NEWS AND OPINIONS

Evening Star, Issue 21706, 28 April 1934, Page 2

NEWS AND OPINIONS

THE TRAIL OF TWQ CITIES. | Although the splendid air sendee be-; .tween London and Paris has brought the two cities within a few hours of each other the great majority o£travellers, for one reason or another, still prefer to travel by train and boat. Still the challenge or aerial transport has to be met as adequately as the limitations of the permanent way and the impermanent 'wave will allow,- and on both , sides oil the channel the railway companies cimcbrned ai-tr attempting to “ speed up ” the service. I .understand that ,t)ie weakest link in the transport tchain is '‘that between' London . and Dover. The French expresses between Calias and Paris have a best average of 60 miles per hour, as against the best, .average on this, side of only 47. This is to be remedied by extensive realignment schemes on the Southern Railway which will enable the boat trains to increase their average speed very considerably.—Glasgow ‘ Herald..’ ; COLOURED FILMS. At one stage of film evolution it seemed certain that i coloured tiling, would be a commercial proposition long before the “ talkies,” but difficulties have actually proved much greater than was then realised. It is inevitable, however, that colour will at last Come to the cinema, and the sporadic invasions of variegated sequences into .screen entertainment .-in • recent years have become more and more frequent. Now I learn that the first really big drive in this direction will begin in Hollywood this spring, and that during the course of the year a series of ambitious productions in colour will he released’ for general exhibitibhi Three ‘ great stories jiaye already been chosen for the initial ; onslaught, :: and ‘The Last Days of Pompeii,’ ‘Cyrano de Bergerac,’ and ‘Rip'Van Winkle,’ are certainly enticing subjects for the camera sensitive to colour.—Glasgow ‘ Herald.’ 1 MORALE. AND THE COLLAR. Psychology would appear to be. a most intensive study; No'detail of human life is; too insignificant to come within its sobpe. ■ But probably it will come as a surprise to some to learn that it is possible to derive moral strength from a stiff collar. An official of the British National Institute of Industrial Psychology has been laying down certain propositions with respect to men’s dress. Many men, he says, feel happier and work better in a uniform. It gives a man self-respect; a feeling of self-confidence and importance-, and an added efficiency that is reflected in his work. The nearer a man is dressed to the sartorial standard achieved by prosperous business men the happier he is,, and the more likely he is to succeed. Stiff collars should be worn wherever possible, as they give the wearer strong moral support. GODDESS FOR SALE. ■Collectors of ancient Egyptian bronzes are to worship at the shrine of a,-goddess here early in the spring (writes the London correspondent of the Glasgow ‘ Herald,’). The’ pilgrimage has been inspired :by. competitive bargaining rather -than by-solace seeking. : The goddess in question—Sekhmet, who typifies the destructive heat of the sun—has fallen from grace since the days of her idolatrous regime on the banks of the Nile. Her fate is to be at the mercy of the highest bidder at Christie’s sale rooms in May.. Although statues of Sekhmet, who has tlie figure of a woman and the head of a lioness, are common sights at the British Museum they have rarely appeared at a public “ roup.’.’ ... Tho statuette will be ranged with-’ ail impressive gathering of Egyptian gods which have been transferred from the residence of the late Mr Leopold Hirsch, the noted art collector. THE SENSE OF SMELL. A wonderfully developed sense of small plays an important part in the judging, at the Baking Trade- exhibitturn held annually in London. The ‘ Daily Telegraph ’ observes that men who have to select the best out of about 4.T00 loaves of broad have one very obvious difficulty in regard to flavour They c-nnot taste each loaf, for, if they did, their discriminating

palates would soon go out •of action. Therefore the judges have to. culti-; vate their sense of smell'to a quite unusual extent. It is the only possible, way, remarked one of -the judges.; Bread has to be judged not only by its texture and other qualities,, but-by its. flavour. You could not possibly mope to taste every loaf, and therefore it be-, conies necessary to “ nostrilise ’l"it to: develop a keen sense of smell that wilt be a perfect guide as to taste. Wine tasters and tea tasters rely on thenpalates, but they always smell the drink first; we are compelled to rely on smell alone. It is all in the interests of the best possible kinds of bread which, after all is the staple food. STILL TO BE PAID FOR. There was recently celebrated in Lojidon, says the ‘ Times Weekly,’ the 102nd anniversary of the granting to Messrs Thomas De La Rue, of a Royal patent to print playing cards in England by King William IV. Mr John Drinkwater, proposing “ Continued Prosperity to Messrs De La Rue,” recalled that during the American Civil War the rebel States found difficulty in getting any firm to print stamps fpr them. They sent spies to England, and ultimately induced Messrs De La Rue to print them. Some of the stamps reached their destination, and the rebel States were enabled to carry on the important social services. One of the managing directors of the firm, in responding, said there was one fact which Mr Drinkwater had not recorded, the firm had not yet been paid for those stamps. To some it would be a simple matter to work out how far that sum at compound interest would go to offset the debt Great Britain owed to America. METHODIST CHURCH.

. The Methodist Church; “ Campaign of Advance,” inaugurated last October, is making substantial progress, 1 was assured by a leading official to-day (writes the London correspondent of the Glasgow ‘Herald’). When the annual conference takes place in _ July there will be schemes submitted for amalgamation of churches affecting 900 circuits in England and Wales end Scotland. Tjie plan for raising a fund of £500,000,‘ which is to be spread over two years, has. already reached an assured sum of £170,000. . It is intended, I gather, to begin to make grants available from this fund in July towards the building of churches in many of the new suburban residential areas where the Methodist Church is not represented. At the same time it is expected to submit the first report of the progress of the process of amalgamation of the; Wesleyan ; Churches in all the towns where two or three existed before the union of the three churches. ■