LONDON TOPICS

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4327, 17 August 1937, Page 7

LONDON TOPICS

July 15. ‘ Though the first alarms, cieateu ivhen it became known that France intends to suspend control along her Spanish frontier, have been to some extent allaved by her subsequent explanations and assurances, her decision certainlv has not eased Britain’s task of finding a plan of conciliation. From official statements in Paris it would seem that France does not greatly approve our acceptance of the role of mediator, which she fears will ‘ only mean further delay.” "W hen international relations are in such a perilous tangle as they are at the moment, however, delav is far less dangerous than hurry. While one can understand and sympathise if French patience has been strained bv the bickerings and subterfuges of last Friday’s meeting of the Powers, one can only hope that her Government null prove strong enough to restrain her from a course of action towards Spain which we could not endorse. France knows as well as we do the value for peace of Franco-Bntish solidarity, and it is therefore inconceivable that she will let her extremists force her to take a road along which we will not follow. SINO-JAPANESE CRISIS. The sudden outbreak of hostilities between Chinese and Japanese Hoops in North China has taken diplomatic circles here completely by surprise. 1 he reason given in the cabled reports that the trouble arose through a Chinese garrison mistaking Japanese manoeuvres for the real thing is hardly convincing. One can hardly believe that any Japanese army officer in his senses would carrv out a sham assault upon a walled Chinese city, and if such tactics were adopted it is only reasonable to assume that it was with a view to being provocative. I am assured, however, on the most reliable authority that our diplomats have been satisfied for some time past that the Japanese Government has no intention of pursuing the bellicose policy of its predecessors in relation to China. On the face of it, the incident suggests that the Japanese military party has been playing a solo hand. Unless the Government in Tokio is strong enough to control its militarists in North China, the present conflict. round Peking may lead to a really acute international crisis in the Far East. PARTITIONING PALESTINE. The report of the Royal Commission on Palestine is a monumental document, both textually and in regard to the importance of the issues which it raises. Its appearance is likely to be accompanied by far-reaching repercussions throughout the world. At first glance, its two most remarkable features are, that it is the unanimous report of the members of the commission and that the Government is prepared to accept its recommendations, and, if possible, implement them. In those two respects the document must be almost unique among the productions of Royal commissions, but though the Government is willing it is still far from certain whether it will lie in its power to put the reconimendatons of the commission into effect. Put into the briefest terms, the commission advocates annulment of our existing mandate over Palestine and the substitution of a new one, under which the country is to be partitioned into two separate sovereign States—the one Jewish and the other Arab —with a third portion the recognised Holy Land of the Christian faith, including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth, to be held in trust by Britain for all time. It is a stupendous change, and it cannot be brought about without the assent- of the League of Nations and the United States—with whom we have a treaty recognising our mandate —as well as that of the Jews and Arabs. With regard to the latter two. all that can be said at present is that neither appeared to be enamoured of the proposal. EAST IS EAST. Any notion that Mr Gandhi is a back number in India has been completely dispelled by the sway he has exercised over the constitutional crisis. He opposed the decision by the Congress Party to fight the elections, but, having been overruled, has now persuaded that party, in the six provinces where they hold a majority, to abandon their decision not to accept office. He had the less difficulty perhaps in doing so, since respectable emolument attaches to Ministerial functioning. But here we may admire a sharp contrast between the political mentality of East and West. Our legislators have recently voted themselves an augmented salary. The Indian legislators are handing over to their party funds all they receive above a bare subsistence sum, and are actually proposing to reduce drastically the standard of Ministerial payments established by the Act. Yet all the chief provincial Ministers were getting was £2OO a month. BOLSHEVIK REACTIONS. Those who have made a close-up impartial study of Russia since the revolution, <now a period of 20 years, believe that the theory and practice of Bolshevism have undergone a change. The pioneer Bolsheviks, utterly rejecting any form of nationalism, were fanatically"dedicated to engineering a worldwide revolution. All this has disappeared. The Third International now regards Fascism, not Capitalism, as the enemy, and its machinations, so far from being purely international, are now essentially national. The supreme interest is the advancement of Moscow. This change is the basic quarrel betwen the disciples of Stalin and Trotsky. What it boils down to is that human nature has triumphed over sang froid theory, as it was bound to do, and to-day enthusiasm for the world revolution has faded out before the fires of self-interested nationalism. Today Soviet Russia is normally selfcentred, and its diplomacy is conforming to that of nationalised Europe. These are facts of vital importance. WHAT WOULD LAWRENCE HAVE SAID? Perhaps it was well that Aircraftsman Shaw did not survive that motor bike crash which ended the most romantic career of our generation. It seems a hard thing to say, but it is distressing to think what his reactions might have been to the Government’s Palestine policy. Colonel Lawrence of Arabia, in his epic work ‘ The Seven Pillars,’ does not disguise the agony of mind with which he eventually realised that the politicians had, according to his views, betrayed the trust of their

Arab allies, whose gallant and skilful fighting tactics contributed so largely to Allenby’s defeat of the Turks in the East. The chivalry of Lawrence was quixotic in its fibre, and he tells us in his book how he wrestled with himself to decide whether, when the Arab undertaking was plainly to be broken, he should persevere in his lone-hand crusade in the desert. It may comfort his knightly shade to know that to the potent influence of his personality, even after death, the Arabs owe the fact that their half of the terras is as favourable as it is. ECONOMIC SEX DUEL. it was during the Great War that the feminine battalions stormed the Whitehall citadels. They have now won another triumphant victory. They have at length secured not absolute equality of pay, but a much nearer approach to it. Women now form a big proportion of our Civil Service staffs, and in future those who enter Government service will receive not less than 80 per cent, of what men get who are employed on similar work, with the further stipulation that the discrimination is never to exceed in ajiy case £175 per annum. Ardent feminists and strong misogynists alike may rage at this decision, though from diametricallv opposed angles. Yet on both sides the wisdom of the serpent enters into the bargain. The men believe that the nearer equality is attained in salaries for men and women the fewer women will find employment. The women, sensing some such denouement, are quite content to leave a 20 per cent, sex-safety margin. A rather intriguing economic situation. GINGER POP. No doubt it is the public school spirit that makes our fighting services so prodigal in nicknames. Hardly an officer of high rank in either the Navy, the Army, or the Air Force but has some popular service appellation. The better known and better liked the Brass Hat is, the more sure he is to be fjius distinguished by those serving under him. Sometimes the nickname _ is founded on personal characteristics, sometimes on an outstanding incident in the career of the officer concerned. But it usually attaches quite early in his career, and spreads as he mounts the service ladder. The new Cominan-der-in-Chiof at Portsmouth, Admiral the Earl of Cork, is not an exception to the rule. His red hair naturally earned the nickname of “ Ginger,” and a humorous association of ideas translated “ Cork ” into “ Pop.” So the late Admiral Sir William Fisher’s successor is. alow and aloft in the Navy, just “ Ginger Pop.” AEROBATICS AT SIXTY-NINE. There is not much doubt that, had the flying era started 20 years earlier than it did, Lord Londonderry would have been a famous air ace. He not only owns three fine planes of the latest makes, but is a certified pilot. It usually takes an apt pupil about 15 hours to'qualify for a “ blind flying ” certificate, which is additional to the normal air pass certificate, but Lord Londonderry managed it in Bhrs lOmin. He is now 69, within a year of the Psalmist’s “ allotted span,” but is nevertheless going in for an advanced course in aerobatics. It is perhaps a ( fair assumption that cavalrymen, who , have a good balance on a horse, do well in the air. Lord Londonderry, when he was Viscount Castlereagh, was in the Life Guards, and a great enthusiast at trick gymkhana riding. He is the richest coal-owner in the country, and his son has had practical experience down below in a miner’s overalls. WIDE WIDE SEA. Even with the liveliest imagination it is impossible for a landsman to realise the immensity of the task on which the American warships have been engaged in their search for Miss Earhart and Captain Noonan. An aeroplane is smaller in comparison with an ocean expanse than a needle in a haystack. During the war, a British seaplane after rescuing two airmen whose plane had been brought down by a German airship, which also crippled the seaplane, was adrift on the North Sea. It wq> only 50 miles from the east coast of this country. But, despite the crowds of naval craft of all sorts that were knocking about off our shores, was not picked up, though an active search was made for it. Luckily, the seaplane had four, pigeons aboard, and sent them off with localised directions. One of these was picked up dead on the beach near Bacton, and Hie derelict men saved just in time. The pigeon, stuffed and in a glass case, is in the officers’ mess at Yarmouth, labelled “ A very gallant gentleman.” OLD ETONIAN DINNERS. The Thursday evening before the Eton and Harrow match is always marked by a plethora of Old Etonian dinners. Very festive occasions they are. Last week’s was no exception. . The old boys of some dozen or so Eton houses foregathered round the board.l In the nature of things, many of these j gatherings are doomed to ultimate extinction, since they hear the names of house masters or “ Dames ” who have gone out of commission. But doubtless their successors will continue the tradition under other names. It is many years since Mr Annesley Somerville, the present M.P. for Windsor, was a house master at Eton But last week 1 he presided over the gathering of the old hoys of “ Somerville’s.” _ Another house dinner doomed to ultimate extinction is “ Evan’s ” —the last of the “ Dame’s ” houses’ which ceased to exist early in the present century. Miss Jane Evans, who so long presided over it. had her features immortalised by Sargent. Prints from that picture adorn the walls of many a country mansion, and are to be found even on the outposts of the Empire. Amongst old Evansites are numbered the Duke of Athol! (as was his father before him), the survivors of the Lyttelton brotherhood, and that fine old soldier, General Sir William Pulteney. who now i officiates as Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod in the House of Lords. SIR ABE BAILEY. The friends of Sir Abe Bailey, the famous South African millionaire and racing owner, rejoice that he is making good recovery after liis serious operation. He has just had a leg amputated as a drastic remedy for severe phlebitis. Nothing is more certain than that Sir Abe, normally one of the busiest and most active men of bis years, will insist on resuming his daily routine as soon as bo possibly can. His house lias more phone lines than any

other private residence in London. Nearly a dozen of these are private lines to his city agents and business brokers. He has always been an early riser, and transacts an immense amount of work over the phone. It is said that often his dealings for one day represent over a million pounds j sterling, one way or the other, and, I though he never makes a note, Sir Abe ! knows to a cipher just what he has : done and how he stands at the closing 1 down of markets. TALL ORDER. The Ashley Library, which represents the enthusiastic lifework of that great bibliographer, the late Mr T. J. Wise, : is regarded by some experts as the : best private collection of rare volumes ! and manuscripts in the world. Mr Wise valued his collection at £250,000, but insisted that, whilst the _ library must not be broken up for piecemeal auction, the British Museum authorities j should have first option of purchase. I In which event he stipulated that the 1 price put upon it should be greatly reduced Its treasures include such thrilling literary possessions as a first edition of Gray’s ‘Elegy,’ and one of the only two copies of the first edition of Shelly’s ‘ Queen Mab,’ annotated by the poet’s own hand. Whether the Bloomsbury directors will be able to effect a purchase seems doubtful. They have a comparatively modest reserve fund, saved from their annua! grant, but this would be inadequate for buying in the Ashley Library unless augmented by generous public subscription. ATLANTIC HISTORY. The successful double Atlantic airway flight, inaugurating a new era in 'Western Ocean travel, may make July 6, 1937, a date that history will remember The British flying boat Caledonia and the American Clipper 111. landed at their respective destinations within 16min of each other, the American craft timing her departure for Europe to allow for the Caledonia, though the faster of the two, having to contend with head winds. This factor made the Caledonia’s time two hours and 29 minutes longer than the Clipper’s, which was 12 hours 40 minutes. Alcock and Brown, on their first Atlantic flight 18 years ago, took 16 hours 12 minutes. What was then a hazardous adventure is now a staid commercial proposition. Next year it will be just a century since the first steamboat crossed the Atlantic. She took 14 days —two days long*' than the Clipper 111. takes hours. Have the flying boat’s planes the same limbo message for the modern Atlantic liner, even Queen Mary, that the steamer’s smokestacks had for the old windjammer 100 years ago ? DANGEROUS ANOMALY. A curious and rather disturbing situation is arising in many rural localities as the result of the big reamameiit push. Some farmers complain that, owing to the competition by factories short of hands to meet the emergency boom, they are unable to secure adequate farm assistance. The hay harvest season has greatly emphasised this shortage. So we seem to have inaugurated another rural exodus. Youngsters who were taking to agricultural work are being attracted into neighbouring industrial centres by the higher wages paid for factory work. It is a cardinal misfortune if this tendency exists to any great extent, and is more than a purely temporary symptom. It means that whilst we are turning out the mechanism of national defence we are also draining away the sturdy rural manhood who all through history has formed the backbone of our national defence forces. 11l fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, where arms accumulate and men decay! OUR GAS MASKS. There is always a danger that in moments of emergency officialism in this country may attach more importance to appearances than to efficient reality. That tendency affects our civilian as well as our military policy. Possibly there was too great burry in adopting the official standardised gas mask now being turned out at great expense in three grades. The best is for the fighting services, the second best for people engaged on vital national work, and the third best for ordinary citizens. Even the best appears hardly much improved on the old Army gas mask, and not comparable with the mask now being made by the million in Germany, whose war lords have the distinction of being the poison gas pioneers of Europe. The German mask needs no elaborate directions for use, is proof against any known gas, everlasting, made of synthetic rubber linen lined, has no suffocating nose clip, fits comfortably over the whole head, and its unbreakable eyeglasses give efficient vision. We have scientific chemists, with war experience, who could, given the opportunity, have provided our people with just as good a mask.