NEW EMPIRE CENTRE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 190, 8 May 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

NEW EMPIRE CENTRE

Headquarters of Overseas League Opened OLD WORLD ATMOSPHERE The headquarters of the Overseas League, with 50,000 members scattered in all parts of the world, officially opened on April 14 by the Duke of Gloucester. For 15 or 16 years the club premises have steadily grown, this and that mansion being added to Vernon House, Park Place, which 'was bought as a war memorial from the Dowager Lady Hillingdon in 1921. The last to be incorporated was No. 16 Arlington Street, the residence of Violet Duchess of Rutland. Now, sandwiched between the old and renovated buildings, is a new club dwelling—the sixth since the Overseas League moved into St. James’s.. The new six-story wing will give greater accommodation to members enjoying a “London leave,” for the bedroom accommodation is extended, and the amenities include more reception rooms and lounges, and a “Hall of India” which will seat 350 people for lectures. This Hall of India is panelled m silver grey wood from India —a beautiful effect’made possible by the generosity of a number of princes, including the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Gaekwar of Baroda. It will represent the Indian Empire’s token of appreciation for all that the league has done to make Indians feel at home in London. “Old World” Atmosphere. The Overseas Club is already the Mecca of visitors from all parts of the world who are to enjoy long-leave until after the Coronation. Officers from the North-West Frontier, members from Canada and Australia, and from lesserknown parts of Empire, have arrived. One visitor is a scientist from the Solomon Islands, renewing acquaintance with London after long exile. Some are even paying their first visit to London. There is the Australian sheep-fanner who found a first restful night, and was vastly pleased to hear, as London’s first noise the following morning, the call of sheep in the Green Park. All have been charmed with what is left of the “old world” atmosphere of the mansions which have become the league’s headquarters. There remains in No. 16 Arlington Street, for instance, the “looped skirt” staircase of more than 200 years ago, and the original untouched “gold” decorations of William Kent are still brilliant in several of the rooms. Vandalism was miraculously averted when the old mansions were brought “under one roof.”

The overseas league, once termed by Lord Baden-Powell as a kind of “grown-up Boy Scouts,’’ is now increasingly busy rendering service to its ox erseas members.