PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22830, 14 March 1936, Page 4

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

The Periodicals Fashions from Paris and London are the central interest in the March issue of the Home, of Sydney; they are tu by described and admirably displayed by comely Australians. Another feature is the illustration of beautiful Commonwealth homes, especially the interiors, while there arc handsomely-illustrated articles on home interests, gardens, and the social aspects of life in the Australian cities, London, and the Continent. The March issue of the B.P. Magazine, published by Messrs Burns, Philp.ie a particularly attractive number, distinguished especially by its front-coyer colour reproduction of one of John Allcot's studies in sail, and the splendid photographs of the Acropolis which accompany F. S. Burhell's "Greek Jour ncy " The travel articles are numerous, and cover a wide area of earth and sea, while the magazine contains an excellent selection of fiction, verse, articles on artistic and domestic interests, all fully illustrated. „ ~ ... ~, The March number of Reveille, the journal of the Returned Soldiers' and Sailors' Imperial League of Australia, has an excellent portrait of King Edward VITT on the cover. Ihe contents consist of news notes and articles of interest to Anzacs. Statistical A useful little statistical survey of the New Zealand general election figures has been compiled bv T. Lisle under the .title "Results Analysis. Comparisons. Comments" Tt embodies a full comparison of the 1031 and 1f1.15 election polls, and n valuable summary of party votes over the past 11 years. It might be suggeste-i that the "comments," where they reveal a party bias on the part of the author, are out of place in a booklet of tins tvDe.

cession comes in view. Three coaches of vivid magnificence flash from ta« motley huddle of vehicles, coachmen fiit& postilions in the finery of gold braid and silk stockings stolidly staring ahead. From one coach a large and highlydecorated bauble protrudes. The Lord Mayor of London is paying a call. HEROES There is one other London pageant, which is recalled with certain misgiving. The scene is St. Paul's Cathedral—" the parish church of Empire"—and the occasion a service to commemorate some event in the island story. What event matters not, but it is obviously one that is precious to the fighting arms. St. Paul's is fronted by one of those big London crowds that seem to manifest themselves from nowhere, to no purpose, and can idly gaze for hours, almost regardless of what they may be gazing at. The police are holding the spectators back, clearing a way for the cars, with their usual paternal firmness. A great bell booms from the cathedral, and the pigeons wheel in sudden spontaneous affright as a car approaches, then settle momentarily again upon the paving.

One after another, the cars draw up by the steps of St. Paul's, and the servants of Enjpire emerge to pay tribute to the ideals they have lived by. All are in the brave finery of dress uniform, with slim, elegant swords and plumed hats. Some of them drive up in grand, expensive limousines, with a chauffeur to open the door, and salute as they alight: but most are in the undignified and snub-nosed proletariat of London's carriage system—taxis. It remains for a respectful but indifferent bobby to help these from their cabs.

Frequently they need assistance, the heroes of Great Britain's forward line of progress. They are, without exception, old. Their scarlet coats wrap without grace about bent shoulders. Their swords trail without gallantry, and show a tendency to become engaged with spurs. Their heads, when tfiey are bared, are scant of hair. Their gait, as they climb the unsympathetic rank of stone steps, is anxious and old. With the nervous incompetence of the aged they struggle with their pockets, to. produce the coloured card which a policeman must inspect before admitting them to the cathedral.

Limping, shuffling, uncertain and—it might as well be said^— the old men who have served the Empire with distinction are coming to receive a benediction.

Next day, in The Times, the account of this ceremony makes impressive reading. Resounding names and strings of important letters to them, titles of rank in prodigal array, are given to the plain man to ponder in his ordinariness. "But studying this fine description, one must recall again that troubled procession of oldsters who tottered up the steps into the dark, unwelcoming cavern of St. Paul's. This, then, is the reward for gallant service in an Empire's cause, that a man shall become weary in his walk, and his uniform grow too large for him, and his sword be pressed into duty as a crutch. It is an irony which rebukes the brave pages of the history book, that your admiral must fall victim to arthritis in the end, and v your general seek promotion from his charger to a bath-chair. Such are the pageants of London one may come on unawares, which give the measure of the strangeness and fullness of the greatest city. Prepared by inimitable glimpses such as these into the hurrying changlessness of London, the deep immutability of its progress, one might see Gloriana ride by along the Strand, some summer's noon, surrounded by her courtiers, and be unsurprised. J. M.