A LETTER FROM LONDON

Northern Advocate, 17 February 1926, Page 3

A LETTER FROM LONDON

NEWS AND NOTES. (Special to “Northern Advocate.”) ■ LONDON, December 31. THE LEGS HAVE IT! I sec that during last Parliamentary session the House of Commons had 506 divisions. As each occupies on the average about twelve minutes the time spent was thus over a hundred hours, or the equivalent (excluding | question time) of about 14 working days. It is estimated that, summoned from the dining room, the smoking room or the library (to say nothing of the Terraco) a member has to walk about 40 yards in order to take part in a division, so that the distance covered during the session was between eleven and twelve miles. In former days divisions used to take much longer, as every member hid to be out of the Chamber before any were allowed to emerge from the lobbies. The late Viscount Harcourt, then First' Commissioner of Works, devised the present plan, which reduced the time by nearly half. It has often been suggested that some mechanical device should be produced which would enable members to record their votes automatically, but that would necessitate an assigned place for everybody, and with a House which has accommodation for , only about twothirds of its members that is impossible. THE PRINCE’S HUNTING. The announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture that the Foot and Mouth Disease embargo is to bo raised on the Melton Mowbray district will be welcomed by the Prince of Wales. He has, I am told, already given directions that his hunters now at Biggleswade, are to be returned to Melton Mowbray as speedily as possible. His Royal Highness prefers ’ the Melton country to all others, and he last year increased his stabling aecomfnodaion there. When not required in town for any engagements the Prince stays at the Craven Club, where he has a suite of.rooms permanently engaged for him. Prince Henry also has apartments there and his horses are stabled with those of his brother.

THE TOMB OP THE CAMPBELLS. The Dowager Duchess of Argyll has been buried at lona Cathedral, which at her instance, her late husband presented to the nation. It was no secret that when she died a quarter of a century ago he was anxious that he too should be buried there, but the family with a truer historic sense decided in favour of the ancient tomb of the Campbells at Kilmoor, on the Holy Loch. Three or four hundred years ago a Campbell was killed in the heart of the Lament country, and though the two clans were not always on the best of terms the head of the Laments presented a plot of ground to be the burying place, of the Camp-' beMs of all time. With one or two exceptions the heads of the, house of Argyll have been laid to rest at Kilmoor, a pleasant wooded village with the Firth of Clyde at its door and the Argyllshire hills as a background. Inverary Castle, the chief seat of the family is forty miles away. 20,000 WIDOWS WED. Nearly twice as many people were married in the summer last year than in the spring, according to the annual report of the Registrar-Gen-eral, who also states that 8000 marc people were wedded in 1924 than in 1923. The city of London and the county of Lancashire appear to be the “marrying areas.” There were 39,358 weddings in Lancashire, of which 13,903 wore celobarted in July, August or September, and * 254 men and women signed the register vrith “marks” instead of names. Radnorshire, although a small county, apparently believes in single blessedness, for there were only 102 marriages' there in 1924. One man who was married was unable to write. The marrying age is earlier among women. Two were wedded at the age of 34, the men starting at 16. There were S 3 men of over 80 years of age married, while only seven women of that age formed new ties. From 21 to 30 ill men and between 21 and 24 in women arc the most popular ages. More than 20,000 widows remarried, 12,000 of them being under 40 years of age. THE FIRST IMPRESSION. According to the Court gossip quoted by Elizabeth Yilliers in her book on “Queen Alexandra, the well beloved," the very first meeting of King

Edward and Queen Alexandra was not

, quite a success. These two historic I Royal personages first saw cadi other • at a party given by Queen Victoria on j King Edward’s birthday, when the daughter of the sea king was only ten, and the then Prince of Wales a schoolboy in short knickers. It was with difficulty that his Royal Highness was persuaded to take much interest in the party, which was not a form of entertainment of which he was fond, but he bucked up a bit when told that a real Viking princess was to bo present. Ho found her a tiny mortal with great eyes sitting on a sofa nursing an enormous doll, given her by Queen Victoria. His Royal Highness turned away in disgust. “Why, she’s not a Viking at all,” he said. “She’s just an ordinary girl, only she’s very pretty.” The addendum was, at his ago and in the circumstances, noteworthy. RUSSIAN CROWN JEWELS. All that is left of the Russian Crown jewels will soon be on sale in the cosmopolitan mart of “HU ole New York.” The collection is valued at over 50 millions sterling—a useful nest-egg for a Bolshevik Government, which finds increasing difficulty in getting credits abroad. The Imperial crown alone, which once graced the brow of Catherine 11, is valued at about £12,000,000. It includes the renowned Orloff diamond, which represents more than half the value of the entire crown. The jewels arc at present housed in the strong rooms of the’ Soviet State Treasury, and have been “on view” to the American journalists in Moscow in anticipation of the bargain it is hoped to strike later with New York. WOMEN MORE VENTURESOME. A friend who makes a regular practice of flying to Paris whenever he crosses the Channel tolls mp that what has struck him most about his journeys is the large number of women passengers. Apparently, some Society people are now in the habit of flying over to Paris just for a day’s shopping, or to interview their ’dress-mak-ers. Well known actresses also favour the flying route ,which is now so smooth that airsickness is almost un- ! known. One American passenger made bitter complaint of the lack of “sensation.” then the pilot spiralled down to the aerodrome and her face turned a sallow green! Princess Bibesco and Lady Bonham Carter often make use of the air-route.

ROYAL GHOSTS. The ghosts of the ancient manors and ducal palaces of England are familiar enough, but it is not generally known that Kensington Palace is reputed also to have two ghosts of its own. They are the shades of Queen Mary, wife of William of Orange, and of Caroline of Brunswick, the unhappy wife of George the Fourth. The spirit of Queen Mary, wife of William of Orange, is said to be a tall, ' stately lady, in flowing black gown and lace veil, carrying a bundle of papers, some of them heavily sealed. The presence flits along a corridor, opens a locked 'door, and disappears! The ghost of Caroline of Brunswick, the .unhappy wife of George the Fourth, is reputed to frequent the herb garden of Kensington Palace, dressed in the fantastic clothes she wore in life. In a long white chemise-liko garment, with crimson velvet cloak, and spangled satin shoes, she follows the habit she had in life of gathering flowers and herbs in the garden and wandering in the orangery.

NEW ORIENT LINER. The launching, speed trials, and first voyage to Australia by a new Orient liner like the Otranto means inuch to exiles afar. These “swift shuttles of an Empire’s loom” remain a perpetual reminder, of home whenever they gladden the eys of those who arc “doing a job o’ work for England m isolated spots.” Ismailia, that oasis on the banks of the Suez Canal, where it broadens into Lake Timsah, has a British colony, for instance, whoso custom it is to consult the “Egyptian Gazette” for the time of arrival of any of these great ships at Port Said, and then, after deducing or addingso many hours for the run up or down this' “jugular vein of the British Empire” to take a felukka and sail out to meet her, as she appears, punctually on time, in the lake. A wave of the hand or a shouted welcome, or even a,silent circling of the vessel at anchor is enough. Yet how pathetic is its yearning for tidings from the old country! JABEZ BALFOUR’S END. Ewe people have ever heard what was the end' of Jabez Balfour. Through the intervention of the Salvation Army, he was, I hear, given two chances after his ‘discharge from prison, in either of which there is reason to believe that he would have made good. Fate was against him. His first job was a post in India, but his identity becoming known, he had to return to England. The old man was then given another post in Wales on a house-planning scheme. He died on the -journey there. He was found dead by the guard wrapped up in a rug in a corner of a third class. railway compartment. WHO TOLD YOU THAT? A Scottish journalist, who has “mad'o good” in Fleet Street, stepped blithely down the steps of the Post Office. “Hello, Duggle. been buying some more War Bonds?” was the laughing greeting of a p-ssing friend: The Scotsman shook his head. “No, no, moil,” he answered. “I’ve just been fillin’ my fountain pen.”