LONDON LETTER

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 149, 21 March 1927, Page 6

LONDON LETTER

Dominion Special Service.

London, February 3. If it were not for China we should all be feeling very cheerful and be looking forward to a year of something like prosperity. Apart from international complications which may develop out of the China situation, affairs in China have a very direct interest for the British taxpayer. The dispatch of a defence force is a serious matter, not only politically, but financially, and if Mr. Churchill’s love of adventure is stimulated by the dispatch of troops, he must

as Chancellor of the Exchequer, regard their departure from these shores with the very gravest concern. The movement of troops on such a scale and over such a distance is a very expensive business, and it may upset Mr. Churchill’s Budget expectations. Despite the general strike and the coal strike he has really done amazingly well. The prospective deficit is being reduced week by week, and, as usual, the last quarter of the financial year sees the money rolling in. If China does not eventually involve us in very large expenditure, Mr. Churchill may very well finish the year with a comparatively small deficit which he might be able to disregard in view of the improved trade outlook. He had a small deficit last year, and had it not beeu for the coal strike he would have ended this year with a surplus. He is anxious on all grounds to avoid recourse to additional taxation on any large scale. Any increase of taxation has a depressing effect on trade, and it always makes the stock markets pessimistic. If Mr. Churchill can contrive to avoid additional taxation—we are far too chastened to expect relief—it would bo a great achievement, and optimism would bo still further stimulated.

There has not been such an atmosphere of peace in the industrial world since the close of the war- Socially, things arc improving gradually and ’London is looking forward to a successful season. It is not perhaps realised to what an extent the prosperity of the West End is affected directly and indirectly by trade depression. That means people do not come to Loudon from the industrial centres as they would in tho normal course. The business man, for instance, conies up by himself, instead of bringing his wife or family, as he would do in more prosperous times, and the result is there are fewer customers in the West. End. All this may very well be changed in the. course of the year, and tho heart of the dressmaker as' well as of the business man hay rejoice.

The Famous Gloucesters. The record of the Gloucesters, the 2nd Battalion of which have been ordered to China, is one of tho finest in the annals of the British Army. Tho. Ist Battalion, tho 28th Foot, wore known as “Old Bragg’s’’—a colonel who once commanded them. He gave his name also to the “forbidden” game of cards, a sort of glorified poker, which the soldiers introduced, and which is now known as “Old Bragg” throughout the army. The 28th Foot had thejiouour of being chosen for tho famous, picture of the Battle of Waterloo, where the regiment field the vital Hank of the British square. The 2nd Battalion, the Gist Foot, was formed from “The Buffs,” s when that historic regiment was increased in 175 G. When linked with the 28th, the Gloucesters, for their size, bad more battle honours on their colours than any other regiment in the whole of the British Army, more even than the rifle brigade with their four regular battalions, and only two loss than the 60th rilles—tho King’s Royal Rifle Corps—with their five battalions. The distinguishing feature of the Gloucesters is their possession of the “back badge,” an honour conferred on no other regiment in the army, and commemorating that daj’ at the battle of Alexandria, in 1802, when the front and rear ranks fought back to back, a. record again equojled when the Ist Battalion, at the great drive of the Germans in 1918, performed the same feat without losing their trench. Despite the number of their battle honours, the regiment has been conspicuous for the few decorations the officers wore, it being a tradition that they should not be recommended. Until the Great War the Gloucesters had but one Victoria Cross, that of the late General IT. T. Reade, won when the 2nd Battalion assaulted the Cashmere Gate at Delhi, in 1857. Tn the Great War, however, a Gloucester officer. Lieutenant Colonel Dan Burges, won the distinction in Salonika, and is now Major of The Tower, and another officer, the present adjutant of the 2nd Batalion, won it as a territorial. Chatting to the Continent.

The first of a series of demonstrations of the possibilities of international telephonic communication on a scale bringing the system within the range of everyday commercial transactions took place this week at the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, when the president (Sir Percy Woodhouse) carried on conversations with Herr Franz von Mendelssohn, president of the Berlin Chamber; Herr Hubbe, president of the Hamburg Chamber; and Mr. Heldring, president of the Amsterdam Chamber. Sir Percy Woodhouse emphasised that the value of this swift and direct means of communication. compared with Hie natural limitations of cablegrams, was immense. It enabled bargains to be struck straight away, and, as a commercial man, ho visualised possibilities in relation to world trade which would revolutionise many present-day commercial methods. As Sir Percv Woodhouse closed each conversation by asking whether he had been clearly heard, the reply was in the affirmative, only Amsterdam recording that, whilst the messages had been heard, there had been occasional slight indistinctness. Each Press representative had been furnished with earphones and it was noted that every word from Berlin Ihunburu and Amsterdam '-nine through with clearness. Sir Percy Woodhouse, replying to Herr Mendelssohn. remarked that he had heard quite as well as during an earlier conversation to Liverpool. The whole connection

THE COMPLICATIONS IN CHINA

BUDGET HOPES AND FEARS ‘‘KING CHARLES THE MARTYR”

was by wire—first underground, then submarine, and then overland. It is possible to ensure complete secrecy, so vital in commercial transactions, which is as yet impossible by wireless, and the cost is shillings as against pounds by wireless.

King Charles the Martyr. One of the quaintest of London’s annual ceremonies took place by tho statue of King Charles I at Charing Cross this week, when the 278th anniversary of the

execution of that unhappy monarch was celebrated by the Royal Martyr Church Union in conjunction with several other societies of Stuart sympathies. There was a certain dignity about the service, which was conducted by the Rev. Dr. Fotheringham, vicar of Charing, Kent. A short service was held afterwards in the churchyard of St. Martin-in-the-Fields,. which had been lent specially for the occasion. A great many people find it a little hard to understand the precise motives which lead so many to revere the memory of King Charles with such ardent and persistent loyalty—a loyalty quite unlike that paid to any other monarth in our history, and it is unkindly suggested that a lack of historical knowledge is the basis of the cult; but peculiar glamour has always clung to the entire Stuart line. At a church near London there was this year a new development. During the prayer “for all sorts and conditions of men,” the officiating clergyman paused, and said, “Let us thank Almighty God for the example in life and death of the Royal martyr, Charles, who died on this day.” During his trial, by the way. King Charles had a singular experience, which he regarded, no doubt, as a portent of his impending fqte. In Warwick’s memoirs the incident is recounted thus: “As he contest to the. Bishop of London, one action shockt him very much; for while ho was leaning in the Court upon his staff, whirl: had an head of gold, the head broke off on a sudden; he took it up, and seemed unconcerned; yet told the Bishop it really made a great impression upon him, and to this hour (sayes he) I know not possibly how it. should come. T’was an accident, I confess, I myself have often thought on, and cannot imagine how it came about; unless Hugh Peters (who was truly and really his gaoler, for at St. James’s nobody went to him but by Peter’s leave) had artificially tampered with his staff; but such conjectures are of no use.”

Sun Yat Sen’s Tomb. Some fifteen years ago a Chinese boy of the name of Tan Pung Wong arrived in Leeds. He was the son of well-to-do parents in Hong-Kong, who sent Itim to this country to complete his education, and he made his home with a lady who has many influential friends in China. The boy remained ten years, during which he studied engineering at the Technical School, and took a diploma in textiles at the University of Leeds. He returned to China five or six years ago. and has made rapid strides in his profession. Early last year the son of Sun Yat Sen announced his intention of building a memorial to his father, and invited the architects of China to prepare and submit designs on a competitive basis. The successful architect, acting with a committee appointed to carry his project through, has entrusted tho entire contract to Tan Pung Wong. Mr. Wong is anxious to promote a better understanding between his own country and England, and as soon as he had sccn.red the contract he carefully prepared a detailed set of plans and specifications of the engineering part of the work, and sent them through Io Leeds. It is clear from these plans that the tomb, when completed, will ho one of the most remarkable buildings in Chinn. Thu chief structure is to bo of white marble, and inside there are to lie massive walls of wrought steel, with doors several inches thick, of the same mnsterinl-, carved trellises ot bronze covering the windows, and at the beginning of a luxuriant avenue of trees giving approach tn the tomb, entrance gates of delicately-patterned wrought steel and bronze. Sun Ant Sun died in 1925. at Peking, and m aeeordance with his desire, his remains were embalmed, and pinned in n casket similar to the one used for Lenin, Tho tomb is to be erected on Purple Hill at Nanking.

Cricket as a Profession. Australia has decided to keep a firm hold on her best tricketers. The Australian Board of Control have ruled that in future Test players from their country must pledge themselves not to >eturn to England within two years Ihls in effect means that an Aushalian lest ulaver will he debarred from playing English county cricket for. four years, as a residence of two years, in this country is necessary for an aspirant to county honours. The real lover of cricket will be verv glad to know that The Ponsford Case” is to trouble us no longer Ponsford has decided that an engagement on the staff of an Australian newspaper as a writer on cricket is more attractive than an engagement in Blackpool to play in the Ribblesdale League Had he come, to Blackpool he would have remained an amateur; and in. Australia it seems, he may make his living out of cricket without becoming, a professional, for in Australia all cricketehs receive payment, yet none is a professional The matter has served its purnoSP in bringing the importation of cricketers into disfavour; ami not only Lancashire, hut Middlesex. Surrey, Sus'ex and other counties may he the better for it in the long run. But another case hns arisen. From time to time the name of A J Richardson has been ecnpled with that of a Lancashire teneiie club, although the greatest secrecy has been observed, as was the ease when McDonald negotiated with Nelson. In the early part of last Sep

tember, Richardson signed a contract to play for Bacup next season. By mutual consent the contract, was cancelled two days later. Richardson, however, will play for Bacup in 1928, and is confidently expected to arrive in this country early in April of that year. Richardson is a fine all-round cricketer’27 years of age, and unmarried. No question of playing for Lancashire enters into the case at present. Bacup arc making it well worth Richardson’s while to come to this country, their terms being £6OO for the season—not the year.