against "cuts" in their unemployment pay. Troops have also been cut in San Francisco, where the dockem are on strike. And, as these lines are written, Paris is hourly expecting fresh trouble in the streets. Germany, incidentally, has probably never had fewer friends abroad than at this moment. Even when the Nazis first took control 18 months ago, and began their ruthless measures against Jews and democrats, there were numbers of peoj)le in England and elsewhere who supported them. But the latest events have alienated almost everyone. When Hitler ordered wholesale shooting of his own Brown Shirts he offended the average man's sense- of fair play probably more than the sense of humanity. In England the only plea for tolerant understanding of the events in Germany was raised by the veteran, General Sir lan Hamilton. Buying Out a Peer's Pension. The Government, it is reported, has decided to make a big lump payment to buy out the perpetual pension of £5000 a year granted to the heirs of Lord Nelson. The pension was granted in 1805 as a reward for the victory at Trafalgar and was to bo paid to Nelson's heirs for ever. The man who draws the pension to-day is Earl Nelson, the fourth holder of the title. The nation's gratitude to tho great admiral has already cost succeeding generations of taxpayers a fair sum. Altogether, £650,000 has been paid out to Nelson's heirs. Of this the lion's share went to the third Earl Nelson, who enjoyed his pension from 1833 until he died in 1913; he drew no less than £300,000. The present earl, who takes little part in public affairs, has received £105,000 since he succeeded to tho title. He will probably now bo paid a lump sum of about £150,000 to wipe out the pension. Nelson's perpetual pension was the last of its kind ever granted by a British Government. More Air Mails. Three more air mails have this week been added to tho Post Office's list. Services Intve been extended to Portuguese East Africa, the island of Madagascar, and Italy's north African colony of Libya. The new extensions are comparatively small, but they represent one more stage in the steady progress by which the world is being covered with a network of air lines. Before the end of this year the biggest advance yet made will be recorded—a regular service from London to Australia. After that it cannot be long before the Atlantic, is spanned. Then it will only be a matter of filling in gaps and adding branch services.

Costs are still too high to make it feasible for business firms to use the air mails except for urgent letters. Air postage on tho new extension to Madagascar, for instance, costs 2/ for a Joz letter. But the air routes are nevertheless becoming more popular each year. Last year Imperial Airways alone carried 12,000,000 letters, and the Dutch, German and French 'planes also carried large quantities of British mails. Sea Monsters Again. The first of the summer "sea serpent" stories this year is told by the crew of a Swedish boat which has just docked at Liverpool after a voyage round the north of Scotland. The Loch Ness monster, which remained so constantly "in the news" for so many weeks last winter, kept alive the public interest in, aquatic marvels, so the Swedish story was eagerly read by sceptical and .credulous alike. Most of the "silly season" sea serpents are vague creatures, sighted from a distance. But this story is thrilling and explicit. The officers and crew of the steamer saw not one sea monster but several of them, and they were able to approach within 20ft of two of the creatures, which "were basking on the surface of the water." The monsters are described as 50ft long and 20ft in girth, tapering at each end, and with largo square heads. Eight people, including a passenger on the ship, claim to have seen them and watched them for a quarter of an hour. One of the men went below to get a camera, but alas! the monsters had disappeared when he returned. Britain Longs for Rain. Britain is certainly not accustomed to dry weather. The drought is the leading topic of conversation everywhere, and the principal item of news day by day. Almost every day the London water authorities make "grave statements" about tho shortage and issue "urgent appeals" to use less water. We are told that London has now "only" 14 thousand million gallons in the reservoirs, and that the drought may last until September. : Meanwhile, anyone who knows what drought can really be in other parts of the world finds it hard to get alarmed. Tho grass in the parks may be a little weary-looking, but the countryside (and even the London plane trees) are still fresh and green. Moreover, there was a heavy downpour of rain just over a fortnight ago. The worst results of the dry weather, however, are the heath fires which have swept various parts of the country. One of the more serious of these fires last week-end destroyed the beautiful rhododendron forest belonging to the Earl of Malmesbury, which has long been one of the "show places" of Hampshire.