HEWS AND OPINIONS

Evening Star, Issue 21820, 8 September 1934, Page 2

HEWS AND OPINIONS

RAILWAY AND ROAD) Last year one passenger to every, 262,000,000 carried was killed -in railway accidents in Great Britain, and in all forms of railway casualty only seventy lost their lives. Yet in the same period deaths on the roads were precisely one hundred times more frequent—7,ooo people were killed. HASTY JUDGMENTS. “ When I think of the British writers who visit the United States aqtd the writers from the United States' who visit this country, say, a week dr ten days, and then go home to ‘ tell the world,’ I think Of the wise advice to people going to a strange countryform no judgments / until yon have lived there three mouths. We must contribute to the advance of civilisation by getting into the habit of saying and thinking decent things about other nationalities.”—Mr Paul Harris, founder of the Rotary movement. NEW LONDON AMENITIES. The same week which saw the opening of the great Empire, swimming pool at Wembley also witnessed the dedication of the Thames beach opposite thq Tower wharf to' the children of London to use as a tidal playground. It is hard to say which, new innovation is likely to give the most pleasure. The wonderful new pool is the largest indoor swimming bath in the world. Its deep end is I6ft deep. Its diving boards are sensationally high, and its filtration plant is on© of the most elaborate in existence. The act which gives the children permission to usq the beach as their own forever is thq first move in the Tower Hill improvement scheme, which is to make Tower. Hill into the park it was a hundredyears ago. The King and Queen and the Prince of Wales are all personally, interested in the scheme. No more ambitious beautifying project has been known in London for years. It is proposed to replace the dreary buildings near the Tower with beautiful pubuo gardens and attractive walks, from which new views of London and its river , may be seen. There are 60,000 children in the neighbourhood, ana/ apart, from their little beach, special playgrounds will bo provided for them* —‘ Weekly Scotsman.’ JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN’S LIBRARY. When Sir - Austen Chamberlain opened a few weeks ago the library ac his father’s old home at Highbury, Birmingham, as a memorial, the rooin appeared as it did m “ Joe’s ” lifetime. Mr _ Joseph Chamberlain built the house in 18Vy, and named it after Highbury, where he lived for ten years a generation earlier. The house has belonged to Sir Austen Chamberlain since his father’s death, and has been used for various types of. hospital. Two years ago Sir Austen . Chamberlain gave it to the corporation, who now use. it as a hostel tor aged women. , The library, was the scene of; the so-called “Tobacco Parliament ” during the critical days of the organisation of the Liberal Association,, the Homo Rule split, and the formation of the Unionist Party. Frequent conferences were held there, at which Dr Dale, Mr J. T. Bunco, ; and Mr George. Dixon were present. Among the guests who visited Highbury were John Morley, Sir Williaia Harcourt, Sir Charles Dilke, Lord Rosebery, 1 the Duke of Devonshire, and Lord Balfour. t.At intervals ,■ in the Tariff Reform campaign,''says the London ‘ Daily Telegraph,’/Mr Chamberlain retired there fqr r quiet week-ends among his flowers. In the last phase of his life ho.liked to be wheeled round the : rock'garden and the lily 1 pond, and one of the spectators at the opening of the memorial was Mrs Bishopp, whose late husband, gardener to Mr, Chamberlain, used to whefel him. . She still lives in ohe of the gardeners’ cottages on the* estate, and the entrance to her house is adorned with flowers growing in brass crucibles ordered by the great statesman.. Among the relics in the library fire Mr Chamberlain’s black Wedgwood vase, tobacco jar, find silver biscuit box, and they will occupy their old places on the mantel. shelf. One of his famous monocles was also on view/ ' • ; REPOSITORY FOR PLAYS. - The vaults of St. James’s Palace, which used to be occupied by His Majesty’s wine, are .- now receiving the scrips of all the plays licensed by the Lord Chamberlain during the last twenty-five years (says the ‘ Weekly Scotsman ’). This vast accumulation of dramatic talent is . being transferred from the cellars of the office of works to make, rooin for the next twenty-five years’ output of plays, and since more than 20,0(10 pltys have been licensed since 1850, and each one has been carefully retd by the Lord Chamberlain and his assistants, one can form some idea of the vastness of the task. It is strange to think of all those gay and tragic plays, representing so many hours of amusement and diversion, hidden, away in dark vaults, where no one speaks their .word?.' Many of them, of course, are still very much alive, and are still performed and enjoyed,but the majority have long been .forgotten,-, and will perhaps, never bo' played again. A new play which, it is safe ,to say, will not lapse into oblivion for a long time, is John Drinkwater’s, ‘A Man’s House.’ It was in rehearsal at the Old Vic in. preparation, for the Malvern Festival when the last English mail left. Tins beautiful play is written round Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, and shows the reactions of an average Jewish family to the events following the. Crucifixion. Jt particularly emphasises Christ as the Healer, and is dedicated' to Mr Drinkwater’s physician. Lord Horder. AN APPEAL FOR THE HERRING, The destruction of the herring industry would be ; a calamity -for Scotland, but there’is no short road'to the industry’s preservation. There is undoubtedly truth in the allegation that protective tariffs here which exclude the products of other countries are iq some degree responsible for the retaliatory exclusion by. such countries of British exports like herrings, and it is just - as well, that this, half-invisible consequence of. Protection should be adequately emphasised. .But facts are facts, and it is as necessary to deal with them as, to deplore them. Thera may he a case for some Government assistance to the industry, such as the Secretary for Scotland outlined last week, but nothing can really help it except an increased demand for. herrings. _ And to appeal for that means appealing to the individual consumer* for there. is no hulk demand for herrings in tho home market. The appeal ought to be made .and pressed by the most effective publicity methods known. If every family off the dole undertook to eat herrings once a week for breakfast, as it might do to uts own great advantage, the industry would see the road back to prosperity opening up. it would mean more : competition for the' British hen and the British pig, but they canwell afford to share their command of, the British breakfast tablq qntli the" British herring,