The Long Trail.

Free Lance, Volume XIX, Issue 1029, 17 March 1920, Page 24

The Long Trail.

By M. COX TAYLOR

[ALL BIGHTS RESERVED.3

(Special Travel Representative of New Zealand Frew Lanoe.)

CHAPTER, XXIX. .Artists' Ball—"The Last Post." A T the Artists' Ball, organised by leading members of the Chelsea Arts' Club, the ."Last • .Port'Vwas ' Bounded before midnight. In memory of the dead four, thousand people stood in silence, a touching interlude in a ball which is considered the most brilliant London, has seen for many years. It was held in the Royal Albert Hall on New Year's Eve. After many weeks of preparation, its decorations are still a theme for topical notes. The old idea of presenting the jusifc ■arrived 1920—-or whatever th© date has been for many bygone celebrations —as a small child, was cleverly earned out. "When 'London's chimes hit out the midnight hour, and the hall refunded: with cheers, two women dressed as " Peace" suddenly appeared, •carrying a toddler who was named Little '' 1920." After this the fancy •dress oarnival got to business. The Artists' Ball broke up at five o'clock in the morning; '• What kind of weather ? Raining in soft mizzling showers. A Prince in Bowler Hat. The Duke of Connaught, the last survivor of the late Queen Victoria's four sons, has gone to the South of France. Bronchitis and seventy birth•days do not agree together, and the English winter gets, its, " bite" in ■January, February and March. While "the Prince of "Wales . was in Canada, -fche Duke of Connaught was often seen •driving through London, to open, some charity affair, or lend a_ hand as- a spare Royalty—always willing to oblige —at a big gathering in which the old city .was interested.

• Prince Arthur is such : a pleasant, courteous personage that he has been .a popular figure with plain' city men for many long years, and a Lord Mayor is said - to - be always eager to ; snap H.R.H. up, when possible, for Mansion: House functions. The Duke is like " a little .bit of mediaeval london m a • bpfwler v hat - and. tweed suit. I - s saw lim several .times siea,ted in a Royal carriage in a dense crush of traffic jn "the city. Standing at the' back were "the two magnificent Beings in livery with the traditional <?ourt wigs—like a barrister's, biit much more so, with very fat sausage-roll curls on each Bide. , Silk stockings! must have been ■chilly wear, for a bleak wind was whistling round the remarkable calves of each Jeames. Out of one side of the carriage popped the bowler hat and smiling face of an old gentleman, whose aquiline nose and 'white moustache are so often "featured'' in London pictorials. It was the Duke of Connaught who was apparently amused at the efforts^qfa coster's/ donkey to put his enquiring nose into the window of an adjacent taxi. * ■» » Ada as Mayor and Magistrate. England has not only a Lady Mayor but m the same person is also possessed of a feminine magistrate. Mrs Ada Summers, who is the Mayor of Staly bridge, took her place as president of a bench of magistrates in the local Police Court on New Year's Eve for the first time. The "crime-' "that answered the ■ summons on this auspicious occasion was dismissed with a caution, in honour of the lady magistrate. It was the mild offence" of

" chimney firing," an act which, is, of course, liable to lead to a serious outbreak' of fire in crowded neighbourhoods. :

British law seems to take the name —it cannot mistake the address—of persons whose chimneys catch fire to the danger, of liege subjects who live next door. The three persona "had up" before the new " Beak" and the Bench probably drank the Lady Mayor's (she is not called a Mayoress) health when they got outside. "Cases dismissed.". was the,. verdict. Mrs Summersj who is a woman of considerable means, is described as a philanthropist whose name is a household word..' in the district in which she; lives. The Premature Obituary.

Sir Horace Plunkett is one of the occasional men who has had the chastened joy of reading his own obituary notices.' Those printed in the London papers were so complimentary that the subject of them may almost rejgret that he may live long enough to be in danger of getting something less appreciative^—next time..

The well-known Home Ruler is, in the United States on the.mission which New T?ork at any rate * expects • from Irishmen. Suffering from insomnia; he was undergoing treatment .at Battle Creek (Michigan), or was on his way there, when the ' New York cables flashed the word of his death. Sheaves of obituary notice's appeared in Bri-

tain next day. Twenty-four hours later the news was . contradicted, also by cable. Battle Creek rose up hurriedly and announced that the Irish peer had arrived there, "apparently in good health." : : - ■» •:<- ". •* The Rising Fare. . If the British Railways continue to raise their fares at the steady pace of even the last twelve .months, the time will come when city workers will find it more economical to buy, on the hirepurchase system, as in America, cheap motor machines. That is out of the question,; meantime, owing to the high price of petrol in England. On the second day of the New Year,

the dismayed train .travellers read -that a Private Bill 'to raise the fares had -been, laid before Parliament by the Underground Railways of London. • This is to be intro*duced to the faithful Commons'' next session. It proposes an all-round rate, of twopence a mile for third-class passengers and fourpence a mile for firstclass. Parcel rates will be considerably raised under this new scheme.

The companies claim that they handed over to the Government, in the early days of the war, a solvent railway system that returned good dividends. : Tney .are "getting: back- a concern .which, is losing money, owing :to the railwaymen's high wages, and the great increase of everything used in the workshops. One clause in the new Bill will have a tough fight to get through the Labour members' net. It asks Government, which still controls the railways, to permit the abolition of ,workmen's concession tickets. . " ; * - . •* •" ■ * J - .

This, on the new basis of the present -high wages paid/ to the :only class which has this privilege (school chil-

drerf' excepted) in England, is not unfair. Typists, shop hands, city clerks, etc., who are not getting such wages as the manual labourer, have to .travel to and from their shop or office. London cannot , house one-tenth of the people who are employed even in that congested business area known as "The City." If the much-hetter-off artisan, is only travelling to his billet from his home he has no real claim, in the present difficult position of the London railway companies, to demand special privileges. * * * •* The Forum Club. ' . This new and fashionable women's

club has just been opened—with a flourish. A masque after the Elizabethan style, was produced in its great reception room, showing every branch of women's professional and social life. As representing each activity, Literature, Music, Industry, Agriculture, and so on, - members marched on to a, temporary stage, headed by Miss Victoria Addison garbed in Grecian robes aa the Forum, 1 suppose. Journalism—two Forumites carrying a big fountain meekly at-the tail of the splendid procession. But a member in " Jester'a " dress, after acknowledging the passing of the former . ladies, plumped down on her knees is' the Fountain Pen - swept on its way. "The' Forum" is sump-

tuously housed at Grosvenor Place, near Hyde Park—one of the finest sites in the West End. It is by a committee of notable women, and is probably, the most modern club of its kind in tondon. . , . * 4C- •» •• -sc- ■..■■■■: St. James's Palace.:., When the Prince of Wales recently went. into residence at historic • St. James's Palace, he followed -the -example of his father; The present King, when Duke of York, lived, there for-a time. But the old red brick building has _more memories than most of the royal residences. The site was seized by ; Henry V 111., who had a habit of helping himself. It. was then occupied by a hospital for '' maidens that were afflicted with leprosy." Henry soon made an end of this quaint building, and erected there the present palace which from time to time lias been' added to and enlarged. Charles I. lived in St. James's- when he was Prince of Wales. And it was, eventually, from this palace he was taken across the adjacent park (on the. morning of his execution) to Whitehall.

London is so full of ancient history that Londoners themselves, steeped in the daily struggle to reach the tube or underground railways, are. often ciuite indifferent to its antiquarian flavour. But to_ the turreted gateway (with its big moon-faced clock) of St. James's Palace is one of those portals through which the moth-eaten Past seems most easily visualised. i . * * '* -K- i The Tottering Traditiou. Women now being eligible to b e called up. as barristers, there is a little mild comment as to the exact; cut in .wigs that should grace the head. Also, since tradition is now tottering before the smart: raps given by modern woj man, the mere male is suavely asking: "Will the lady barrister have her hair bobbed i Or will she wear it in any fashion she chooses, and thus require specially constructed wigs ?" Bobbed hair, as a matter of fact, is passing out, except for children and young girls. It was a useful war fashion, particularly in Europe, where woman had to adopt many masculine' ways-as time-savers. " :