CORONATION YEAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 10

CORONATION YEAR

JOYOUS INCOMING

A PROSPEROUS ENGLAND

GREAT EVENTS AHEAD

(By Nelic M. ScaiUan.)

LONDON, January 1. Just before midnight, rain began to ,11 in London after a quiet day of ireatcning aspect. But this did not imp the ardour of those thousands ho were determined to welcome in new year that held so much of proise; increasing prosperity, the Coroation, and a programme of social and )orting events that is positively stagiring; 1936, or the "year of the three ings," as it will be known, had its sod and its bad patches. It brought iore money but less sunshine than sual; it was full of hidden threats to eace; it began with the mourning for je death of King George V, and closed 'ith the abdication of King Edward 111. Yet in its last hours it was rowned with the accession of a new ;ing and Queen whose reign should nhance the prestige of the British lonarchy. Once more there will be happy family at Buckingham Palace, he birth of a daughter to the Duchess f Kent on Christmas Day was a appy event, and delighted the nation. There is an ancient prophecy made y Erra Pater in 1535, known as "Progostications for Ever." This is what e wrote over 400 years ago: "In the ears that January shall enter on the 'riday, the winter shall be long and ry and the summer unwholesome." So far, prophecies about cold have ot been fulfilled this winter, though 11 the ancients who study Nature and oik lore and the stars and what-not ad predicted something phenomenal i the way of low temperatures. Deember even gave us 25 hours more unshine than usual, though not in jondon, where its rays were obscured iy fog and mist. On the whole year, here was a shortage of about 300 iours of sunshine. Nothing interfered with London s raditional way of welcoming in the Jew Year. Bad weather and an epi[emic of influenza, which is just startng, may deter a few of the timid ines, but thousands packed the space .round St. Paul's Cathedral to hear 937 rung in, though the Dean of St. 'aul's gave orders that there should >e no community singing. The crowd lere was greater than ever, despite he rain. In Piccadilly Circus, another >right spot on New Year's Eve, it was i gayer crowd. Thousands who had >een to theatres and cinemas or having upper in restaurants swarmed over he roads, singing and laughing, but no idventurous reveller this year attemptid to climb the statue of Eros. The ast young man who succeeded so iamaged it that it must have taken a ong time to pay the bill. CHELSEA ARTS BALL. The Chelsea arts ball in the Albert Sail is another big event, and "a wild ,ime was had by all." Tms year s heme was "The Naked Truth, and I lori't need to tell you the operative ,vord in that phrase. It is a wild revel, noisy, and often destructive. They are not all artists or art stuJents, though these form the central :ore, and enjoy themselves with shal say "artistic abandon." At the first stroke of Big Ben at midnight there was a complete black-out. Then the spotlight picked out the flaming figure sf 1937. . ... All the big hotels were crowded with supper parties, and money seemed tc flow like champagne. At the Grosvenor, 200 children dressed in various national costumes, floatec in a large illuminated globe, and a "bird of peace" bore an olive branch as she fluttered behind them. Big Ben was relayed to the DorChester to herald the New Year, and al the Savoy a giant clock ticked off the last minutes of the Old Year, and trumpeters of the Life Guards greeted the birth of 1937. Pipers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders piped l * the. New year at Claridges, and the Berkeley was transformed into a flower garden and at the Trocadero every woman received a gift. , Long-distance telephone calls put up a new record, and the exchange ol greetings went on till early morning Workmen were wheeling barrows ol cement under arc lights on the new underground station that is being bull off Finchley Hoad for the extension oi the Bakerloo tube. . At half-past ten this morning I saw a young man in full eve " m ? dr u^ with a borrowed overcoat and hat obviously not belonging to him, beini propped up by a friend, who kep clapping the hat on his head, but the boisterous young hearty kept takin? it off and waving it feebly, as he wa. propelled across the footpath to « waiting taxi. "We won' go home til morning" was exceedingly true in h . case. POLITICAL UNIFORMS GO. A number of new laws come int< force today. The Public Order Act which bans political uniforms, wil take the black shirt off the Moslej Fascist backs. They wore them las ni°ht for the last time. And the re< blouses and shirts of the young Com munist children come under the bar also. Assistants in lending librar , that are run for profit now come unde. the Shop Assistants Act, and butcher may not sell meat on Sunday, thougl Jewish venders are exempt. , Today, also, a new drive to reduci overcrowding begins, and an attempt i to be made to remedy the evil whic has permitted 340,000 as grossly over crowded dwellings. Large houses big families, and little houses for age< couples are the means whereby thi, problem will be solved. Th lS worl starts at once. Today, every car on the road mus have unbreakable glass in its windows and the Minister of Transport tak over 4500 miles of trunk roads all ove the country. Screen wipers nowbecom compulsory, and mascots will be regu lated No longer will the man whi 'drives his motor lawn mower dowi the road have to pay 7s 6d for a dnv ing test; he comes into a special class and can qualify for this giddy adven iture for 2s 6d. This New Year also sees the opernni of the first gas-mask factory in Englanc where half a million gas masks will t> made every week till we are all suf plied.' Also two new 30,000-ton battle ships are to be laid down, and I be lieve, with so much urgent naval worl to be rushed through, the constructioi of the sister ship to the Queen Mar; (which will probably be called th Queen Elizabeth) is being held up. The New Year will also see the trair ing of 800 civil pilots, and the layin down of between 20 and 30 aerodrome in England. . Empire mail services by flying-boa carrying letters for lid per ounce, ar starting to South Africa, and will sooi be extended to Australia and Ne-\ Zealand. NEW ORDER IN INDIA. The year will see the launching c the new Constitution in India, wher the first step towards self-governmcn comes into operation. It will also se an Imperial Conference, when reprc sentatives of all the Dominion oyer th

seas come to London for the Corona tion. There will also be a conference of Christian churches at Oxford in the summer to see how Christianity stands and among other questions to be dis cussed will be Germany's unofficial pag anism, and its effect on Europe. The capture of the free city of Danzig, bj the National Socialists, or Germar Nazi party, though an event of little importance is very significant. Thi: free city lives under the protection oi the Versailles Treaty, and, while keep ing within the law, the Nazis have crushed every other party, and wil have it all their own way. It will in the near future, become anothei Nazi stronghold. Britain's recovery during 1936 has been mainly based on internal trade Much of it is due to necessary expend! ■ ture on armaments. Hundreds of thou > sands more men and women are em i ployed at the moment, but their wort ■isof a temporary nature. Once the , big re-armament programme has beer - complete, there will be no further need you can't go on and on making gas 5 masks, also aeroplanes, battleships, anc , army clothing. Meanwhile, people are i making hay while the sun shines, anc - the country is prospering. The - price of raw materials lias riser - and put insolvent companies on theii c feet again, and brought dividends tc 1 shareholders. ! Another less cheerful feature of 193' 2 is the high income tax that comes intc operation today. For this is the daj that the first half of our income tax ii * due, and to meet part at least of the s cost of re-armament it is now 4s 9d ii the £, instead of 4s 6d. And we feai t it may go higher. e The social side of 1937, which hinges aon the Coronation, is staggering. I v will mean a welter of parties, dinners dances, balls, page»nts, raccs, sportinf events, all the usual fixtures being sup plemented. and it will be a limp anc if 1 weary nation that slips into the autumi e longing for peace and rest. But tha it is a long way off, and much may hap e pen in these exciting days. Even th< 3- stars cannot predict what is ahead 0 ,e us this year.