CURRENT TOPICS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 158, 5 June 1937, Page 8

CURRENT TOPICS

(By “Wayfarer.”)

A Missouri hen that lays empty eggs seems to be one of the most ingenious exponents of the sit-down strike. t

Members of the Ontario Legislature are described as “hurling taunts across the floor,” which is much better than hurling blue-books at each other.

Two strangers met. “Whit land dae ye come frae?” said one.

“Waal, the greatest in the wurld, I reckon,” replied the other. “Puir moil, puir moil!” said the first. “Ye’ve lost yer accent!”

The colonel, touring Empire, did not forget those he had left behind. To his son at college lie wrote: “I am now standing on the cliff from which Spartans used to throw their defective children. I wish you were here.”

The Duke of Kent has consented to attend a banquet to be held in London on June 30 to commemorate the centenary of the Registration and Marriage Acts, 1837. A centenary medal is to be struck at the Royal Mint and will be sent to all serving and retired registration officers who subscribe for centenary membership. It is also hoped to hold an exhibition of some historic treasures of the General Register Office. The Registration and Marriage Acts made available for the first time not only proper records of births, deaths, and marriages to serve as evidence in the ordinary affairs of life and legal business, but also complete vital statistics on a national scale which have afforded a starting point for many reforms, such as old age pensions and modern schemes of social insurance.

Mr Lloyd George can claim a good many Parliamentary records as “Father” of the House of Commons, with forty-seveit years’ unbroken association with one seat, and the Coronation is a reminder of yet one more. There can be few living statesmen whose names have appeared so regularly and with distinction in the dispatches from the Leaders of the House to no fewer than five Sovereigns. In the reigns of the present King and the three preceding monarchs he has been an outstanding Parliamentary figure, yet eight years beiore King Edward VII came to the Throne he had been mentioned in one of Hareourt’s reports to Queen Victoria. The occasion was the Local V eto Bill for Wales, and Harcourt reported that “there were some good speeches made on both sides, especially one by a Welsh member, Mr Lloyd George, the young member lor Caernarvon Boroughs.”

Stausted (Kent), is only 23 miles from London, yet it lias no gas, no electricity, no bus service, no village hall, no village constable, no taxi. It is nearly two miles to the nearest bus route, and if any of its 400-odd residents want to hire a car, they have to telephone to Wrotham, three and a half miles away. A few of the larger houses have their own plant for making electricity, but oil lamps are the chief means of illumination. , Stausted has only one shop. A Post Office is attached, but money orders have to be obtained at Fairscat Post Office, a mile and a half from the centre of the village. Dances are seldom held in the village, and whist drives are almost ns rare. Most of the young men have motorcycles, and go" to neighbouring villages for their entertainment. There are four public houses in Stausted, but they ave about two miles apart. The parish church dates back to the 13th century, and in the churchyard is a yew tree believed to he over 1000 years old.

An Englishman of admirable character passed away recently with the death of Sir George Barton Hunter, known by the public as “The Grand Old Alan of Tyneside.” At tlie age of eight he sailed around the world with his father, who was owner and captain of a windjammer. AA’hen fifteen years old he became an apprentice in a Wearside shipyard where the first iron ships were being built. In 1874 he was one of tlie founders ot the firm of S. P. Austin and Hunter which engaged in shipbuilding on the Tyne. In 1903 lie became chief partner in the firm of Swan and Hunter. He obtained from the Cunard Company the contract for building the Alauretania, which he designed. Twenty-two years after that grand old ship was launched in 1906 she broke her own fast Atlantic record. In 1923 Sir George retired from the Swan-Hunter Company, hut lie continued his active interest in other businesses and in social and philanthropic movements. His was a busy life, but lie was not so engrossed in his own affairs as not to take an active part in public business. For thirty years he was engaged in municipal public life and for a period was Mayor of AYallsend. Britain is fortunate in possessing many citizens of the Hunter type, observes a Canadian paper.

On his retirement from the Prime Alinistership of Great Britain Air Stanley Baldwin was created a •Knight of the Garter. The Alost Noble Order of the Garter was instituted some, time between 1344 and 1350, probably on St. George’s Day, 1345, the eighteenth year of the reign of Edward 111. It is the oldest order in Europe, and “none is so ancient, none so famous.” As regards its origin, tradition has it that during a Court festival a lady dropped her garter. King Edward in order to check any jests by his courtiers exclaimed: “Honi soit qui mal y pense,” and. tied the garter round his knee. The garter is of blue ribbon edged with gold bearing the above motto. It lias a buckle and a gold pendant, and is worn below the left knee. The mantle is of blue. velvet lined with white taffeta—on the left breast—it is embroidered with the star of the order. The hood and surcoat are of crimson velvet. The hat is of black velvet with a white ostrich plume. The badge of St. George and the Dragon is worn on the collar. The first holders of the order were the Sovereigns and twenty-five knights companions; but to-day the lineal descendants of George li may he elected excepting the Prince of Wales, who is a constituent part of the original order. Knights of the Garter are 42nd in tlie order of precedence, coming immediately after barons’ eldest sons and before Privy Councillors. In St. George’s Chapel, AA’indsor. above the dark oak stalls, hang the historic insignia of these knights, with their swords, helmets, and banners ; and the procession of these knights on St. George’s Day is’ one of the few processions that have survived the Reformation.