OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17078, 6 July 1926, Page 8

OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP.

THE LLOX OH THE HOUR. LONDON,. May 2. London society (using the phrase in its widest sense to include all sorts and conditions) has a new and much appreciated “lion." Since the event, which was announced in our last issue there has been no personal object of interest to equal the Duchess of York’s little daughter. Any news concerning her Ik .sure of attention, and her parents arc congratulated both by the great and the humble. The very house in which she was born takes on for many a surpassing fascination. and Bruton-strcct achieves a peculiar fame. Little crowds frequented it for days, watching the callers who brought good wishes, catching 'a glimpse, when they were lucky, of the King and Queen, and dumbly joining in the welcome offered to the third lady in the land. SIR SQUIRE BANCROFT. By the death of Sir Squire Bancroft London has lost a very distinguished and picturesque figure. In there democratic days, most eminent men attempt to avoid notice. They dress with as little singularity as their tailors will allow them; they walk hurriedly; they hide themselves in motor ears. Sir Squire Bancroft would have tried la vain to pass unnoticed. Forty years ago everyone knew who he was. For the last 20 years no stranger could pass him in his daily walk to the Athenaeum or 1o the Garrick Club, or see him in a theatre or in church,, without wanting to know who that remarkable-looking man was. Of his practical shrewdness there are innumerable stories, but the shrewdness did nothing to mar the simplicity; and it was mainly the not ignoble simplicity which, shone out as lie walked “the town" —the last, or very nearly the last, man of his day who dared to look and to bear himself as if lie was “somebody." And "somebody" he undoubtedly was.

THE CHANCELLOR’S LIST. Mr. Churchill aroused much laughter in the House of Gommoas by his reference to the strength of the language used in tin* debates on the Economy Bill. He had made what he called a. ‘ ‘statistical appreciation," of 'which he gave the House the benefit, as follows: — The word “robbery” or “robbed" was used (57 times, “confiscation” ten. “plunder" ten, “steal" three —it was used once more by Sir. Thomas, but it arrived sifter the list was closed. The word “raid" was used eleven times, “theft” two, “filch", one, “grab" one, “cheat " one—that word was used by Sir John Simon,, Who had to bring in the poet Clough for the purpose — “breach of faith" nineteen, “betrayal" live, “infamy" one, “rascality" one, “perfidy" one, “mean" fifteen, “paltry" one, “despicable” one, “dastardly" one. So far as lie was concerned personally, he received the following compliments: —“Tin* villain of the piece," “robber," “marauder," “cat-burglar," and “artful dodger." Members of the Labor Party had for some years at elections been accustomed to salute him with the expression “murderer," and, from that point of view, “robber" was a sort of promotion. It showed that he was making some kind of headway in their esteem. There were Ministerial cheers when Mr, Churchill went on to say that words which, on the proper occasions were a. most powerful engine lost their weight ami value when they were not ■backed by facts or winged by truth, when they wore obviously only the expression of strong feeling and wen 1 not related in tniv way to the actual facts of the situation. \ Ti lli ENGLISH MAX \S PHLEGM. LONDON, May <i. Practically every day since the outbreak of the greatest strike in the history of Groat Britain the cables have announced that tlio people have taken' it philosophically. Hundreds of thousands have tramped cheerfully to work, even in drizzling rain, and suffered without complaint, hardships which the cables have not described. The Englishman’s imperturbability, his coolness in times of great crises, is the admiration of the world. Air. Alfred Noyes, in an article on “Wonderful London,-" in a “new magazine, describes this phlegmatic trait in circumstances entirely different. “There is no freedom for the individual like that which is bestowed upon him by the indifference of London," he says. “You may see an Oriental potentate, in all his gorgeous robes, striding along a London pavement, and solemnly followed at a discreet distance by liis dusky and turbaned attendant; and not a single Londoner will glance at thorn twice. You may run through, crowded streets in athletic attire. You may dress like Queen Elizabeth, or ride a camel down. Piccadilly, and London will give no sign ol attention. Why should London be stirred by suefi tilings—a city that has seen the kings come riding back from the Crusades ‘the purple- kings with all their mounted men’? Cross that bridge, spanning the world’s most wonderful river, and you will not ask London to be amazed at little tilings."

INVENTION EPOCHAL IN RADIO RECEPTION. A new invention making possible the operation of a loud speaker nit,lt an ordinary crystal set has created wide interest among British radio fans and promises -to revolutionise radio listening-in throughout the world. The inventor is a young enthusiast and expert of Wolverhampton. IDs apparatus,, which will cost about' id,

has been given acid tests by wireless exports who have succeeded in picking up Davenfry station, fifty miles away, and who declare the invention will prove one of the greatest assets to the radio fan of modest means. The Wolverhampton wizard makes use of the coil, variable condensor, and crystal detector, which compose, the ordinary crystal set, but he does not employ the transformers, battries and other “gimlets" which are now necessary for loud speaker broadcasting. The important point of the invention is in the aerial ami the coil. The aerial is 100 foot high and consists of four strands of heavy-wire on six-foot siireadcru. The coil .is made from throe ebonite dr wooden strips, the ends of which are slotted. The three pieces are joined together in the form of a paddle-wheel,, and the wire is, wound around the slots. There are eight slots and twenty turns of wire wound into ouch slot, or IfiO turns ol wire round the wheel.