IN BRITAIN TODAY

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14572, 16 January 1948, Page 3

IN BRITAIN TODAY

LONG WAIT- TO SEE * PRESENTS

Queues Indicate Tastes

Of Peoiile

Variety Shows After

Work

(Special to The Times—By Radio) London, Jan. 9.

Where would you expect to find the longest queue in * Britain, a country in which queues have become on unwanted, but necessary part of the national life? (writes G. Grafton Green in a word picture of present-day life in Britain). v You would not find it at a railway station, or even outside one of London's big West End stores where winter sales are drawing crowds of shoppers whose keenness for bargains is increased by the shortage of goods.

No, the longest queue is away from London's shopping centres. You can see it any day outside the centuries-old St. James' Palace, where people from all parts of the country wait for hours to inspect Princess Elizabeth's wedding presents. More than 3500 people a day pass through the rooms in which the gifts are displayed. On two days a week a charge of five shillings is made for admission; on other days it is one. shilling. The proceeds, now mounting up at the rate of £2OOO a week will be distributed to charities selected by the Princess and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. On a recent five shilling day the queue was so long that the people who ioined it had to be prepared to wait 4J hours before entering the Palace. It is hoped that a selection of wedding pi-esents (there' are 1700 on show and others are still being unpacked) will be exhibited in other countries of the British Commonwealth. If that happens they can expect big queues too. Popular Interest In Art

The St. James's Palace queue is not the only one that is breaking records in London. There is another almost as long outside the Tate Gallery where an exhibition of pictures bv the Dutch painter, Vincent Van Goch is attracting the biggest crowds in the Gallery's history. Van Goch's sense of colour, his unorthodox style, his tragic life all combine to attract people who would not normally visit an art exhibition, though the popular interest in pictures has been greater in Britain since the war than ever before.

One reason is undoubtedly that such exhibitions provide a relief from the intensive production effort in which the people of Britain are engaged. The drive to bring every man in the country into productive employment will be completed with the present registrations of street traders and people of independent means who will be asked to take regular jobs unless they can show that they are already working on a regular basis for a minimum number of hours each week.

An advertisement published in newspapers throughout the country by the United Kingdom Government asks for an additional effort to produce ten per cent, more —not only from the workers in industry "but from allotment holders and all who can save money, fuel and paper." Fuel is particularly important. It is just a year ago that Britain was hit by the blizzard which nearly turned into an economic disaster. Whatever the weather may be this winter there can be no repetition of a fuel crisis of such magnitude, thanks to the higher coal output which has increased stocks in the country by more than five million tons above what they were a year ago. But householders are still being urged to economise in their use of all kinds of fuel and the colder weather has brought, a regional warning that unless domestic consumption of electricity is reduced ; factories will be prevented from playing their full part in the expert drive.

Fuel Economy Necessary

Workers in the big factories, engaged on essential production are to be given special after-work shows bv the British Broadcasting Corporation. This week-end at a London factory about 1000 employees will hear- the first of a new series of productions, featuring well known music hall stars, which will be recorded and broadcast later in the 8.8.C.'s regular services. The series will be put on the air under the title of "Night Shift" each Tuesday. So the famous 8.8. C. programme "Music While You Work" will be listened to by millions in the factories-of Britain today, will be augmented by "Variety After You Have Worked." This further development of integrating recreation and work is a sign of the times in Britain today. Another is the appointment of a London lawyer to be headmaster of one of Britain's most famous public schools. Sir Arthur fforde, partner of one of the biggest legal firms in the country and a comoany director, is to succeed Mr P. H. B. Lyon as headmaster of Rugby. An appointment of a man with no experience of schoolmastering, is almost v/ithout precedent, but the Governors of the school explained that they had decided to appoint a headmaster "more for his proved administrative abilities and judgment in public affairs than scholastic experience and attainments." Sir Arthur fforde went to Rugby and was head boy of the school. He intends to teach "a wav of life." "My teaching," he says, "will not be from books alone, but from wide experience of life at Rugby, Oxford, the City of London and Whitehall." - This experiment will be watched with interest in Britain's education world. But it has caused little criticism. It is another reminder that Britain's educational system is not static or inflexible.