LONDON TOPICS

Evening Star, Issue 21725, 21 May 1934, Page 10

LONDON TOPICS

AMERICAN BUDGET SURPLUS CLAIMANTS [From Oor Corkispondxkt.] April 5. The news, that our Budget shows a £31,000,000 surplus has been broadcast to America with the not unnatural result that American senators are earmarking Mr Chamberlain's nest egg as morally their property. It will be difficult to persuade the American public that they ought to excuse full payment on the part of a debtor who shows a handsome bank balance where they themselves register a heavy overdraft. That the whole war debt arrangement is usurious, and immoral, that we are . being held to strict account for defaulting borrowers whose bills we backed by request, and that economically the war debts are as ruinous to the recipients as to the remitters are points beyond the ken of the average American citizen, which shows how wise the Earl of Balfour was in pleading for an act of mutual oblivion, and how true his prophecy that disaster would dog any other policy. GAMBLE OF THE CURRENCIES. One'item in the Treasury’s revenue returns for the now completed financial year has escaped all the commentators. Students of our national finances have long been agitated about, the exchange equalisation account, and how it stands after all the recent currency operations and counter-operations by America and France. We get a hint now from the Treasury. On March 31 ‘ last the floating debt stood at £844,750.000, as against £810,500,000 a year ago. This apparent increase of £34,250.000, however,, is converted into a decrease of £165,750,000 by taking into reckoning the issue of £200,000,000 to the exchange equalisation account, against which assets to a corresponding amount are held. The obvious inference is that so far nothing has been lost by us in this international gamble of the currencies. SWEEPING AWAY THE SWEEPS. The drastic ban which the Government’s Betting and Lotteries Bill will impose on all people who directly or indirectly stimulate or encourage par- . ticipation in sweepstakes will add new and terrible risks to those who like to have a flutter over at Dublin. With the passage of the Bill, all newspapers will have to, guard themselves. against mention of sucli ievil things as lotteries. Neither , descriptions. -nor date of .the draws must; be published,, while it will be an offence under the Bill to record the fact that some charwoman down in Bethnal Green has become enriched.by a lucky turn of the wheel. It is drastic legislation with a vengeance, and even in a Parliament which is known to regard with the utmost distaste the fortune-hunting activities of Dublin, it is likely to be viewed with alarm by reason of the infringement-,on ordinary liberties which it .imposes. From one point of view the issue of.'the.-Bill at this moment is likely to give the Irish sweeps, an .enormous boost. Entering Parliament, as it does, through the House of Lords, the Bill has no chance of becoming law this session. In fact, it is obviously being put out on a trial spin to sound public opiuon. At the earliest, therefore,, the embargo will noo become’ operative before ;the end of next year. In the meantime, more people than .ever will he tempted to have a last flutter in the Dublin drum. ROAD PROBLEMS. The Easter casualty roll, on top of the impressive record of over seven thousand deaths and nearly; a quarter of a million, injured on our roads . last year, amply ‘ justifies the Governments motoring Bill. In face or the ‘ appalling facts, iit is incredible that anybody objects to enforcing here the driving tests long adopted abroad or to a speed limit so high as thirty miles per hour in urban localities. Many motorists hold that the need for further restrictions would never have arisen if already existing penalties had been impartially applied. Magistrates share the responsibility for the present scandal with the road hogs they have handled so tenderly. Even the new proposals in the Bill will be unavailing unless enforced with far more drastic reality than the existing regulations. One country magistrate has made a suggestion, however, which might well be given careful consideration by the Government. He urges that conviction for dangerous driving, or driving under the influence of drink, might be made a statutory defence to any claim for other than third-party insurance damages. Such a provision as this might prove more effective in the long run than anything else in . reducing road casualties.. There can be no doubt-that with a certain type of mentality which is, all too common a sense of complete immunity from material responsibility in case of accident encourages a spirit of recklessness. This magistrate’s suggestion, in fact, would be ah effective substitute for the old ecclesiastical law by which any material object concerned in. a person’s death was ipso facto confiscated. ORDER OF THE THISTLE. By the death of Lord Novar, following upon that of Lord Aberdeen, a second vacancy is created in that select body the Order of the Thistle. Apart from the Royal Family, it consists of sixteen, members, most of them Scottish peers.; One commoner at present a member is Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, whose father. Sir William Maxwell, the historian and art critic, was also entitled’ to wear the dark 'green sash of St. Andrew. The number of eligible candidates is. thus small, and it would cause no surprise if one or both of the vacancies were filled from outside of the peerage. Sir John’ Gilmour, for instance, has a’ long record of public service which might be appropriately recognised in that way. Mr Walter Elliot is another, but as the Prime Minister waggishly pointed out. he has already won his “ K'.T.”—otherwise Miss Katharine Tennant. MR THOMAS’S DETECTIVE. I was amused a few days ago, before the Court left for Windsor, to watch Mr J. H. Thomas leave Buckingham Palace after attendance there. He left by the Privy Councillors’ exit, and walked off across the park. Waiting for. him at the palace gales was his plain-clothes attendant from Scotland Yard. But the Yard man in this instance did not fall in behind his charge and follow at a discreet distance. Mr Thomas hates being shadowed, but, like the Prime Minister, has received threatening letters, and the special branch at the Yard is taking no risks. MmThoinas, however, appreciates the onerous nature of this police duty, and likes Iris detective to walk side by side, almost arm in arm, so that they can have a crack. He knows that the Yard men are usually thoroughly decent follows, and many of them extremely interesting talkers. Our Dominion Secretary has no side at all.

HARROW’S NEW HEAD. Dr Cyril Norwood’s reign as head of Harrow has been short. After eight years, during which he certainly won the esteem'and affection of young Harrovians, he leaves to become president of St. John’s College at Oxford. His successor, Mr Paul Vellacott, boasts a D.S.O. He won this in the war, in which he served first with a Lancashire Territorial battalion, of which he became adjutant and second in command, and later, whilst still in the twenties, was brigade-major to the twenty-third infantry brigade. In the memorable debacle in front of Amiens in March, 1918, be was badly wounded and taken prisoner. History is Mr Vellacott’s long suit, but a head, who has been adjutant and brigade-major will not be weak on the disciplinarian side. With his small’“ toothbrush ” and keen eyes, Mr Vellacott still looks the soldier. We shall presumably have no “Bolshie” symptoms, at Harrow. LONDON’S EASTER. .The weather has been not unkind to Easter holidaymakers. Though the wind blew cold, days were fine and sunny and nights clear and moonlit. Bank holiday was the best. London was bathed in spring sunshine, and millions of Cockneys arrayed in their best swarmed over parks and commons like staccato locusts. There was a huge trek of hikers with the regulation rucksacks, ashplants, and zip shirts, and motors turned the roads into moving escalators on wheels. A friend was lured in his car to visit one famous Surrey beauty spot. He read an article in one of the papers in which this tiny village, dating back to Stephen Langton, was named a haunt of ancient peace. When he arrived lie found the amazed and indignant village of pos’sibly 500 natives hemmed in by about.s,ooo thirsty, motorists. He wished he had gone to Hampstead Heath. He thinks it might have been haunted by more ancient peace. / ROMAN TESTIMONY. This week-end I managed to get away among the Surrey footpaths for the first time this year with a companion; of proved strolling capacity, which includes an eye for the vistas, a joy in hedge and meadow- jewels, and the gift of long silences. We walked from Ashtead to Leatherhead by .way of Mickleham, some miles of the stroll being along the narrow hedge-grown path that marks the . old Roman road known as Ermine street. Now the latter, owing to the overhanging foliage, is. always inclined to heavy going. I have walked it in dry mid-summers arid alway found it over ankle-deep in mud at certain points, yet on this- occasion, after one of the wettest months of March on record, we passed almost dry-shod over the worst patches..t I think it would be difficult to beat this Roman tribute to the realistic severity of our English’ drought. The country still needs abundant rain. SWEET. PEAS AND CONCORD. A congress of" 5,000 mothers-in-law has been held at Aucarillo,. Texas. Reputed in less genial countries to_ he a grim and bitter sisterhood, the good ladies of Texas give the lie to any such estimate. Their congregation- was a gay affair of music and dancing, riot a killjoy conference. Each delegate arrived wearing at her bosom a bunch of sweet peas, as the' emblem of her status. Beauty' prizes were distributed, and Airs Jona Belle Bowles was duly elected queen! Her Majesty was well entitled to election, for, in addition to her social graces, she has no fewer than seven daughters-in-law arid nine son-in-laws! ’ Down Texas way they do things properly. In the country where stout sons-in-law spend their leisure in the taming of wild horses, there are no dragons in the drawing loom. KENT LION FARM. Few people nowadays can afford the luxury of a private Zoo, and Mr Tyr-whitt-Drake, who has the finest in the country,- is throwing it open to the public for a few months to defray upkeep. His place at. Cob tree Manor, near Maidstone, has other attractions besides its interesting animal collection. It is the original Dingley Dell of Charles Dickens’s humorous masterpiece, and visitors can see the identical pond where during that memorable Christmas party, Air Pickwick went sliding on the ice. Cobtree Manor specialises, in lions, and brefeds more cub’s probably than any other zoo, public or private. Last year it had sis litters of lion cubs. Ex-service' men who were associated with the famous 19th Division in France, will like to visit Cobtree Manor, if only to renew acquaintance with Poilu, their lion cub mascot. Poilu is now a • dignified grandpapa. < CHU CHIN CHOW’ AS A FILM. As a theatrical play, ‘ Chu Chiu Chow ’ beat all records. It ran well over two thousand performances, and was seen by men after the war who saw it before they got wounded in the Somme fighting. As a film production one - would expect ‘ Chu Chin Chow ’ to be equally successful, unless the stage run has taken the edge off screen possibilities. The; leading players in the film are Aliss Anna May Wong, the delightful little Chinese actress, and George Robey. The filming is being done at a London studio, and .at the moment lias reached the robbers’ cave scene. For this the cast has been augmented, regardless of expense, by a whole menagerie of animals. Horses, mules, birds, and bats are included. The star turn among these animal supers is a South American eagle .owl with a four-foot spread of wing. His big “turn” is shutting alternate, eyes. The first time he did it Air Robey’s,eyebrows almost vanished. UNDER WHICH CAPTAIN? At the moment there is no saying who will captain England at cricket this, suriimer against the visiting Australians. 1 hear’ -that it might be Chapman, if he plays himself into form, but otherwise, as Jardine’s deputy. Wyatt seems to have the best claim. Jardine’s cable from India, emphasising that he had neither the intention nor the desire to play . cricket against the Australians, disposes of any lingering notion that he might be persuaded to act again. This may be a relief to the AI.C.C. magnates, torn by the dissension over leg-theory caused by their own failure to amend the Ibw law, but it will disappoint the cricket public, who regard him as. one of the finest cricketing captains England has ever had. His absence from the field may make all the difference to ns between retaining and losing the mythical ashes. One hears a lot of pavilion gossip, mostly in either prejudiced or ignorant quarters, about -Jardine’s autocratic attitude in the cricket field and his personal unpopularity. The less reputable Australian journals are mainly responsible for this. But after his experience of Australian cricket “ fans,” round the ground and in the Press, it is little wonder if Jardine hardly troubled . to conceal his feelings about these manifestations of Australian sportsmanship. He is rumoured to have observed that, if ever Australia went to war with Japan, his sympathies would be with Tokio! A friend of

mine, an amateur who on occasions captains his county side, tells me Jardino is-not only a magnificent cricketer and captain, but an exceedingly good sportsman. “ 1 have played under three cricket captains,” says my friend, “ and Jardine is the only one who always showed himself a real gentleman.” .