LONDON GOSSIP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23320, 13 April 1939, Page 5

LONDON GOSSIP

COMING OF SPRING FLOWERS IN THE PARKS HUSBANDS AND WAGES [WIVES KEPT IN THE DARK [fbom our own correspondent] LONDOX, March 23 Spring is doing its best to compete ■with the gashes made in London's parks during the autumn, when the Air Raid Precautions Department's trenches were hastily dug. It is (estimated that in a very short time 1,000.000 flowers will bo blooming in London's opon spaces, and that soon the harsh lines of the trenches will be softened by colourful surroundings. With the official arrival of spring th is week there are magnificent beds of crocuses in Hyde Park, and mauve primroses are out in St. James' and Kensington Parks. It will not be long now before spring bedding-out starts, and about .'3OO men will bo digging-in plants in the central parks.

There will soon be polyanthus, for-get-me-nots, wallflowers, rod, white and pink daisies,'and all the spring flowers in glowing masses at Victoria Gate, St. James' Park, and in Hyde Park. The rhododendron beds in St. James' Park and Hyde Park have been filled, and the buds promise a good show. Blue and white hyacinths are beginning to show colour in a largo bed at Hyde Park Corner.

Tulips Given by the Netherlands Soon, more than 100.000 tulips will bloom in the central parks. In front of Buckingham' Palace 45,000 City of Haarlem tulips are all above ground. More than 50.000 tulips will border Birdcage Walk, and there will be 25,000 iu Kensington Gardens, the remainder in Hyde Park. All these are British-grown bulbs. In addition, there are 10.000 tulips in ten different varieties of 1000 each, a gift from the Netherlands Government to all Governments who took part in the Munich Conference. They have been planted in a border at Victoria Tower Gardens, and have the House of Lords as a background. Mass-produced Orchids While London's gardeners are turning their attention to these spring flowers, the news comes from Bradford, in Yorkshire, that orchids are to be massproduced there by Mr. Frank Hatchell, who controls the research work at the orchid nurseries at Apperley Bridge. Tens of thousands of exotic orchids are being grown from seeds sent from Mexico, China, Venezuela, and India by collectors. Mr. Hatchell has orchids which cost £2OO, £4OO, and even £6OO each from which to obtain the seeds he needs. "Orchids are extremely lone-lived flowers," he savs. "Some have been known to live 70 years. All the orchids rrised here spend the first year of their lives in a test-tube, and are chemically fed. After 12 months, they are placed in a flask.

"In their third year, they live in a 'community pot' with 11 neighbours. Orchids are not marketable until they are four years old. They are the healthiest of all flowers. A spray for evening wear, if placed in water, will live for six weeks."

One greenhouse at the Apperley Bridge nurseries has 40.000 growing orchids valued at between os and £1 each. To keep the conservatories at the right temperature, there are two miles of hot water pipes. An hour's sunshine means a difference of £1 to the fuel bill. ' • What is in the Wage Packet? In London it has been found that large numbers of husbands never tell their wives anything about their incomes. This has been revealed following the distribution of free steel shelters to householders whose income is lower than £5 a week. Several wives applied for these free shelters, and then had to stops their delivery when their husbands admitted that they earned more than £250 a year. In other cases the work of the officials was doubled because of Mrs. Brown's hazy ideas of the true size of Mr. Brown's wage packet. These revelations so disturbed Dr. Edith Summerskill, M.P., thht she asked the Prime Minister about it in the House of Commons.

An air raid precautions canvasser in one London district found that in certain localities not one wife knew what her husband was paid. Even a tram conductor's wife did not know what her husband was , paid. "I never asked him." she said. "All that worries me is getting my share to run the home. He gives me £3. After he has paid his clubs it cannot leave him much." Although wage secrecy is a more serious question among the poorer people, salary secrecy is observed to an even greater extent .among the more well-to-do. This was shown by the hundreds of letters received by Dr. Suminerskill after her question in the House.

Women in Favour of Flogging " Are women more cruel than men?" This""polite poser has been prompted fcv the debates and in the House of Commons on the desirability or. otherwise of flogging. Several women M.P.'s are fighting the Government's proposal to abolish flogging. Mrs. M. C. Tate and Viscountess Davidson. Mrs. late has said: "At the risk of being called brutal, sadistic or anything else, nothing will induce me to vote for the abolition of capital punishment unless it is proved that it is not a deterrent." And Viscountess Davidson's view is: "I am not cruel; I am not a floggcr; hut, the safety of the public, the safety of old men, old women, little children, and young girls, is on our shoulders in this room. I have never felt more strongly than 1 feel to-day that the Government is wrong. I am going to vote against this clause now and I shall do everything in my power defeat it in the House of Commons.' It was possibly these remarks which led Mr. Rhys Davies, .Labour M.P., to Bay to a Standing Committee of the House: "Some women are moro cruel than the men who sit on committees of the House of Commons." "Kipling said that, loo," commented Commander Marsden (Conservative). After hearing views for and against, the clause in the Criminal .Justice TJill to abolish flogging was carried by the committee by 32 votes to 17.

Controversy Over Architecture Two of the youngest women architects practising in Britain —Miss Helen Gibb. 28, and Miss Margaret Low, B?ed 29, both of Bnyswatcr, Londonhave put a council of 24 men in their places! They designed a flat-roofed house for the old world village of Coldwaltham, near Pulborough. Sussex, and th,p Chanctonbury Rural '£ouncil were horrified at it appearing among Georgian and Jacobean houses. A Ministry of Health 'inquiry followed, experts • defended the flat roof, and the Ministry agreed that the house should bo built. Said Miss Gibb, on learning of the decision: "The importonce of the verdict cannot be underestimated by those who fight for modern architecture as opposed/ to the repetition of so-called traditional styles. "English architecture will never advance unless architects are allowed to express themselves in the modern style."