A LETTER FROM LONDON.

Northern Advocate, 26 February 1925, Page 7

A LETTER FROM LONDON.

NOTES AND NEWS

(Special to "Northern Advocate.") LONDON, December 24. THE STAR TERN. Close students of the Parliamentary firmament say confidently already that Mr Churchill is more than evei' the star turn. He lias matured a lot since last he played an active role at Westminster. His figure has filled out more than perhaps, as a still keen polo man, he likes, and he is now going distinctly bald. But he gives signs of having really sown his political wild oats, and, aware of the quite mistaken popular view that he is an erratic personality, is playing carefully for gravity and weight. When he speaks as Chancellor of the Exchequer no'back-bench dogs bark, and when he gracefully takes a pinch of snuff, even the marble effigies in Westminster Hall seem to smile approval 011 this brilliant kinsmen of the greatest Duke. THE DELEGATION MYSTERY. There was an almost comic opera touch about the arrival in London of the Trades Union Congress delegates from Russia. The delegates had evidently all been warned not to speak of their experiences to anyone, and when the train arrived they dashed out, hardly stopping to shake hands with the friends who had gathered to greet them, got into cabs and were quickly driven off. Mr Herbert Smith, of the Miners' Federation, was wearing a Cossack fur hat pulled well down, but gave little time for one to admire it. He also sprang into a taxi and disappeared from view. CHIEF COMMAND AT 52. Changes involving some of the most important positions in the Navy have now been approved by the King. Those of chief public interest are the selection of Sir Roger Keyes, while still a vice-admiral, to be Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, and of Sir Frederick Field, who recently returned from the world cruise, to succeed him at the Admiralty as Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. Rear-Ad-miral Cyril Fuller, who commanded the Navy throughout that "best ran show," the conquest of the German Cameron territory in West Africa, is the new commander of the Battle Cruiser Squadron. It is an illustration of the way in which vonng officers come to the front nowadays that Sir Roger Keyes takes up the chief command afloat at the age of 52, while the average age of the six new flag officers is 51. Not long before the war the average would have been in the neighbourhood of 60 years.

THE FOREIGN OFFICE. The Foreign Office quadrangle is just now the scene of. much building activity. During the war a superstructure of wood and steel was raised on the roof 'of the Foreign Office building. This was pulled down about twelve months ago, but the loss of accommodation has been felt so severely that a permanent extra floor is to be added. A similar addition was made to the India Office some years ago, and the Foreign Office addition will be on the same lines. One of the finest views of London may be obtained from the roof of the! Foreign Office. It is from here that the signal is given of the departure of Eoyal processions from Buckingham Palace, so that the military all along the line may be cn the qui vive.

STEEL HOUSES. Lord Weir, who, by his manufacture and erection of what are generally described as steel houses, has attracted so much attention, is at present in Scotland making arrangements to meet the expected demand for these buildings. It is anticipated that many municipalities, and private builders also, will be ready to experiment with this new type of house. Some criticism was directed at the first houses of this description, principally that they were cold in wiinter and that the interior walls sweated, but these faults have, it is believed, been successfully combatted. The houses are by no means all steel, the frames being timber, and their great merit is that they are cheaper, especially in large numbers, than the brick houses, and are quickly erected.

WONDERFUL OLD LADY. The Earl of Glasgow, who lias the D.S.O. and lias become a "recruit" of the Fascists in Scotland, is the son of a wonderful old lady. Montagu Lady Glasgow, widow of the Earl of Glasgow, of racing renown, is 90, active and well, and interested in her latest granchild, Lord Bruce, the infant son and heir of Lord and Lady Elgin. Lady Glasgow is' mother also of Lady Cochrane of Cults, of Crawford Priory, Mfe, whose elder daughter is Lady Elgin.

PUBLIC-HOUSE SIGNS. The fact that the title of a play recently produced, "The Man with a Load of Mischief," was suggested by a public-house sign in Marylebone, has quickened interest in publichouse signs. There is a very old and curious one, "The Frog and Flat Iron." What has a frog to do with a flat iron'» The simple >and satisfying explanation is given by Mr A. S. M. Hutchinson, the author, who says that in illiterate days an inn was known solely by its sign, a bull, say, or a

lion. If the proprietor moved to n new territory he tried to keep his customers and maintain old associations by taking his old sign with him and joining it to his new one. Thus we get "Bull and Gate" and "Rose and Crown."

ON BLACKPOOL SANDS. Cedonel S. F. Cody has not escaped notice as one of the pioneers of British aviation, but his share in its development was more substantial than would be inferred from the brief mention he has got in the newspapers. He set the« first British record in 190.0 of 40 miles in Ihr. 3min. and established two other records in 1910. But Cody's achievements in aviation should not be judged by' these flying records, for he was a pioneer in the fact that for many years before flying began he was a mysterious figure on Blackpool sands with kites. With his goatee beard, big sombrero, and the fact that he had a likeness to "Buffalo Bill," the American scout and showman, the airman became known as "Buffalo Bill" to small boys and others who watched his op-

orations. WOMEN INVENTORS. By the courtesy of Major Clifton, of the Institute of British Inventors, Sackville Street, London, I was given an opportunity recently of inspecting the fascinating collection of inventions and novelties which that institution has brought together. One phase of women's work on exhibition was originated by almost a child. This clever little lady, Miss Lettice Apperly, at the age of 153 asked her parents to give her a fret-saw. The same afternoon iiaw the beginning of a work which is now giving employment to hundreds of people.

Miss Apperly lias applied a keen artistic sense to many hitherto untouched branches of wood work, and through her amazing gift of faithful representation of actual living persons and her wonderful sense of colour, her little painted, carved wood statuettes are now the rage of London. Not content with her statuettes, Miss Apperly is now 'directing her activities into other channels. There are Spanish combs, ear-rings, and slides of carved wood, all painted with exquisite designs conceived in the fairy brain of this clever young

artist. SQUAEE SAUCEPANS. Among the articles which will appeal to the housewife are the now familiar saucepans, made square instead of round, so that they may be packed closely one against the other. The inventor is a hard-working little woman in Lancashire, where time is money. Another feminine brain has evolved a simple little apparatus, costing a few pence, which is put into a saucepan to pi event milk or other contents from boiling over. Still another domestic invention is in the nature of a reinforcement for an ordinary toilet comb —an article which has the mortifying knack of breaking in two if a little extra strain is put on it. This little attachment, fixed in the centre of the comb, renders it unbreakable, while a comb, already broke, can be used again, if the two pieces are joined together with the metal strips. Not the least interesting item in this home of inventions comes from a nurse, who has solved the problem of making the bed grow with the child for whom it is bought. By a simple method of extension, the cot can be converted into a bod suitable for an older child, with extra side wings for safety if required. WHAT THEY WILL DANCE. In spite of all the recent talk and difference of opinion, it seems pretty clear that Christmas and the New Year will not bring any iconoclastic change in our mode of dancing. The tango pops up its diminished head occasionally, but, since scarcely anyone can dance it successfully except our Argentine visitors, it is not likely to figure very largely on Christmas and New Year programmes. The "Blues" is—or are—as dead as the dodo, and the five-step lias but few devotees. So it remains to the waltz, the fox-trot and the one-step to carry the dancing honours during the Yuletide festivities,'

and everybody is busily polishing up these old favourites. ENGINE DRIVERS' HOTEL. In order that the crews of their engines may have more comfortable quarters when stranded away from homo, the London Midland a:id Scottish !?:> i! way has decided to i ui!d at Cam«]e)i 'Town a l.ostei containing 00 bedrooms for the accommodation of engine drivers, firemen and guards. For some time it has been felt that the lot of these men, whose life is necessarily irregular owing to the nature of their work, should be ameliorated as far as possible. Arrangements made to deal ( with the problem had been gradually outgrown by increasing traffic. The accommodation became out-of-date and insufficient, and the alternative for the overflow was outside lodging houses or long journeys to another hostel. Reading, dining and recreation rooms will bo provided in the -new "engine drivers' hotel," which is to have central heat-ing

throughout and one apartment specially reserved as a drying-room for the men's clothes in bad weather. In addition to the luxury of a hot bath when coming off duty, the guests will have at their disposal an up-to-date laundry. WOMEN SMOKERS. A distinguished Vienna doctor ha? discovered that only unhappy women smoke. If the medical scientist's theory is at all true, London must harbour a tremendous proportion of unhappy ladies. Because Ave have now reached the stage when, leaving women of the lower working order only out of account, and even in their case the elderly and middle-aged alone, nonsmokers are the small exception rather than the general rule. Most women brain-workers and professional' women smoke. All fashionable women do so. But I have carefully noted that, whereas ladies who use a cigarette as an adjunct of fashionable etiquette smoke in strict moderation, those who really enjoy their tobacco invariably smoke to great excess. Sixty or seventy "gaspers" a day is by no means extraordinary, though the results are only too painfully obvious. One lady) whose name was world-famous when the militant suffragettes were on the warpath, rolls her own cigarettes and uses a strong pipe tobaoco.

DOG FASHIONS. I am expertly assured that the craze for foreign cogs in London is now dying out, and an essentially native animal is coming into great favour. At the West End one no longer sees so many massive German or melancholy Persian hounds, but encounters quite a lot of those bouncing animated door-' mats known as Bob-Tails. Their correct name, I understand, is Old English Sheep Dog, but I have never seen one used either by a shepherd or a farmer for practical work with sheep. For that purpose the dog most favoured is the Scots Collie, or off-breeds thereof, whose intelligence sometimes develops to an uncanny extent. The Bob-Tail may or may not owe his present popularity to the modern feminine style of hair-dressing. He is a rollicking affectionate fellow, but not extremely high-brow, and most difficult to keep clean. On fine mornings nowadays Hyde Park is full of him.

SUBLIME TACT. Irish reminiscences always possess special fascination, partly because Irish life has peculiar phases, and partly because Irish autobiographers are never dull. The recollections just published by Sir John Ross, ex-Lord Chancellor of Ireland, are no exception. He was reading in bed in liis hotel one night when a lady who had obviously mistaken her room entered, and began disrobing at the dressing table. "Bring my tea at once, please!" exclaimed the tactful lawyer, and the intruder promptly availed herself of the chance to pass as a waitress. This is the companion story to one told at the Foreign Offico as the supreme instance of tact. A young attache entered the bathroom to find his host's daughter in the bath. Like a flash he withdrew, discreetly murmuring as he closed the doorr "I beg your pardon, Sir!" That's the true story, and a London journal, which attributes it to a mere artisan plumber, does a grave wrong to the F. O. traditions. (All rights reserved'..)