OUR LONDON LETTER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 29 December 1924, Page 5

OUR LONDON LETTER

A NOTABLE ADMIRAL DEATH OF SIR PERCY SMOTT i n i \.i i .. . • r (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, Oct. 23. Admiral Sir Percy Scott, who died on Saturday, did more than any 'other sailor afloat to improve the gunnery of the British Fleet. Yet with the general public lie first came into prominence in connection with the defehco bf Ladysmith, when,' within ’ a few hours, ‘ lie rushed up naval guns’ to the support pi the "town. His’devices for improving gunnery in all its branches were extremely ingenious, and some of then! biouglit him a considerable fortune. Indeed, not very long ago he successfully sustained a "claim'in the law courts for royalties estimated to bo worth anythirig from £150,000 to £200,000. He canned liis inventive genius into private life, aiid designed an electric lawn mower, which is still in rise. Latterly lie has devoted himself to a campaign against battleships. “What is tho use of asked, arid he Hvas answered to his own taste by a' midshipman, with the ap i provirig, “No use at all.” • HEALTHY CONTEMPT Sii’ Percy* joined the Britannia as a midshipman in 1874, and it is rather interesting * to recall that one of his contemporaries on board the old training ship - was the 'present Lord Ypre’s. The" friendship ,which 'commenced then endured throughout their lives, and Lord Yptes always’ took’ a sympathetic interest'in Sir Percy Scott’s campaign for the impi'ovirig of gunnery. Sir Percy brought the percentage of hits to «uch a high figure that ‘gunnery officers in the Grand Fleet dame to entertain a healthy contempt for Allied warships. T remember, during the war, discussing with two of them the practice of the American Fleet in the Firth of Forth. We were watching the splashes as the shells fell’ all round the target. “I would not .like. .to be near ; the • target,”• I commented. “No,’-’ observed ono of the officers, drily, “I should feel much safor on it.” A MUCH NICER WAR Our imaginations 'have been so harrowed by forecasts about the next big war with its promiscuous serial chemical effects and universal gas masks, that a little consolation on the other side is welcome. A well-known hospital lecturer tells me that, at all events i tit ope respect, the next war will bo “much nicer.” More than ever' the medical world pins its professional faith in inoculation as a. cure-all fox' all the ills to which the human flesh is heir. And the next B.E.F.' looks like being inoculated against -most things shrift of -'bullets and high explosive shells. Our future Tommies will, ' I gather, almost certainly bo inoculatod against, lice. It seems incredible to the ex-service layman, but so tho doctors assert. So even tho next war clouds will not be without their silver lining. LORD SELBORNE Few politicians quite realise that Lord Selborne kept his 65th birthday this week. Tho noble earl looks and acts much younger than that. He certainly does not seem, as lie really is. ten years senior to Lord Hugh Cecil. He is an old Winchester boy who attained honours in history at Oxford, and, before becoming First Lord of the Admiralty, served as Parliamentary A.D.C to a War Secretary and a Chancellor of tho Exchequer. lie was High Commissioner in South Africa., is-au elder brother of Trinity House with permission to wear the ornate uniform thereof, and also a .Lloyd’s Bank director. Ho belongs to Brooke’s, arid'is a -diehard who, if ever we gek a black shirt brigade of British Fascisti, would be pretty sure of a staff job. • ' • x BARE FEET AND ROLLS CARS Much’ surprise was expressed when the statement was made by Lord Thom-

sou that jVrab sheiks were radng about- in Ford cars. There wa#< some reason for this surprise, though the Eastern peoples arc not so unsophieli,sated as we think. There is mrich'ihOre reasbn for surprise at the general opinion that persists in -.this country about, the peoples of our West African colonies, it. is positively foolish, but it is largely due to missionary propaganda. Some missionaries seem to think that, unless they picture the people of Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, or the Gambia, as, ‘‘poor, benighted heath- , ens,” iu bare feet-, shuddering in rags, at the point of starvation, they will get no sympathy, and therefore no financial help. But there are West African natives who own Rolls Royee cars, and have magnificent, houses. Missionary talk of this description, besides being untrue, is bad for trade. Some of - our big merchants and traders oil this side must, feel positively murderous when they hear this sort of thing. The comparative few who are neither Christian nor Moslems’are pagan, but they are negligible in number, ’in Nigeria, for instance, where the population is between 18)1- and 20 millions, probably 90 per cent are Mohammedans, whom it* is an insult to call “heathens.” PLAY FOR GLADYS COOPER Miss Gladys Cooper is to have a new play. It will be a dramatised version of Michael Allen’s “The Green Bat.” Michael Arien is the brilliant young Armenian, who lives in, ana writes about Mayfair. Fair and slim and rather short, he lives the morning cot a’nd evening dress life of the West End. Said a friend to him one day about his best seller ’: “Your book is going extremely well.” “Absurdly so,” the author replied. BETTER ’OLE CLUB .The four Cadogan girls—called in society the “Four Horsemen”—ate well known for their beauty and horsemanship in the hunting field, and the four daughters of the Earl and Countess Beauchamp are making something of a sensation in a similar way. Lady Lettice Lygon, the oldest ,lias been a regular follower of the Croome hounds. Lady Lettice, who is Rill and fair, with a gentle expression in her grey eyes, is an exquisite figure of British beauty. Lord Ebnley, her brother, and Lady Lettice formed at Walmer Castle what they termed the “Better ’Ole Club.” Lord Beauchamp is Lord Warden of tho Cinque Ports, and Walmer: Castle is his Official residence. The club is 'a replied oi a dug-out, and is located in one of the dungeons of the castle. It Bas whitewashed walls and oil lamps. There they organise dances for young people. Hie visitors book contains many famous names... ■ L.-n AN EASTERN BEAUTY London is at the moment deeply smitten by the Celestial’'charm of Miss Anna May Wong, the clever ladv 1 who plays the Mongol slave id Drifty Lane’s lhief of Bagdad” film, i It. mhst be the' vmy first time we have -been captivated m tins manner toy an actress not . -of Aryan race. But “Two Yellow Willows, which is what Miss Wong’s rname means, justifies the notable exception. Slender, petite, ‘ exquisite, - with ivory skin and black.hair, her provocative Eastern eyes and sensitive nailpointed hands are Miss Wong’s finest points. _ Her acting has a cachet of .subtle simplicity,'and, for the moment: solid Western beauties of the Gladys Cooper type are eclipsed ’ by this paid shadow from the East. ’ FRE AR BILLIARDS (( Mixed criticism is expressed of the brighter billiards’ ’match now being played in London between Newman and -Smith. Tho idea is. Newman’s. Hethinks professional billiards may be made more attractive by his rules, which stipulate that, after being oncp poted off the top spot, the red ball giiea on the pyramid spot, and that tlie.player in hand must, instead of. placing his ball anywhere within the D, phy 'off one t of the three spots on the D line. The professional critics of the game are not impressed, but the matqh arouses considerable interest, and is receiving Royal patronage. I am told that Smith, while agreeing to play Newman’s freak game, describes it as “like asking Miss Joyce Wethered to . play golf .with' a walking, stick.” ■ ’ ’ ; v : A BIG BETTING SLUMP The past’ racing season will, lam told, long be remembered in. beiting circles as one of the worst on record. For one thing “form” has been exceptionally difficult to weigh up, even '-for real experts at the game, and has been quite'unusually upset time , and again. Of probably 500 private .tipsters who were in business in London at,: the start • of the year ,there are now no mbran-thahi a baker’s dozen left on their legs. THi's is attributed to a remarkable dedins"iff small betting throughout the idetropolitan area! Through the regular West' End betting, in more or less substantial figures, showed no change worth speaking of, the .slump in has been sudden anj, impressive. , The lesser bookmaking fraternity, has suf- ■; fered accordingly. The slump may be due either to unemployment, or to a widespread disillusion,on. the part of the astonishing post-war number of email women punters. H - / * . WOMEN PUNTERS -•- ■ “Blue Peter’ ’is such aft intriguing title for a play that it deserved a rather better one than the' -sentimental' mels drama to wliiqh it is attached at the . Princess TheatCto 'As most of : us know) in these much-trawelled days, the “Blue Peter” is the flag, with a 'white square to sail. The moment' the mooring ropes are cast off, or tlie anchor raised, dowiij comes the “Blue Peter.” Brew states that'“Peter’, ’is a corruption of the French “perbir,” meaning leave’or no? • tice of departure, but This seems another instance of ingenious stymological invention, because, as old salts will tell you, originally the “Blue Peter” was not a flag of departure at all, but a signal for the police to come aboard. Its* association with sfcpwaways discovered ou the eve of sailing may have led to ‘ its later significance.