u ALIEN’S ” LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3595, 6 February 1923, Page 55

u ALIEN’S ” LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

(Specially Written for the Ladies' Page.) TO DATE. December IS Judging by appearances Christmas promises to be merry this year. London has been a delightful place of seasonable bustle, especially in the West JEnd, for the weather has been exceptional for early 7 winter. The Christmas spirit which works up gradually in England during the December month, reaching its climax' on the great day, is beginning to be distinctly felt. All are looking brighter as they hustle about inside or outside, and the children’s ey r es are getting rounder and bigger every day as they are taken from one big store to another to visit the toy fairylands, one of the most fascinating of which is at a big store where small purchasers can ride all the way from department to department on a tiny pony. Next week the bigger boys will be home from the public schools for the holidays, and fathers and mothers and rich uncles and aunts will be in great demand. So the little ones are having their turn first. It is quite possible to have an entirely Empire Christmas dinner—mutton and lamb and beef from New Zealand and Australia: butter and cheese and eggs from New Zealand; fruits fresh and dried and canned of Imperial production ; oranges and apples from Australia; Canadian apples, Australia and Cape currants and sultanas; Jamacia bananas; tea and coffee, nuts and spices, cereals, poultry, honey, and wines and all kinds of Christmas connections. On December 23 the special provisions of the Aliens Act of 1919 expire. Those provisions forbad the landing of any enemy alien in this country without permission of the Home Scretary, and with permission to enter, not to remain in Great Britain longer than three months. The attractions of England to the aliens of Central and Eastern Europe are great. With our system of doles and enormous

charities, England seems the paradise of all the world for the shiftless and the unfortunate, the haven of refugees and the “unwanted” of other countries. But our first duty is to oui* own people at this hour of British history. More perhaps than ever before, and it is asking too much to ask half-starving men and women to deny their children to feed those who ha-fe robbed and maimed and insulted them and spat upon their former hospitality ; who, in everything they accept or do, have the one a vowed purpose —a war of revenge. Shall the British taxpayer and the British ratepayers, loaded already with burdens insupportable, submit? This opening of the door to aliens means that Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, Bulgarians, and Turks can come in. The Home Office has said that it will make no difference, but even before the bar is removed 11,COO aliens have filtered through. During last September the Home Office permitted 731 Germans and other ex-enemv aliens to land in this country. Mr Reeves-Jones, the chief emigration officer, made a recent statement that the stowaway nuisance was on the increase, and that a large number of men at Hamburg are waiting for a chance to ship for England. As it is the Bolshevic element in England is the alien element, or its influence, and apart from the labour troubles which an influx of undesirable emigrants will increase, our short-sighted policy does not seem to realise that, by the exodus of our best workers to Australia and Canada and elsewhere, and the further influx of foreigners to Britain, Great Britain is undermining its own foundations, while a Greater Britain is in the building under the Southern Cross. Mr Lloyd George from the corner seat which he left 17 years ago for the Treasury Bench, had not so much to say in the House of Commons the other day concerning the “Home for Heroes” as he had in the past elsewhere. His appeal was for the revival of agriculture as one of the permanent expedients for alleviation of trade. The contribution, he said, which agriculture made to the good and employment of our people was disappointing. We had been dealing with unemployment on the assumption that it was a temporary difficulty which would pass away when the world recovered. But he had been of the opinion for some time past that such was not the case, and it would be idle to deal with something that was a permanent problem by temporary shifts.

One turns to pleasanter topics of the moment with relief. During the week shows of fat prize cattle have taken place all over the country, as in pre-war years. The occasion of the opening of the International and Poultry Show at the Olympic by the Prince of Wales was one of merriment, for the 10,000 cocks were determined to do all the crowing, and when the Prince attempted to make a speech he was persistently crowed down. He stepped forward, and the cheering excited the birds, who took the applause to themselves and evidently thought the Prince and the people had come there to hear them crow, and crow they did, the whole 10,000 of the cockerels, and their massed “cock-a-doodle-docs” was of some volume. It was impossible for the Prince to deliver his address, and the laughter, in which he joined, only stimulated the birds to fresh rivalry. Covent Garden was a wonderful scene the other night on the occasion of the Three Arts Ball, one of the most successful carnivals of recent yeans. Magnificent costumes were worn, and it seemed that all the distinguished and famous and beautiful and eccentric people for generations past were met by appointment ior a frolic. The boxes were all occupied, and charity should greatly benefit. Princess Marie Louise was president- of the committee, and numbers of well-known people took an interest in the ball. Among them were Ladv Tree, Lady du Maurier, Dame Clara Butt, Dame Mary W bitty. Miss Lilian Braithwaite. Miss Hilda Cowham, Sir La-ndon Ronald, Sir David Murray, Mr Augustus John, Mr and Mrs Owen Nares. Mr Stephen M'Kenna, Mr Nigel Plavfair. Mr Ivor Novello, and many other celebrities of the stage and brush and pen. Fancy-dress balls are very much to the fore just now, and right into February there are fixtures. Some very beautiful real old-time dresses were offered at the sale at the School of Art Needlework. One was a sprigged muslin of pale yellow and mauve; but not a “Modern Girl” size, it was pointed out, the waist being only 15 inches. The Nosegay Ball at the Carlton on the 18th promises to be a very beautiful sight-. Muriel Lady Helmsley is taking much trouble over it, and 50 young friends of her granddaughter, Miss Beatrice Beckett-, and of Lady Diana Duncombe are to do a flower dance, for which the famous Mile. Genee is coaching them.

As the Victorian Age slips further into the past, the costumes of the period are oftener seen at fancy-dress in some favourite character of Dickens ; and, talking of Dickens, reminds me that nine of his great-grandchildren are to take part in a play to be presented at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, on January 11 and 12 by Mrs Ernest Hawksley and Mrs Shuckburgh, daughters of Sn Henry Dickens. The name of the great novelist is always green among memories of the English Christmas, and one of his books, “The Christmas Carol,” is much in demand as a gift for the youth of England, although they would not recognise the master’s England as ours--especially London. One after one the old landmarks have disappeared, and with them most of the inns and houses made famous by Dickens's pen. At the present time the residents of Hamnsted are greatly troubled concerning the fate of a house 300 years old, which stands opposite ‘ The Spaniards,” an ancient inn. The house is a link with “Pickwick.’ and looks down on the tea gardens, where Mrs Bardell was taken up on behalf of Messrs Dodson and Fogg's costs. But the house stands in the way of a road-widening scheme, on a road up the hill towards Ken Wood. In Lady Battersea’s “Reminiscences, just published by Macmillan, in which she recalls happenings of the fifties, she has some good stories to tell _of I-ord Tennyson, George Meredith, Gladstone, Disraeli, and ethers. The author says that Tennvson had a great dislike to the word “awfullv” used out of place, as it often is. Lady Battersea relates: On that summer’s day in the eighties «e were expected by the poet and most cordially received, but, alas, my \ us ' band’s first words of delight at seeing Mr Tennvson were, owing to one atai slip, displeasing to him, for Cyril said grasping the hand of cur host with a beaming smile, ‘ I’m awfully glad* to see vou Mr Tennyson —awfully giaa. : Young man,’ ouotli the poet, awfully is a word you should not use in such a connection: it is quite wiong. t” '-‘i *r"—'Xd Z 52, £ expletive Urat *» liUl. OftcUi to hear from such lips). . . Another of Lady Battersea s stories s of Georo-e Meredith. On one of hh visits George Meredith found liimself ni company with a great friend of ours Prince Troubetzkoy and his wite, sh being no other than the somewhat celebrated American novenst, Amelia Rives, author of “Virginia of Virginia, The Quick and the Dead,” etc., etc Mere dith, nothing daunted by that lady success with her pen, gave as his onmion that hardly any woman had Produccd a reallv first-rate novel, not e\ en Ja Austen, Charlotte Bronte, or George EAot, whose names we brandished triumphantly before him. He kept to h opinion, and Princess Troubetzkoy heaved a 1 sigh, less in conscious acquiescence as L her own short comings than in sorrow that so great a genius should . tonumt such an error of judgement. the “Reminiscences” are delightful company for the winter fireside. After a wonderful 10,0u0 miles honey - moon trip across America, Lord Louis MAuntbatten and his *'ife, formeHy Mis Edwina, Ashley (known as Lie i wheat heiress in England) returned home at the week end, by the White Star liner Olympic. Photographers were ready to “snap” them before the boat had reac e the' Southampton wharf, and we got their happy expression at their first glimpses of P home from the deck of the steamery Lord Louis, it will be remembered, is a cousin of the King (formerly known as Prince Louis of Battenburg) and compamon of the Prince of Wales on his Eastern- tour; the Prince was best man at the wedding. The bride is heiress to the vast fortune of Sir Ernest Cussel. Mr Ernest 0* el and King Edward were intimate friends, so in more than one direction there are links between the bride and our . Royal Ea-mih The democratic Americans love a title, or anyone connected with the British Cou , so" 7 their enthusiastic we.come of Lord and Ladv Louis Mountbatten m America was a matter of course. Hundreds o. invitations poured in upon them. to their regret they were only able to spend one day in Canada, while visiting the Aiagar* Falls.