LONDON GOSSIP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23500, 14 May 1938, Page 18

LONDON GOSSIP

'NO JUVENILE UNEMPLOYMENT GOOD PROSPECTS FOR BOYS RETIRED POSTMEN ENGAGED (Fhom Our Own Correspondent) (By Air Mail) LONDON, ApL 20. London is in the proud position of having no juvenile unernplyoment problem. In fact, throughout the South of England there is a good job with prospects for advancement awaiting practically every boy leaving school between the ages of 14 and 15. There is, indeed, a serious shortage of errand boys, and several firms have been obliged to engage retired postmen instead for such work. An official in the Education Department at County Hall stated that this satisfactory state of affairs was not due to any more or less temporary demand from firms engaged on munitions work, but to the normal demands of industrial London which had been In evidence for some years. Not long ago the London County Council established in districts where there were 50 or more unemployed juveniles an instructional centre where they cguld receive training while unemployed. At present there is no need for a single centre of this kind throughout the county. Nor do the children for whom work is found with such comparative ease go into “blind-alley" occupations. Committees of voluntary workers, on which employers and officials serve, with a central organisation at County Hall, see the children when they leave school and guide them into jobs for which they are fitted. FIVE THOUSAND SMITHS

It Is said that one realises the value of the telephone directory only when one has mislaid it. Certainly few subr scribers, when they received, with unfailing regularity, their new copies of the directory each half-year, pause to think of the amount of work and skill entailed in the production of these volumes. There are 600,000 entries in the two volumes of the London directory. These are increasing so rapidly that It is anticipated that there will be 1,500,000 names in the 1960 editions. The care exercised in the compilation of the directories may be appreciated when it is stated that, although new subscribers’ names and addresses are entered every day and! old subscribers’ numbers are continually being changed, there is an average of only eight misprints per 100,000 names. Approximately 1,700,000 copies of the two London volumes—A to K and L to Z—are Issued every six months. The weight of this issue, together with the 30.000 volumes placed in call boxes and kiosks, exceeds 4000 tons. Each copy costs Is to produce, and the binding is of such quality that the volume may be lifted and held suspended by have the most numerous entry in the telephone book—sooo subscribers of that noble name being entered in the new edition. Over 10 pages are devoted to the Joneses; seven pages are occupied by the name Harris, and over three pages by the name Cook. Ex-directory subscribers, who object to directory publicity, number nearly 18,000; but It is stated that many of them are finding out that elimination of their names has disproved them of facilities which full use of the telephone ensures. THRILLS FOR THE MILLIONS Few men in modem times have nontributed more to the happiness of the millions than Mr Bertram Mills, the circus proprietor, who has died at the age of 64. He was a connoisseur of thrills, and nothing gave him keener pleasure than to hand on to hiscircus patrons some new wonder which he had unearthed in the course of his annual world tour in search of circus *2* year, he and his sons. Bernard and Cyril, travelled more than 50,000 miles in their quest for ixesh and novel talent. The giraffe-necked women from Burma were one of his most recent discoveries. In his time, Bertram Mills entertained more than 1.000,000 children free of charge. He used to love watching their eager faces as the clowns did their tricks and the hors es and lions went through their turns. A cornflower in his buttonhole, a grey top hat, and yellow gloves, he was a personality outside the circus. Learning to ride when he was three, he became one of the most expert breeders. exhibitors, and judges of hackney horses in the world. He hunted regularly, drove a four-horsed coach with the accustomed ease of a master, and ; still found time to take an active interest in public affairs. A year ago he was adopted as prospective Conservative candidate for the Isle of Ely. He simply laughed when Mr J. H. Thomas, at a luncheon one day, remarked: “What an old fool you must be to enter politics.” . In accordance with his dying wish, his two sons will carry on the circus. NUMBER 11 The annals of No. 11 Downing street, which Mr Chamberlain is leaving after one of the longest, continuous terms of office (1931-7) as Chancellor of the Exchequer in modern times, have been endowed with little of the romance supposed to attach to No. 10, where Mr and Mrs Chamberlain will make their home; after their Easter vacation at Chequers. It has also been a much less expensive affair for the nation than the house next door, which has involved many thousands In the various heavy repairs, to vmich a considerable sum has just been added. Some Chancellors of the Exchequer have preferred to retain their own houses, and long periods as Chancellor of the Exchequer have not always meant a long residence at No. 11. Sometimes it has been used as a residence for the second Minister of the Crown when that Minister has not been Chancellor of the Exchequer. FREE THEATRE EXPERIMENT To make certain-that his repertory company, the Court Players, get the audiences and the fame they deserve, Mr George Black, creator of the Palladium “crazy” shows, is going to throw the Empire Theatre, Penge, open to the public for one week entirely free of charge.