CURRENT TOPICS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 18, 19 December 1936, Page 8

CURRENT TOPICS

(By “Wayfarer.”)

Mr Bernard Shaw Is hard at work at 80 The Nobel people gave him a prize'in 1925—the year he wrote nothing—but the hint was ignored.

Havant, where a thousand-year-okl parchment factory has been closed down, is one of several little-known places in England which have local industries or 'crafts of great interest and antiquity. In the same county, near Andover, are the mills which for a couple of centuries have-made banknote paper. Tonbridge is renowned for the production of cricket balls._ lhe industry is one of the closest in the kingdom, for the secret or winding thread round an octagon piece of cork, which forms the kernel of the ball, is never communicated to more people than necessary. Polo balls are made almost exclusively at Halsteau, ih Essex. the material used being the willow which the cricket bat makers m the same district do not want. Meriden ill Warwickshire produces the country s present requirements of and arrows. A family there named Thompson have been engaged in this craft for three centuries, and, to the number of toxophilites still with us—some years ago a Manchester man fired an arrow a greater distance than any previously recorded—the family still keeps itself busy, writes a Londoner.

Just one hundred years ago on November 7 Charles Green ascended in a balloon from Vauxhall Gardens, London, and made what was then a record journey of 500 miles. Green was one of the most famous aeronuats of his day—a pretty long day, for he lived to be 85 despite innumerable ballon ascents. On his record-making trip he was accompanied by two other men. Not knowing to what quarter they might be blown the three were provided with passports to all the States of Europe. They left London about 1.30 p.m. and made good progress to the coast, passing over Calais in the dark. Near midnight they were over Liege, where the gas lamps, with which the town was well lighted, clearly marked out its main features. At three in the morning, when 2000 feet up, they heard a sudden explosion. The silk of the balloon quivered and the car shook violently. This happened three times. The gas at that height had expanded and the frozen lope which surrounded the balloon had yielded to the pressure. But still the travellers went on, and eventually at 7.30 in the morning they descended, not quite knowing where they were, but content with the record made. They found they were near the town of Wilburg, ill the Duchy of Nassau, having travelled 500 miles in 18 hours. *****

One wonders what would happen if the King should decide to collect all the curious rents to which he is entitled, and to demand that all the services be rendered in consideration of which different estates are held. Should the Sovereign visit the town of Aylesbury, a landowner in the neighbourhood can be called on to furnish straw for the Royal bed, this being the tenure on which the landowner holds his property. The Duke of Atholl holds part of his lands on condition that lie presents the King with a white rose whenever honoured with a Royal visit to Blair Atholl. Similarly, when the King passes through Crendon, in Buckinghamshire', tne lord of the manor must give him a red 'rose. The Munros of Foulis, when visited by the Sovereign, are under obligation to pay tribute with a snowball. A little tlag is the rent paid annually to the King by the Ihikes of Wellington and Marlborough for their estates. There are also the “quit-rents” which are paid to the King for two ancient properties, one of them near what now the Strand and the other in the County of Shropshire. These rents consist of a hatciiet, a pruning knife, two bundles of twigs, representing faggots,' six horseshoes, and 61 nails for them. They are paid to the King, through his remembrancer, by the Corporation of the City of London, and the Sheriffs of the County of Middlesex at the Lower Courts in London. * * * * *

Coronation Day, next May, will mean an early rising for almost everybody—including His Majesty. The thunder of guns and the blaro of trumpets will acclaim the dawn from Hyde Park and the Tower of London, where the first salvo will be fired at 3.45 a.m. A few minutek later, the Chief Chamberlain (yet to be appoints ed) will wake the King and deliver a speech on the significance of the occasion ! It is the tradition that the Chamberlain, in return for this service, must be presented with the Royal bed and bedding, but we can safely assume that this benefit will not accrue in this next year of grace (comments an observer). Thereafter will follow a ceremonial dating from the very early years of the English monarchy. One by one, a series of high officials, whose order of precedence is even now being decided by the Court of Claims, will attend His Majesty in performance of their nominal duties until, at 10.30, the Royal Procession leaves the Palace for Westminster Abbey.

At precisely 10.55, His Majesty and the Queen will be received at the Abbey by an imposing group of clergy, headed by the venerable Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Cosmo Gordon Lang), Primate and Metropolitan of All England, who will introduce the young Monarch to all present with the words: “Sirs, I here present to you King George, undoubted King of this Realm-.” • * * * *

A few hundred feet from the transmitter building of the Empire broadcasting station on Borough Hill at Daventry, England, is an old oak tree, known locally as the “Dane Tree.” Local tradition asserts that, under this tree, a treaty was concluded with the invading Danes, but if such a treaty was ever signed, the tree in question must have been a much earlier one, as that to be seen to-day is only a few hundred years old. Another popular belief, according to one writer, was that the tree marks the exact centre of England, and there young men and maidens still resort to record their vows. It is said, too—probably as a result of the local contraction of the name ‘Daventry” to “Daintry”—that the tree gave the town its name, but this explanation receives no support from lecondite authority. Neither does authority agree that., any special historical significance attaches to the xi iee, T < l e *P l^’e e veneration in which the district holds it. The Empire broadcasting station is on ground as rich in legitimate history as it is in legend. Borough Hill is the site of an ancient British camp, 150 acres in extent, claimed to be the third largest in tins country, and certainly known to the Danes and the Romans. To-day the eaith works of that camp form the boundaries of the Empire stntion. During excavations by the 8.8. C., Roman coins have actually been found, and great care is and has been taken to ensure that no “discoveries” are over-