LONDON LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 105, 6 May 1939, Page 14

LONDON LETTER.

ODDS AGAINST WAR. HITLER'S COLONIAL HOPES. POLITICAL FUNDS MYSTERY, (From Our Own Cnrrosonntlonf.) TvON DO\\ April H. Though gloomy prophets arc in I lie majority, nnd 1 hoir fi.rcl.rwli M g* range '' "in vll r next, month |o w„r in .lulv. ■ i litrllllv more cheerfill note i* sounded '•v the i noirii nee w oi'lil. 1,|,.y.| -i lire this "•■•■k <1111>f in| -jii |„. r (■ ' •iin ■» I Iho risk of the Rovnl \i»i| to 1 I'i.i < i.« i,pin'.' en n,-riii,i. riiiM i in' omlerw riler* |hi n| v tlm chnn.-e* f,„ lr '' ii nin * l ii Kuropcn ii u.,r | tl tl, ( , »'Ty ii en r fill lire. "no hi 1,-,,*!. ~f ||,p | |,er«i-.tenl " II- prophecies Clin l„. refill nil u ith cuiI" Ifni •o. Fl i M mnxt. unlikely t hit t Geriniiny will In ii nph mi ii 11 nek n«ninst ITolI.iikl or Relgium. in ninny people fenr. I lie neul rnlify of these two countries is mi hied by Germany for strategic reasons. II slin turned them into n hut tie ground -ho would ho tightiny outside her Siegtried Lino of fortification:*. And if that rampnigii went against her, French and Brit ish troops could <1 ri\ o right through tin utmost unprotected frontier into Germany. Strategists consider it, rertnin that 'ierrnany would light only a defensive war in the went. Her attack, if it comes, will ho eastward or south -.eastward, "gainst Poland or Rumania. She would liopo for swift victories there, and only if they were overwhelming and complete would slio risk a westward push. Germany's Colonial Moves. Circumstantial rumours come from Berlin about Germany's hope of regaining her former colonies in Africa. It is reported that doctors with special qualifications in tropical medicine and administrative officers are already being enrolled. They are said to bo signing contractu pledging them to be ready to sail for their posts by the end of June. Anlerica and the Crisis. American public opinion is rapidly • winging round from complete isolationism to a policy of helping the European democracies to stem Nazi and Fascist aggression. This is strikingly illustrated by the latest of a. series of ballots covering ail parts of the United States. The results show that more tliUn 80 per cent of Amc®cans are still against sending troops to fight in I'.urope. But there is a growing feeling in favour of supplying Britain and France with food and arms in the event of war.

Hie first ballot on these questions was taken on the eve of the crisis last September. Fifty-seven per cent then voted for sending food to Britain and France if war broke out, while 34 per cent would go so far rh to send arms. A second poll six montjik later showed 7(1 per cent for Ending food and 55 per (■cut for arming the democracies. With I lie third ballot, at the beginning of April, these percentages had risen to H2 and 00. This poll was taken after Hitlers' seizure of Czechoslovakia but before Mussolini's Albanian coirp. Today the American vote in: favour of helping Europe fight the dictators would cei'tainy be still greater. "United Front" Fundi. Who la financing the "United Front" campaign led by Sir Stafford Cripps? I lie question was brought <to a head this week by a Labour M.P.'s suggestion that the dissident Socialists, Liberals and Communist* ■, who form Sir Stafford's following were dipping into the famous "war chest" of Mr. Lloyd mT* now » ,ree tance in politics, is known to be sympathetic toward; |mjr consolidation of "progresS VO" force agairtstUhe Government. He denies, however, that h* !*• financing the "United Front." Sir Stafford Cripps ha* «o Ur m*Ar, no statement. Whatever other contributors his party may have, there isno doubt! "that he could finance it aingle-handed if iTt? « r#c *°n*d tho highest* paid K.C. now at the Bar and his annual income baa been guessed at <20,000 or more. Much more mysterious than Sir Stafford's funds are "LQ's." His politiv* 1 vTfT che * t " existence has been denied) was once said to cort' tain £500,000. But the general elections since the war have cost him many thousands in fruitless campaigns to bring his Liberal party back to power. Soynl Flax Experiment. Towards, the end of his reign King George V. had three acres on the Royal Estata at Sandringham set aside for the experimental, growing of flax. In 1031 the first small crop was used to make household linen for their Majesties. Three years later the experiment was extended by the erection of a factory. Encouraged by the Royal success farmers in Norfolk to grow flax, and to-day over 1000 acres In this country are given over to its cultivation. Norfolk flax was acknowledged to be excellent in quality, but manufacturing costs were too high to enable producers to compete with growers in Russia and Eastern Europe. Then it was discovered that tho retting of the flax, a costly process, could be eliminated and the resulting flbro still bo serviceable. Homegrown unretted flax is now used in the manufacture of tents and canvases for tho Admiralty, and hopes are entertained for a steady expansion of the industry. Inland Sailors. Ono result of Britain'* chronic unemployment is that there have never been ho many opportunities to learn new trades. Under scores of different schemes men thrown out of tho overcrowded biisio industries aro being trained to All vacancies in the trades which are short of labour. The latest and most novel project is that the State should set up a "college" for bargee*. L'nliko the sea-going merchant navy, tlio barges which ply Britain's inland waterways aro undermanned. The Minister of Labour is now considering! founding a training centre tr/ tench I young unemployed men the skilled job' of navigating big barges along narrow' canals. The leisurely days of the horse-1 drawn bar«e arc passing, and the modern ' bnrgeo must learn all about Diesel I engines and become a mechanic as well! h* a mere helmsman. It is even pro-' posed that the new recruits should bo taught cookery, in case some of them have to face a bachelor life in the snug cabin of their barges.