LONDON LETTER SECRECY BAN ON JET LIFT PLANE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27470, 2 October 1954, Page 6

LONDON LETTER SECRECY BAN ON JET LIFT PLANE

rrrrnn KEITH EUNSON. London Correspondent of "The Press} ir’ oo non oom

London, September 24.—A vemy has been boiling i” the farcical “secrecy" ban surrounamK the new Rolls Royce J 1!!. British which was introduced to the Bnus nublic in a now celebratea ane dinner speech by the _ s p _ Simply Mr Duncan Sanays, on tember 6. British air had been requested not to make a y reference in newspapers to machine until it appeared m a defen « th MrS e a W ndys C saw7o that by maWng it impressions” of the m achine _d national daily announced to its public that it had exclusive pictures of the freak aircraft, which it was nt allowed to publish. After this ras of publicity the air correspondent or another newspaper went to a spot near the Rolls Royce testing 6 rou nd stood with road workmen while me machine made a test flight. Th ere P peared to be no security checks to stop him. Though.most persons engaged in the aviation industry have something about the jet lift engine for a year or more, newspapers nave loyally abided by a voluntary agreement not to publish references to it. A Cabinet Minister brought it right out into the glare of world publicity, and it seemed foolish to keep a ban lor “security reasons” on newspapers when any foreign agent could go to the Rolls Royce testing ground, as members of the public have done, and see the thing for themselves. It was officially brought into the open today when a picture was released to the world press.

Election Results . New Zealande.s in London will be able to see the final election results from the Dominion before the poll closes —in theory at least. Arrangements have been made by New Zealand House for the results to be posted at the Royal Empire Society on the morning of the election, because of the difference of 12 hours in time between the two countries. While New Zealanders at home spend the night feverishly marking down the progress results from the radio, New Zealanders in London will be able to escape from the Saturday morning bustle of traffic and business and watch the trends in comfort. Results will be posted from 9 a.m. onwards; and it is expected that the final result will be made available before lunch. The progress results from New Zealand will be relayed by cable to London.

Seeing Things Castles in the air and floating suits of armour? I saw them this week. One observer, watching the filming of a pitched battle between French and English knights, was hit on the head by a huge rock, it bounced off! It was made of rubber. These strange sights are all part of a film called “The Black Prince,” which is being made at Elstree studio. Two life-size castles have been built in a field. The ancient, weather-beaten stones are made of plastic, and one of them stands on steel stilts to give the effect of height. Arrows tipped with rubber rain down on the battlements and “dead” knights fall on to mattresses packed on to layers of cardboard to gain that realistic effect. The heavy chain mail worn by the knights would not stop a cream bun. It is really string, painted grey. A knitting machine produces it by the yard. But these things do look real enough in the cinema. “Rocket” on Market

Hundreds of London Stock Exchange operators rushed in their top hats from the “floor” this week, after an explosion was heard in the basement of the building. They ran into Throgmorton street to find that a firework had been thrown down the stairs by a youth. In a few moments a crowd of several hundreds gathered; but there was general scattering when further bangs occurred. A youth was spoken to and 15 minutes later it was business as usual on the exchange.

In the Brass Because former well-known stage, ra di ° and film comedian George Formby has had to withdraw from the Christmas pantomime in Manchester on medical advice, Miss Joy Nicholls, who. commands a large New Zealand audience because of her radio appearances in “Take It From Here,” gets a windfall. She will become one the hl B hest P aid principal boys when she takes the role of Dick Whittington at Christmas. Though her salary is shrouded in secrecy, it has been said to be about £7OO a week, f n? thl C +™ 111 be ,E layin « the role e flrst time in'l6 years. When a girl of 13« she played Dick Whittington in Austraha; but at the height of her Vr ty “ with the “Take It From Here show she played Cin--194BUa8 Ua m the television Pantomime of

£2,000,000 Deal The poorly-paid Church of f clergy may get an increase i n sli ® a «i when the church’s famous PatfrrT’ ton estate is sold at public auctin„?6 an expected price of £2,000001 whole estate is of 260 acres, in 7„ r 3, London’s most densely nonni areas. It includes about 5000 ties; and upwards of 1500 of th... 1 * be sold. In 1944 the London Dim.." 1 Conference of the Church anpoiiS special committee to report on ■ 3 morality in the Paddington estau I went into the question of whethn■'« I commissioners should dispose or n I property rather than receive th. U S venues. Though most of the money I the sale will be reinvested m 2 | edge securities or in other land 5 property, it is hoped there wil' S? ! nucleus to be devoted to imnrn,/ I clergy stipends and reconditioning „ parsonage houses. The area to be .n represents the portion of the Paddi. ton estate the church has held the reign of Henry VIII; and the n?' tion to go under the hammer inelS. streets, housing settlements, man.C and hotels. Peer of tipper Fourth It is not unusual for famous fi. College to have a peer in the um» fourth—or» any other class tor tu matter —but 13-year-old Lord Vested a peer with a difference. He win ™ day find himself master of £56,000,000 trading empire, became i has been left two £ 1 shares in the w of his grandfather. Early this year i was Samuel George Armstrons Esq., but the death of his grandfatE the second baron Vestey and the known in the City as the ‘‘Meat Kini' gave him the title. The Vesteys, who boss Union Inta national Cold Storage Company the Blue Star Line, have built m their fortune from meat, cold atonn and ships in the last 60 years. The wf of the second Lord Vestey showed tbii his personal fortune was £737738 q which death duties amounted’t £390,765. There was a mention . two shares: management shares timbers 1 and 2 in Western United Inv«i ments, Ltd., left on trust until the ore. sent 13-year-old peer is 30. By a sene of complicated financial manoeuvre Western United was years ago mar. the controlling trust for the othn companies. Only four £1 shares wen issued and it is two of these “master 1 shares which have been left to th Eton schoolboy. These two nhars will give him the biggest say fa & financial empire. Lord Vestey is now the riche schoolboy in Britain, though fast ten his pocket money was only Sea weel for sweets and buns at Eton! ft present peer’s father was killed s action in Italy 10 years ago, and he Itf his son £500,000. The Vestey empire grows with eail year and millions of pounds in deatl duties have been saved by a tru set up in 1921. The Inland Revenu Department has many times chai lenged the arrangement, trying s obtain a ruling that income tax an surtax were payable on the trust’s itcome, but the courts have alwan ruled against it. The last ruling ws made by the House of Lordsin IM The extent of the Vestey empiti can be gauged by a look down an street for meat shops bearing ft names Dewhursts, Kingstons, East mans, Hammetts and Laytons; or fa Eldorado ice-cream firm or the Bta Star Line. Behind them all are fa Vesteys. Channel Tunnel A tunnel under the English Chanati was probably talked about bi Napoleon, and it certainly was by Ifi Gladstone. There is still a chance tte British and French people will mi day be able to drive their cars iindet the channel or take a train throup from Calais. France has been reportal to be going ahead with a £4,000.060 scheme for a pilot tunnel to carry telephone and telegraph cables, as well as natural gases and electricity, from France to England. Mr Jacques Chaban-Delmas, French TrMsport Minister, says this will be the preliminary to the long-projected road and rail tunnel. He also claims that military objections are now outmodeii In 1930 the estimated cost of such i tunnel was £25,000,000; the cost today is said to be between £45,000.000 and £65,000,000. And a channel tunfa company is still in existence. Too Laxy? signs that punting on the Thames i losing popularity have been clea during the English holiday seasu this year. The latest blow to the grace ful craft was the small crowd of only 80 people who arrived to watch th annual Thames Punting Club championship regatta at Maidenhead, whH has been regarded for generations a the home of punting on the Thames but they have gradually been replaced by powered craft. Boat-hire proprietors believe that "sheer laxfaeu' is much to blame.