LONDON TOPICS

Evening Star, Issue 22688, 30 June 1937, Page 7

LONDON TOPICS

FRUIT OF IMPERIAL CONFERENCE COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OH DEFENCE POLICY DBKE OF WINDSOR NEGOTIATES FOR HOUSE IH ENGLAND [From Our Correspondent.} [By Air Mail.] , . June 10. The Imperial Conference' has now reached the stage at which the plenary assembly receives and considers the reports and recommendations of various sub-committees These include the two outstanding' questions of Imperial defence plans and economic relations, and it is not likely that any of the subcommittees’ <main conclusions will be challenged by the main conference. One solid achievement of the conrerenco discussions will bo a mutual effort to keep the British . merchant ensign flying in the Pacific. But that is by no means all that has accrued from these talks. Complete understanding of Imperial defence policy as a whole has emerged, with an assurance ot uniform equipment and strategic solidarity, and last but not least, our oversea statesmen, after getting behind the scenes in European politics . close up, have undoubtedly modified their ideas about Geneva. They stand loyal to the League as a peace institution, but are resolute in recognising that the Anglo-Saxon Empire must possess means of defending its own Pax Britannica. GOLD ANXIETY. ' Three causes contribute to the record gold sales in London which are now 'having a disturbing effect on the City. The high price of gold has encouraged the working of lower-grade ores not previously marketable. A considerable quantity of gold is now coming from the Soviet’s Russian mines. Fear of collapse in price has caused a general unloading of hoarded gold. All this makes more probable the lowering by President Roosevelt of America’s fixed gold price, an event which has for tome time been agitating other business interests besides South Africa's gold mines. But the shrewder City view is that the supply of hoarded gold may soon be exhausted, that the Russian supplies cannot be maintained, and that our Exchange Fund is absorbing most of the London sales. But the t fact remains that the London price is well below America’s official price. This is an anomaly that may not long continue. BUDGET HANDICAP. Some of the London papers may have slightly overdone their bouquets to Mr Neville Chamberlain over his courage in abandoning the ill-starred N.D.O. tax. There is no question the Prime Minister acted wisely and bravely, but politics will have reached a queer pass in this country if a statesman is esteemed according to the mistakes be admits. It would have been much ■ wiser, and would not have made bravery necessary, had the N.D.C. project never been mooted. But here it is fair to emphasise that Mr Chamberlain had to face a heavy handicap. In the normal course, until last year, he would, before committing himself to those proposals, have privately conferred with representative business experts concerned. That prudent and normal course was not taken on this occasion, simply because the scandal of last year’s Budget leakage was still weighing on the Chancellor’s mind. That, at any rate, is the view taken by usually well-informed people. WIRELESS IN INDIA. Great importance is attached by the Indian Government to the development of broadcasting in that country. But the physical difficulties are immense, and the money available is scanty. India has some 700,000 villages, and to provide each of these with only one broadcasting set each would be costly. Besides, few of them are within reach of electricity, and batteries are out of the question. A beginning has been made. The proposal is to make the headman of each village responsible for the operation of the set and its loud speaker, and to disseminate not merely news and entertainment, but advice about agriculture, health, and public questions. The language difficulties are considerable, but not insurmountable, and, as the Indians are a talkative people, the community as a whole would soon have the advantage, of all the material broadcast. MR BALDWIN’S WAY. Unlike the other two Prime Ministers who survive, Mr Baldwin did not interfere with his Cabinet colleagues in their departmental work. One of them told mo recently that in two years he had had two interviews with his chief, oue' when he was summoned, and the other when he thought' he had something important enough to be laid before the head of the Government. The two meetings lasted less than 20 minutes. Mr Chamberlain will probably hold a tighter rein, but he will be equally chary of fussy interference. Someone asked Mr Baldwin the other day what he meant to do when' he retired. “ I can tell you two things I won’t do,” he replied. “ I won’t interfere with the man at the wheel and I won’t spit on the deck.” WHAT’S WRONG. The Air Minister appears unaware of growing public apprehension as to the efficiency of his department. We are constantly being told by London papers who bragged about our “ mastery of the air ” at a time when vastly better German planes were chasing our pilots on the western front that we have the finest pilots and planes in existence. There is no reason to doubt the splendid quality of our airmen, but, in face of ghastly casualty lists which include seven new victims during last week-end, the question arises whether wo are giving them the right, training or the right Are the R.A.F. Brass Hats putting stunt spectacularism before solid efficiency? Past experience of both the Navy and the Army gives some backing to that doubt. Or, on the other hand, is our flying equipment as sound and perfect as it is made out to be? Doubts on these points might be dispelled if the Air Ministry’s control inspired a little more confidence in its alert activity. DUKE OF WINDSOR. There is not much doubt, when he sacrificed dynastic ; duty to personal desire, the Duke of Windsor’s once immense ■ popularity was badly shaken. But it - is equally true that since his marriage the Duke’s shares have gone up ap- i predably. Two dissociated factors may I explain this. Popular sympathy re- ; acted strongly towards H.R.H. owing 1 to the mplj simplicity with which he i

faced a trying ordeal. ‘ In all that he said and did, and not least in his efforts to prevent undesirable publicity, the Duke • managed to ■be entirely dignified and yet perfectly easy and natural. Moreover, it is certain that public opinion warmed towards the Duke in resentment of what was a sad blunder—the perfectly futile, and quite unnecessary last-moment episcopal at-; tempt to step his Anglican marriage ceremony. We shall have the Duke and Duchess of Windsor back here before long. The Duke is negotiating for a house in the best hunting country of the Midlands. . ,

POSSIBLE PRIMATE. By the retirement of Dr Strong from the see of Oxford the episcopal bench will lose one of its outstanding personalities. Few men have been longer or more intimately .connected with university life, and his authority on all matters in that sphere is recognised. At one time he. was regarded as a possible, Archbishop of York, if not of Canterbury, ..but when he accepted transfer from Rip on in order to return to Oxford, where he had been Dean of ■ Christ, Church, .it was.evident that his ambition did not lie in that direction. Perhaps his lack of parochial , experl enoe was . regarded as a disqualification for IBishopthorpe or Lambeth. His friends have difficulty in believing that ho is 75.. Dr. Strong,-giving ■ evidence on the position of Indian students at British, universities, onco told how a young prince missed his cricket blue. Ho was a superb batsman, giving promise of being another Ranjitsinjhi, and ho was also a tolerable bowler. But he regarded it as beneath a gentleman of his distinction to be a fielder. Accordingly he had to be omitted from the University eleven, and he went back to India in the unshakeable conviction that nothing but colour prejudice had prevented him from getting the blue to which he was entitled. That was. a good many years ago, and probably none of his compatriots would repeat that mistake to-day. BLOW TO SPANISH NATIONALISTS Gc neral Don Emilio Mola’s death is a grevious blow to General Franco’s cause. Incidentally, he is the second Spanish officer of general’s rank killed by an air crash since the civil war started. In its early days General Sanjurjo was the victim of a similar fatality. General Mola, who was born in Cuba half a century ago, belonged to an old Spanish family, and , was recognised even by his enemies as a soldier of exceptional ability and, above all, personal probity. His prompt activities in the North of Spain, where he has all through commanded the Nationalist forces, distracted the Madrid Government’s attention from the south at the vital moment when General Franco’s Moroccan levies were arriving from Africa. As chief of police before the revolution, General Mola gave persistent warnings to the then

Madrid regime, and had these not gone unheeded it is possible that Spain might have been spared its present martyrdom.

ALL IN THE STORY. Hitler’s naval guns startled ancient echoes in Almeria, the pleasant little seaport known to the Romans, after their final conquest of Spain in n.c. 19, by the name of Urei. It was an important place even in those days, but reached its summit as the foremost port of Granada under the Moors in the Middle Ages. Its population then was just about what Chester’s is to-day. Its merchant galloons traded with lands as distant as Egypt and Syria, and its corsairs preyed on the fleets of neighbouring Christian States. In 1147 it was captured by Alphonse VII. of Castile and his Genoese troops, but quickly retaken by the Moors, who held it till the Spaniards finally took it in 1489. It is famous for its white grapes and esparto grass, boasts a Gothic cathedral dating to 1524, with massive embattled walls and belfry, and is overlooked by the dismantled Castillo de San Cristobal, whose four Moorish towers peep exotioally above streets of modern houses.

’SOMETHING SPANISH IN YOUR WHISKERS! The long-drawn-out civil upheaval in Spain is having sumptuary as well as political reactions elsewhere. When our troops returned homo from the Crimean War, bearded like the Paid, the clean-shaven Georgian fashion gave way to a heavily-whiskered vogue. In the same way, perhaps to convey an impression that they are just back from the Peninsula trenches, the Left Wing gilded youth of Paris and the larger provincial towns are all sporting Spanish side-whiskers. Prance sets the pace for London in these matters, and our fashionable youths, a surprising number of whom think they are Left Wing revolutionaries, aro following suit. The effect, taken in hulk at West End night resorts, is distinctly romantic. These cockney bloods look, especially when the “ sideboards ” aro emphasised by a yellow tie and Spanish felt hat, like so many aneemic amateur matadors. But the Chelsea art practitioners wore si dewhiskers before Largo Caballero was heard of. RED ROSES. ‘Twenty Years After,’ the admirable yyar resume, deals in its current issue

with Third Ypres. This terrific battle, the fiercest of the whole Western front fighting, endured from 3.50 a.m. on July 31 to November 10, 1917, 14 weeks of gallant endeavour against long odds. Three advances were planned for the opening assault, two of a thousand yards eacli to the Blue and Black Lines, and a third, if possible, of another 1,500 .yards to the G-reen Line. Few of the nine British divisions engaged, including the Guards, wading knee-deep through Flanders mud under fire from pill-boxed Goman machine gunners, managed to get beyond the second objective, and some hardly secured the first. ‘ Twenty Years After’ says; “ The 55th Division, on the left of the 111. Corps, did better, though suffering heavily, on© of its detachments advancing well beyond the Green Line. This fine division of West Lancashire Territorials was to cover itself with glory in April, 1918.” That was at Givenchy, where the 55til’s memorial stands, with tho terse inscription, “ They win or die who wear the rose.” OLYMPIA IMPRESSIONS. It is curious how the Royal military tournament stabilises its effects. Thus year after year we find the Royal Marines beating she band at ordinary.

everybody else at physical drill. I do not infer that anybody in Air Force blue can beat the gymnastic display by the Aldershot P.D. staff, but that somehow the R.A.F. contrive to introduce more novelty and originality into their evolutions. If it came to a test of company drill nowadays, I fancy the Guards would take second place to either the jollies or the sky pilots. Another impressive fact is the far greater dash and elan imparted to the motor cycle display than to any of the ornate cavalry rides. Mechanisation is not, it seems, going to be fatal to the Army’s exhibitionism. Finally, how hearty is the welcome given to the sailors who juggle with guns and gun-carriages. Any of these deft and lusty A.B.s, one would think, could on discharge get a sound job with any enterprising firm of furniture removers! SPORTING “ LETS.” There is this summer a welcome boom, in the letting of Scottish sporting, estates. More of. these have been, rented through London agents than in any year since 1929. It is now practically impossible to. secure any con-, siderable sporting concession for’, the current season, either for grouse or. deer. The list of renters is headed by English county and business people, but visitors from overseas are a good second. Several French noblemen and a number of wealthy Indian Princes will be amongst the distinguished sportsmen who join in the August exodus from the south to the Scottish moors and deer forests. The estates have let, too, at far better prices than have been obtainable at any time since the economic blizzard l hit this country and the Continent. West Inverness is the most favoured district, but the general ■demand lias been good, and late comers have found themselves frozen out. WHICH IS ABSURD! Tills week’s eclipse of the sun began the day after it ended. Its duration was 7min 4scc, longer than any since 737 A.D., but visible only from a narrow track across the Pacific Ocean which crosses the “ date . line,” with the result that it started on Wednesday, but ended" on Tuesday! The longest eclipse in human history will not bo duo till July Sth, 2168. That will be not quite half a minute longer. As the mostly uninhabited islands of the Pacific track offer no facilities for erecting scientific equipment, only three small expeditions were despatched to view this week’s phenomenon. New Zealand, America, and Japan supplied these. Tire main interest was photography of the corona, visible only whilst the moon totally obscures the sun, and a most thrilling spectacle. The corona is a sort of solar halo that extends for at least two million miles. The camera shows it as a varying Jin aura round) a disc aa big as a shilling*

LONDON’S SEAMEN. Eighteen smart and slick; Thames barges, manned by London's Cockney counterpart of Brixbam’s sturdy Devon trawlers, raced from Gravesend to the Mouse • Lightship and back last week. The annual event aroused exceptional enthusiasm on this occasion because Coronation year gave a_ special cachet to the contest. The winning crew is honourably known in all the cosy Thames-side bar parlours between Wapping and Southend. It is a tragedy that these barges, which still perpetuate in this ago of miraculous mechanism the very lines of Hengist and Hoirsa’s fighting ships, are a dwindling fleet. Some hundreds remain in active commission, and just now paying their.way handsomely, but no new ones are building. With their going will vanish also a sturdy seafaring community invaluable to the life of this island, whether in peace or war, but especially in war. It was Henry Rood, known as “the golden dustman,” who instituted the annual barge race nearly a hundred years ago. HERALDS AND THINGS. The ancient animosity between Eton and Harrow is just now in full blast. Captain Margesson, the Government’s Chief Whip, himself an old Harrovian, appealed to wearers of the same old school tie at Westminster to come to his rescue, in view of the fact that about a hundred M.P.s, who . are old) Etonians, were away celebrating the Fourth of June on their youthful pastures. This is all very well, but meanwhile a bitter exchange of discourtesies has been taking place elsewhere. An old Etonian recalled, harmlessly enough, how he and three other Etonians blew a trumpet fanfare as sham heralds for Queen Victoria when she returned to Windsor from her Jubilee celebrations in London. Whereon, writing from the College of Arms, an old Harrovian observed that tlio old Etonian was old enough' to have learned that heralds do not blow trumpets. This has caused deep old Etonian annoyance, hut the old Harrovian is right. Heralds had their attendant trumpeters, much inferior officers to the wearers of the tabard. EPSOM FUN. Here is a true tale of last week’s Derby. I went to Epsom to see the big race with a famous sporting expert. We rendezvoused at his flat, where he was waiting In correct Derby rig, with racing glasses slung over his shoulder complete. On our way out we ran into the charwoman. Respectfully she asked could my friend indicate a good horse to back. After a moment’s solemn pause, during which he looked very like a sporting edition of Marcus Aurelius, the racing specialist recommended her to “ put something each way ” on Solfo, She thanked him jvith lerrow*

and we fared forth te the Derby* When •we saw Midday Sun streak past the winning post, followed by a com* pleto outsider in 100-to-l Sandsprite, with Le Grand Due third, my .friend’-* conscience pricked him. “ Sorry for that charwoman,” he murmured. Late? we encountered that worthy. She was wreathed in smiles. It seems the liftman had given her a hot tip for Midday Sun, and, like a shrewd psychologist, she had preferred his advice to that of the famous tipster. “ year,” said my subdued sporting friend, “ I shall consult the liftman.’i