News Topics From London

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26559, 6 September 1947, Page 7

News Topics From London

N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 9 p.m. LONDON, Sept. 5. Restoration work on Wakefield Tower in the Tower of London has now been completed and the Crown jewels, which were housed there for many years prior to the war, will shortly be returned from their secret hiding place for public exhibition in the Tower. The present-day valuation of the Crown jewels, which comprise 60 main pieces, is stated to be £20,000,000. Desert Forces’ Re-unions Two notable forces of desert veterans will hold re-unions in London this month. On September 12, officers who took part in the defence of Tobruk will hold a re-union dinner under the chairmanship of General Sir Ronald Scobie, who commanded the Tobruk garrison after General Sir Leslie Morshead relinquished the command to take command over the Ninth Australian Division, and on September 20 the Desert Air Force will hold a re-union of all ranks at Albert Hall. General Morshead, who is at present in London on business, will be the guest of honour at the Tobruk reunion. Edinburgh Castle Floodlit As a result of the storm of protest in Edinburgh, the Minister of Fuel, Mr Emanuel Shinwell, relented in his refusal to permit Edinburgh Castle to be floodlit during the present festival of music and drama and gave permission for flood-lighting on four nights to be selected by a committee. The first of these was Wednesday night, when, according to the Glasgow Herald, the spectacle of the dark looming shape of the castle suddenly illuminated against the night sky added the final touch of atmosphere to the festival. American Farmers’ Visit While the delegation of members of the United States House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee is conducting economic talks in London on official levels, another delegation of Americans on an unofficial fact-finding mission has also arrived. It comprises 22 members of the American Fiirm Bureau, all farmers from the middle western States, who are paying their own expenses in an effort to see conditions in Britain and Europe for themselves. “We want to find out about our troubles and tell our people back home—we are all in this together,” said a spokesman for the farmers. Exodus to Ilopfields Thousands of hop-pickers, most of them Londoners, are now engaged in the annual trek from the city to the Kent hopfields in preparation for the hop harvest. A special London company named The Taverners is playing Shakespearean plays for them, and gave a performance of "Twelfth Night ” at a paddock wood in the midst of the hopfields. The performance was given in the old public house formerly known as the Kent Arms, but which has now been renamed the John Brunt, V.C., after the son of the proprietor, an officer of the Sherwood Foresters who won the award posthumously in Italy. Eire Bus Drivers’ Strike Transport in Dublin and in many of the principal towns of Eire has been crippled by a strike of 3000 bus drivers in the capital and provincial centres. The men are demanding 30s weekly increase in wages and a 40-hour week. It is feared that the strike may spread to the railways, where 10,000 railway workers have refused a recent offer of 7s 6d weekly increase, in wages. Increase in Suit Prices A new order has been issued by the Board of Trade fixing the maximum prices fo" tailored suits after October 1. Tailors may be pemitted to add 110 percent., or £ls, whichever is the greater, to 1939 prices of suits. The order will have the effect of reducing the prices of expensive Savile Row suits by about £2, but will increase the prices of more moderately-priced suits. Average prices, including purchase tax, will now vary from £2O to £33 for suits which cost from £8 10s to £l4 pre-war.