LONDON LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 277, 22 November 1934, Page 18

LONDON LETTER.

THE PREMIERSHIP. "EMPIRE"; PRIVY COUNCIL. CRIME DETECTION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, October 11. Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald's return from kia long holiday in. Canada and Newfoundland has revived speculation as to his future. During his absence important policies have been initiated, both at home and abroad, without consulta-

tion, w.ith him. It is therefore again suggested' in some quarters that Mr. Mac Donald may Soon resign the Premiership." The fact that his doctors have not given too reassuring a report of his health may seem to support this belief. In fact, however, Mr. Mac Donald's position remains what it has been for several years past. A man with only the shadow of a party, behind.him..cannot hold a dominant position in a coalition composed chiefly -of his former political opponents. His personal

enemies say that he is obstinately clinging to office from motives .of vanity. His friends maintain that lie still holds it his duty to remain -with "the -Government which, be helped to create in the hour of national emergency.' _ But whatever his motives,, it is. practically certain that Mr. Mac Donald will remain at Downing Street until the present Parliament is dissolved. After that he may retire from politics with a peerage. The King's Consent. Xot since the war days has there been such a representative Privy Council as the one the King held at Buckingham Palace the other day, when he gave his formal consent to the marriage of Prince George to Princess Marina. Usually a Privy Council meeting is attended by only very few of those who are entitled to write "P.C." after their names, and Empire representatives are seldom present. This time, however, General Smuts had just arrived by air from South Africa, Mr. Bennett happened to be over on a visit from Canada, and Mr. Bruce was there to represent Australia. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chancellor also attended, as being specially concerned with the- religious, and

legal aspects of the Royal marriage. It is just over sixty years since a, Privy Council was last summoned to hear the Sovereign's consent to a foreign marriage for a Royal Prince. This was .when Queen. Victoria's second son, the ■Duke of Edinburgh, became engaged to a Russian Grand Duchess. Britain's Armament Trade. In view of the inquiry into Britain's armament manufacture and trade which will be demanded by Liberal and Labour politicians as soon as Parliament reassembles, it may be of interest to quote the latest export figures. During the past nine months British firms have exported £2,379,000 worth of arms, ammunition, torpedoes, war vessels and military supplies.

In addition, aircraft manufacturers have sold £1,275,000 worth of machines .abroad, though not all of these were military 'planes. These are official figures. Unofficially, it is estimated that further orders for war material worth nearly £1,000,000 are now in hand. Science Fighting Crime. Britain is admittedly one of the more backward countries in the application of scientific methods of crime detection. But the young students at the new Metropolitan Police College are evidently determined to remedy this. A party of them have just been visiting France (at their own expense) to study the latest methods there. Scotland Yard has nothing comparable to the laboratory where the French experts analyse such clues as tobacco ash and dust from a suspected murderer's pocket or the turn-up of his trousers.

Of all European countries France is the most advanced in the employment of such scientific methods. Germany comes a close second, with its "murder board" of detectives, each of whom is a specialist in some particular method. In one branch of crime detection Britain certainly excels to-day —the classification of finger-prints. Probably, also, the average Scotland Yard detective is a man of greater all-round efficiency than his specialist colleagues on the Continent.

The British system of local police forces is a big handicap in combating serious crime. When a murder is committed in some rural district, it is obvious that the country police cannot command the same specialist knowledge and experience as Scotland Yard. Yet "the Yard'' cannot take a hand until it is specially asked to do so by the local chief constable. By the time lie decides to seek London's help the scent is often quite cold.

Dwindling Population. Britain has not so far joined in the "more babies" campaign which is being so energetically waged by France, Italy and Germany. Yet the time is near when the population of this country will begin to fall alarmingly. No one can accuse that sober medical weekly, the "Lancet," of scaremongcring. Claiming that impending population changes can be accurately forecast, the "Lancet" says that Britain's population will drop by more than 11,000,000 in the next 42 years. The population in 1970 is forecast as 28,050,G00.

The causes of this coming rapid decline are inherent in the present situation, but they have not yet begun to show their full effects. Medical science and healthier living are keeping peopls alive to a greater age. At the same time the birth rate is falling year by year. This means that there is an ever-growing proportion of elderly people. Soon these old people will begin to die in increasing numbers, the death rate will exceed the birth rate, and the population will enter a rapid decline. Henry Ford Takes a House Home. Mr. Henry Ford, the American motor millionaire, has given a fillip to one of Britain's export trades which seemed almost in danger of dying out. He has decided to transport to America the ancient cottage once occupied by Anne. Boleyn, second of Henry VIII.'s six wives. The cottage, which now stands near Chelmsford, is being carefully taken to pieces. Every brick and beam will be numbered, and the building will be put together again on Mr. Ford's "model English village" near his American home.

At one time there was quite a brisk American market for historic English houses, but the slump nearly extinguished this luxury trade. Mr. Ford has been a big buyer for many years. He already has a number of English cottages, and he is particularly proud of his ancient smithy, transported to America from the Cotswolds. But Mr. Ford suffered one big disappointment. He tried hard to buy one of the historic churches in the City of London, but the bishop refused to sell.