LONDON LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 269, 13 November 1935, Page 20

LONDON LETTER.

ELECTION STRATEGY.

DEFENCE PROGRAMME. WATERLOO BRIDGE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, October 18. The Government's decision to hold tho election next month has taken most political observers by surprise, for, while it was known that a number of Ministers favoured an early appeal to the country, it was known, too, that Mr. Baldwin was opposed to it. Indeed, it was his desire to maintain office until the present international crisis was over that led to the belief, to which I referred some weeks ago, that tho campaign might be postponed until next autumn. What forced his hand, I learn, was the overwhelming majority at the recent Socialist party conference in favour of applying sanctions to Italy. This, Conservative strategists pointed out, has provided the National Government with the best opportunity it is likely to have for a successful appeal to the country. With the opposition parties supporting its policy on the biggest question of tho moment, and with domestic concerns overshadowed by the ItaloAbvesinian crisis, the National Government hopes for a substantial majority. Naturally, the Opposition parties have not welcomed the decision, and there have been many bitter protests at what lias been described as a "snap" election. Mr. Chamberlain, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has made the obvious retort, j "Surely," he 3aid, "it is a new doctrine that when a Government is choosing its time for a general election it should pick out that particular moment most suitable to its opponents." £250,000,000 Defence Loan Plan. Apart from seeking endorsement for its firm support of tho League of Nations, the Government's biggest plank will be the strengthening of our Imperial defences. A big new defence programme—probably financed by a loan of some £250,000,000 —is certain, whatever happens at Geneva. For if the League fails to cheek Italy bigger forces will be regarded as essential for our own protection; while if the League succeeds tliey will be held necessary to guarantee our commitments under the Covenant.

The End of a Bridge. London will see the end of old Waterloo Bridge before the year is out. Already practically all the stonework of tho arches lias been removed and now all that remains are the seven piers, with above them the massive steel superstructure built to support the arches during their demolition. The removal of this has now begun. When it has been completed the piers will be taken down and the river will be cleared iu preparation for the building of the new bridge. 1

Tlio taks lias boon 0110 of the biggest and most difficult pieces of demolition ever undertaken in London ajid the engineers are now breathing with relief that the most ticklish part is over. The slightest miscalculation of strains and stresses would have meant tlio collapse of the whole bridge into the river—with a resultant flood from the dammed waters too devastating to contemplate. Muck of the iiftv thousand tons of granite taken from the bridge lias been scattered all over the Empire as souvenirs for exiled Londoners. Some has been used, for building. The rest has been dumped into a pit at Hounslow for the mystification of future generations. One of London's biggest excitements this week, after the birth of the Royal baby, has been the arrival of quadruplets to Mrs. Victoria Harmswortli at the Royal Free Hospital. Much of the publicity attending their birth has, no doubt, been inspired by the fame of the Dionne quintuplets in Canada. Indeed, one enterprising newspaper arranged for and reported a telephone conversation between the father of the "quads" and the father of the "quins." Unhappily Mr. Harmswortli has been unable to take the advice of Mr. Dionne —"Sco that you keep your babies with you"—for one has already died. But he has not been entirely deprived of the advantages of quadruparentliood. Vast numbers of gifts have arrived at tlio hospital ever sftice the birth and arrangements are being made for the family to bo moved to a bigger house and to have a holiday at the seaside. Blind Man's World of "Pink Radiance." The prevalent idea that the blind live in a world of perpetual darkness has been exploded by an investigation undertaken by St. Dunstan's, the institution which looks after all the men blinded in tho war. Most of the men questioned declared that their world was not black, but coloured.

"A warm, cheerful pinkisli glow, with a certain radiance in it" was the description applied ':ct his own "horizon" by Sir lan Fraser, the war-blinded chairman of St. Dunstan's. Another man's horizon ranged from steel blue to mauve. A third described his sensation as being similar to looking at" bright daylight through a frosted glass window. But, very curiously, when standing in bright sunshine, this man's outlook was jet black. Stranger still is the experience of a man whose "vision" is "half black and half grey, as though a sighted man were wearing a cap drawn well over his eyes." "On rare occasions," he adds, "I see what seems to he a yellow flash." It must be remembered that all these men could see perfectly up to the war experience which deprived them of their sight. I doubt if a person blind from birth could describe his sensations, having no visible standard with which to compare them. Cars Banned to Footballers. Much interest has been aroused in athletic circles by the decision of Mr. Frank Womack, manager, of the Grimsby Town Football Club, that his players may not run motor cars. "A motor car," says Mr. "Womack, "is the worst enemy a footballer can have. I know several international players who, after buying a car, have gone back to third division form." Apparently Mr. Womack's objection is that a car encourages a player to become slack. For a different reason, the risk of accident, most big clubs forbid their players to ride motor bicycles. One of the strictest clubs is Brentford, where both cars and motor cycles are forbidden, players are not allowed to "dance for three days before a match, and tliey are compelled to be in bed.at 10 p.m. oil the night before a match.