CURRENT TOPICS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 144, 20 May 1939, Page 8

CURRENT TOPICS

(By “Wayfarer.”) If pleasures aro greatest in anticipation, just remember that this is also true- of trouble.—Elbert Hubbard. ***** The fact that accents are not usually placed on capital letters in France provided the office of the London Times Paris correspondent with an unexpected visitor After sennning the plate bearing the words of the paper at the entrance, a mild-mannered little Frenchman mounted two flights of stairs, entered the office, and, after staring around him in some bewilderment, said: “Oh, pardon, je croyais que e’etait un the (tea room).” Before he could be offered a cup in the spirit of the Entente-Cordiale — which an equally ignorant Englishman once imagined was the name of a liqueur—he departed in apologetic confusion. * * * * * The placing of a canister, containing appropriate printed articles, within the structure of the memorial altar at All Saints’ Church, this week, was in keeping with well established custom, providing an interesting link between the present-day and the future. Every visitor to London must have seen Cleopatra’s Needle. Weighing 180 tons, 68R't. high, it is set in the wall that separates Embarkment and Thames, near the network of scaffloding beneath which the new Waterloo Bridge is taking shape. But comparatively' few that pass by pause to read the enthralling story that is told in the inscription on its base or to look at the scars that a War-time air raid inflicted; and fewer still . know that inside the base are two earthenware jars in which, among other things, are a shilling razor, a feeding bottle, children’s toys, a Case cf cigars, and twelve photographs of pretty English girls. Cleopatra’s Needle has stood there for sixty years, and it is the most ancient example of human craftsmanship in London; this tapering obelisk was fashioned in Egypt 3000 years ago. • • Already noteworthy in the History of Britain’s Royal Air Force as a year of unprecedented growth, 1939 is in any event of special significance as the year in which the R.A.F. comes of age. It was on April 1, 1918, that the Royal Flying Corps became the Royal Air Force, but tiie air was used for the purposes of military action long before that; the leal beginning was made as long ago as 1879, when the Balloon School of the Royal Engineers was established at Chatham. Five years later, in Bechuanaland, the balloons were used in active service for the first time. In 1909 the first British Army aeroplane was flown for four hundred yards at a height of twelve feet —its speed being about eleven miles per hour —by S. F. Cody, the American music-hall artist who became a British subject and joined the Army so tlia he could serve aviation. The little company of military engineers that Cody inspired by his enthusiasm was the seed from which the R.A.F. of to-day has sprung. From then on experiment—often disappointing and always, in thoso early days, dangerous—was continuous, and development followed swiftly on experiment’s heels. By January, 1911, the Balloon School had four planes; on April 1 of the same year, a special Air Battalion was created — a unit the equipment of which included five aeroplanes, four riding horses, and thirty-two draught horses. Earlier, the Admiralty had laid the foundation of the Royal Naval Air Service by accepting, for the training of naval officers as airmen, the gift of a ’plane. A year later, the military and naval enterprises were amalgamated and ths Royal Flying Corps came into being. The.service of the R.F.C. in the years 1914-18 is an incomparable story of daring and valour still fresh in ths minds of the world’s peoples. Twen-ty-one years ago, the Corps became an established Force; to-day, its record of achievement, of honourable distinction and high tradition, is second to none in the world; a record that nothing pictures more aptly than the motto of the R.A.F., “Ber Ardua ad Astra”—“By Labour to the Stars.” ***** Scholars of primary schools of fifty years ago will recall the thorough grounding they received in the three R’s often accomplished with a liberal dose of “strap” or “cane,” whichever tlie teacher preferred. Those who remember the swisli of strap through the air and the warmth—and pain—imparted to the body from the generous application of the cane will appreciate the following from the Sydney morning Herald :—Thousand of schoolboys, their fathers and grandfathers, too, will envy Mr Lang his inability to remember whether he was ever caned in his youth, just as they will lavish their sympathy upon the Minister for Education, Mr Drummond, who recollected having been “subjected” in a single day to 18 “cuts.” The fact which invites consideration and emerges so ironically is that Mr Lang, who has no memory of a caning, was hotly opposed to it, while Mr Drummond, evidently a frequent sufferer, not only supported it, but attributed to his torments his “sunny disposition!” It is possible that those who still cherish an affectionate admiration for the Leader of the Opposition will interpret'his escape from bodily chastisement as positive evidence of a blameless life. Not only will it strengthen their conviction that “Lang is right,” in accordance with his election slogan, but it will also convey the fortunate impression that Lang was always right, even when he was only Master Lang. Did he not suggest as much himself when he asked a somewhat sceptical House: “Why should I have got the cane?” Nevertheless, among his adversaries both inside and outside the Chamber—ar.d they seem to grow more numerous and vocal every day—there must hate been some who could have given a crushing answer simply by quot'nt; the adage, “Spare the rod and sioil the child.” Certainly, if Mr Lang has a reliable memory, lie was spared the stick at a period when it was Rigorously flourished In domestic and pedagogic circles. His opponents, to less than his friends, are therefore mtitled to draw their own conclusion/ from that miraculous circumstance*'