LONDON LETTER

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3717, 2 November 1926, Page 2

LONDON LETTER

September 9, 1926. OWNERS AND MINERS, Mr Churchill calls the coal deadlock an ignominious breakdown oT cojnnion sense. Jlis Ministerial position compels him to be tactful. Business people put it much stronger than that. W hat may not much longer be our basic industry still remains our least intelligent and efficient one. The Samuel report, purchased for the coal muddlers by the taxpayers at a cost of over £20,000,0(10, raised a flicker of hope. Here was a chance of getting the coal industry to shed its troglodyte obsoletism and turn itself into an up-to-date concern. A period of thriving peace might at long last ensue on constant bankrupting strife. How utterly the chance has been thrown away by both sides now remains a matter of humdrum history. BLUNDERING ON. From the start of the trouble the miners’ leaders have displayed no sagacity. They snubbed the Trade Union Council. They ignored the Labor Party. They stuck to a policy of dumb non possumus. Mr Cook’s proclivities found vent in any amount of provocative oratory. Ho coined the fatal slogan that proved a dead albatross round the federation’s neck. Put not a word of real guidance or hopeful suggestion was forthcoming. Mr Mac Donald and his party were

left groping in utter dark. They were expected to do something, but were never given a hint what. And so the brilliant generalship of the miners’ chosen men brought about the present impasse. Instead of being able to force the Samuel report on the owners, the owners can compel them to accept almost any terms they like. THE GREAT MELLON.

The distinguished Treasury Chief of the United States, Mr Andrew Mellon, has come to London, and will no doubt have many talks with our own Chancellor, on war debts and European stability. Mr Mellon has had meetings with big financiers in France for the purpose of reviewing the economic situation on the Continent generally, though, as he says himself, he is merely on holiday bent. But that is always the way with great American financicrs-r—they like to combine business with pleasure when they come to Europe—and to a man of Mr Mellon’s great industrial interests and wonderful capacity tor hard work the idea of a quiet holiday is absurd. He is, bv the way, reputed to be worth £2(XM)00,000, and is thus the fourth richest man in the United States. It is difficult to imagine any Chancellor of the Exchequer or Cabinet Minister on this side possessing even a fraction of the immense wealth of the United States Treasury Chief. AN ISLAND DIFFERENCE.

One thing both Guernsey and Jersey were above all anxious to do in their joint resistance to Imperial Government’s fiscal demands. Like Lord Palmerston's Cabinet, they wanted to hang together in order to avoid hanging separately. But, unfortunately for them, a rift has developed* in the mutual lute. Guernsey’s proposal was that a joint sum should he arranged between them as the fixed amount to he paid to Mhitehall, and that further assurances should be given that both islands would do all possible to discourage income tax and death duty evasion by wealthy persons taking up their residence there. To this .Jersey rather demurred. And the point at issue between the two islands is somewhat instructive. .Jersey pointed out that the latter provision would not affect Guernsey at all, hut would be ol much concern to Jersey, because lor some reason it is Jersey that is the lavorod fiscal sanctuary with English millionaires. There is one such settler now whose fortune runs well into £17,000,000. If these millionaire exiles from British Treasury spheres were driven away the island would lose heavily through the vacating of many line, rateable residences. GARAGE EXPERIMENT.

An interesting and significant cxpenment is being tried by the Lqndon Underground in connection with its now Word on extension that opened tins week. A large motor garage is being built by the railway people next to the station lor the convenience of residents living in districts beyond Morden. who may wish to drive to and from the line terminus in their cars. This is an entirely new departure, and one that, in these days of garage trouble in London, deserves encouragement. If the Morden experiment answers well, similar accommodation for motorists will bo provided at all the Underground’s outlying stations. The Morden garage will have an area of about 10,000 square teet, and space for some thirty cars and seventy

cycles. It will be equipped with washing facilities, petrol pumps, and a complete repair workshop. CITY SUPERMAN. Sir John Ellerman, who has just loaned a London brewery of which he is a director over a million sterling to purchase licensed property, is a city superman of finance. Were he an American bis romantic career and remarkable personality would till columns in the newspapers. But in this conservative Old Country very fenpeople know ot him except as a mime in the shipping world. He started life as an accountant’s clerk in Hull, whore his father was Consul, hut today he might, more truly than any other man in this country, he described as our Napoleon ot finance. His huge shipping interests, immensely augmented during the war, are only a small part of Sir John’s financial activities. Mo is heavily in the brewing trade, owns several wellknown weekly journals, had a big holding in ‘The Times.’ owns vast real estate properties, and dabbles in other investments on a big scale. He is probably one of our richest millionaires, and bis hobby is hard work and balance-sheets. DEAR OLD SCOTLAND YARD. An American journalist, who specialises in inicrmttional crime stories, declares that, leaving out Madame Tussaud’s and the Albert Museum, New Scotland Yard is the most Early Victorian thing in London. He has a real admiration for our police, but his views about our detective ){jg Five, so persistently boomed in the London newspapers, are even lower than Mr Sherlock Holmes's. Not alone on the Bayswater murder

case, but scores of other important crimes where Scotland Yard has been hopelessly bullied, this American authority bases an opinion that the . Y aid’s methods are quite archaic. “ Unless a criminal either gives himself away, or is given away by one of his pals,” he asserts, “the Scotland Yard people are done. They could never work the thing out off their own bat.” And he makes one curious point. The Yard now wants the “girl bandit.” So it publishes a description of her. That description, of an obviously alert, smart, and up-to-date young woman, while beautifully vague as to her physical characteristics, is quite precise as to her clothes and the color of her stockings! ONE UP ON NEW YORK. Where is the longest railway tunnel in the. world Y Few' people, if they were asked that question, would dream of answering: “In London.” Yet that will be strictly true after this week, when the new Morden extension of the Underground is opened. Passengers will (hen be able to travel from Morden to Colder s Green either via. the. Bank or via Charing Cross, the former and the latter 15 miles, every yard of it by tunnel. The next longest railway tunnel is the Simplon, which pierces the Alps from Brigue in Switzerland to Isello in Italy. Most people would imagine that must bo much longer than any London tunnel, yet it is only 122 miles. The St. Cotthard tunnel is three miles shorter than the Simplon, which in its turn is over four miles shorter than London’s record tunnel. New York will be wild! It is Avorth noting that the Underground, stopping at twenty-four intermediate sta-

tions, will make its record tunnel journey in forty-nine minutes, whereas the non-stop Simplon expresses actually take twenty minutes. “ PUSSYFOOT” JOHNSON. 1 had a long talk with Mr “Pussyfoot” Johnson to-day, and was agreeably surprised to find that his outlook on the temperance question, which was ever so fanatical, has become philosophic. Needless to say, he had many good stories as to how the “ bootleggers ” outwitted the Prohibition officers. Every species of ingenuity lias been attempted. Visitors from Europe had come over wearing the most innocent-looking vests, but examination had proved them to be made of the finest rubber, and capable when blown out of containing a considerable amount of whisky. Even tlie linings of stockings, socks, and beautifully-made leather trunks had been thus adapted. At an elaborate funeral the coffin contained bottles of Canadian beer. Even torpedoes have been discharged from the Canadian shore to lonely parts of the American border, and picked up by duckhunters and fishermen, who had come primarily to secure liquor, and not birds or*fish. Mr Johnson had no illusion that England would ever become dry—certainly not in his liletime. But the English public-house was not comparable to the American saloon. The latter was, to use his words, “a fierce evil.” A BELATED MEMORIAL. After five years’ discussion Portland, which has supplied the stone for half the numerous war memorials throughout the country, is to erect a tribute to its own dead. Lack of funds has been the cause of the delay, hut there should be plenty of money in the district, as the quarries, even working overtime, are unable to produce material fast enough to supply the needs of all the great buildings in course of construction in London. It has been want of Portland stone that has held up the Guards’ memorial on the Morse Guards’ Parade, which monument was to have been completed in June. A novel suggestion was that the quarry owners should give the material for Portland’s tribute, and that the stonemasons should voluntarily work it into shape in their spare time; but, though many workmen were prepared to give their services, the proposal fell through. The public conscience now seems to be touched, and the necessary funds are coming in.

HATS IN CHURCH. No one lias ever yet suggested a method of dealing satisfactorily with gentlemen’s hats iu church. Ol course, if the church is not crowded it is easy enough. One places the hat beside one on the seat. But il the church is crowded! The problem is one that must often have worried minds which would have been better occupied with higher tilings. All the same, one cannot recommend the way out of the difficulty which has been discovered by one ingenious Londoner. He was seen in a crowded church on a recent Sunday morning taking a kind of coathook out of his pocket. This he calmly screwed into the back of the seat iii front of him, and on it lie hung his hat,_ unscrewing the hook and returning it to his pocket at the end of the service. He was not, it appears, a regular worshipper at the church, and one imagines, indeed, that a repetition of the operation might get him into hot water. THE NEW ‘ MIKADO.’ The idea of new settings and now costumes for ‘The Mikado’ lias not pleased all the Savoyards. I was talking to one of the most couserva-

live of them—an old man now retired. “I shall avoid seeing ‘The Mikado’ any more,” he said. “Surely it is absurd to think of ‘The Mikado ’ apart from the settings and the costumes we know. Did not Gilbert make drawings and help to plan them himself; j The essential spirit of ‘The Mikado’ is in those costumes and those scenes—what would we not give to have the original costumes and settings of the Shakespeare playst When the old scenery and costumes go I don’t think the modernising process will stop there.” It was no use suggesting to him that the operas perhaps needed this kind of freshening process to make appeal to the younger generation. He simply shook his head. “Von must he carolul ol tradition in the theatre, or woe betide you !" he said. MILITARY BANDS. Rumors of the abolition ol military bands are devoid ol Inundation. No doubt the wish is father to the thought among private musicians, whose organisations have been doing their best to prevent Army bands accepting civil engagements. The authorities would never be so shortsighted as to offend the pride and susceptibilities ol every soldier by depriving him ol his hand, or to dispense with such an excellent aid lo recruiting and marching. Were they

to take such drastic action on the ground of economy, which could be their only justification, they would be pursuing a penny wise and pound foolish policy. After all, the annual cost to the State of each regimental band works out at a little over £BOO, plus about £40,0U0 for the upkeep of the Kneller Hall School of Music. The issue of full-dress uniforms to bandsmen serving at home is limited to fifty per unit for playing-out only, and not for parade purposes, except in the case of the Household Troops, where pre-war full-dress has been restored to all ranks. OIL BOOM COMING? An influential friend in the oil trade tells me that he expects to see in October an oil boom not unlike last year’s rubber sensation. For some months now there have been indications that the trend of prices of all oil products was upwards, and the strength of the market has not been tine solely to the coal stiv.e, although this has' resulted in a considerablyincreased demand lor fuel oils. The expected settlement of the strike should not cause any reaction to take place, and shrewd city observers are now quietly buying the shares of the better-known oil-producing companies in the expectation of an early rise. The public, however, should be warned against spurious flotations. 1 know personally of three projects for which the promoters are only waiting a favorable opportunity, and not in one of these three cases is the public likely to obtain real value for money.

ANOTHER ’VARSITY BOAT RACE. Oxford has won the boat race! Not the classic race from Barnes to Mortlake, but one between the “scouts” of Oxford and eight of the college servants of Cambridge. Every year this stirring event is rowed off during the first week of September. AH through the Long Vacation the Tsis and the Cam have no rest. For though all the rowing men have gone, there are still eights and fours and tub pairs going up and down ceaselessly. There are still coaches howling at their boats through megaphones. And all this in preparation for the race between the college servants. 1 cannot speak of the “bed-makers,” or whatever the Cambridge people call themselves, but the “ scouts ’’—these are, of course, the servants at Oxford —are keen as mustard, it is curious how their best oarsmen seem to come from the rowing college. Magdalen, for example, which is par excellence a college of oarsman. usually has three or four men in the scouts’ eight.