OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16836, 27 December 1928, Page 4

OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP

BRITAIN’S MINISTERS ARE WELL GHARPED LONDON, Nov. 10. The shadows of the mighty are rather substantial in England. When Ministers nt’ the Cabinet appear in public their “shadows,” detectives from Scotland Yard, are always close bv. M.P.’s outside the Government arc also sometimes guarded, and Lloyd George is at present afforded the protection of a police officer. Authorities consider special protection for the Ministers most valuable at times when the Ministers would mostly gladly dispense with their guardians—on informal occasions. It is at such times that members of the Government are most likely to be bothered by “cranks” with alleged grievances.

When Winston Churchill recently acted as a bricklayer at a cottage on his estate, his detective was in the front row of the spectators. Every drive, approach and putt made by Big William Joyuson-llicks in the Parliamentary golf handicap was watched by a Scotland Yard observer.

Two detectives are detailed to guard the Prime Minister, and one or the other is in attendance wherever Baldwin goes. In many cases the detective becomes such a part of the daily routine of the Minister, that the guardian assumes the role of “confidential secre tar v.”

Suffragette days proved a boom to the business of guarding British leaders. The system has been employed since the early days of political intrigues and feuds. Guarding the home product has been found useful in training men who watch over foreign potentates visiting England.

BIT OF TROPICS IS CREATED IN ENGLAND.

LONDON, Nov. 13

In a little room at the Rothamsted Agricultural Experimental station at Ha'rpenden, in Hertfordshire, scientific researches are being conducted which may result in world reductions in the price of clothes. Cotton is being ravaged in its growing' state by baterium malvacearum, a disease of unknown origin which attacks the plant in various forms. Plantations within the Empire, and especially in the Sudan, have been affected so seriously that the Empire Marketing Board has made a special grant to the Rothamsted station to enable its mycological department to determine the cause of the disease and the nature of its development. For the purpose of this work a remarkable piece of apparatus has been constructed. To the lay eye it appears to be merely a double-roofed glass box of the size of a moderately large packing case, but in a very wonderful way this simple-looking box has been made to enclose a square yard of the tropics. Within, it sturdy little cotton plants are putting forth their long green leaves under electric flood-lights as persuasive to growth as the Sudan sun. The temperature and moisture of the soil, the humidity and temperature of the air, and the intensity of the “sunlight” in the box are all under automatic control, and by an ingenious system of clockwork day dawns and night .falls over the artificial tropics Without a switch having to be touched by hand. There is no doubt that if the disease could be eradicated the increased yield of cotton everywhere it is grown would represent enormous sums of money, and it is probable that cheaper clothing Would result. TELLER. OF 1000 TALES A YEAR. SIR JAMES TAG-0 ART. CONTESTS' WITH LORD ABERDEEN - i ABERDEEN, November 2. t Sir James Taggart, formerly Lord' Provost of Aberdeen, tells 1000 stories every year; possibly more. Three years ago'some of them' were printed in a book, of which 70,000 copies wore sold. Sir James is tall and slightly gaunt, with , brown, humorous eyes. When lie tells you a story his face becomes almost determined, but as he reaches its climax his eyes begin to twinkle, and when it is concluded lie”'sits back and . enjoys it with you. lie has had two contests in storytelling with ]>ord Aberdeen. The last ono lasted two hours. Honors are even. One of Sir James’ stories concerns his opponent. I When Lord Aberdeen was attending tho Scottish Assembly in Edinburgh, a drunken man collided with him. On being asked “Don’t you know you liavo run into tho Marquis of Aberdeen and Temair?” he replied: “Am I as bad as that? Is there two of ’em?” 1 “There are no new stories,” Sir James told mo. He added: — ■ j I suppose I know about 200. They go all ovpr the world and come back a little different. One man in the UniUd States is constantly sending me his “latest story.” He has tried about 20 so far—but I knew them all. Somo of my stories I heard at my mother’s knee, but I have altered and polished them. !

FUTURE OF SOUND FILMS. Since the first complete Fox ‘ ‘ movietone” programme was shown in New York early last year in connection with the screening of Seventh Heaven, progress in what Mr. Frederick Lonsdale, the dramatist, describes as “tho most exciting invention of the century-” has been deliberate. .The invention was originally the work of a student of Yale, Theodore Case, and Earl I. Spoil able. Mr. Lonsdale, who recently returned from America to London, where tho first, sound film, The Jazz Singer, was at the time being presented at the Piccadilly Theatre, wrote in the Daily Mail: “I was shown iu Now- York a film half of which was accompanied by a dialogue and appropriate sounds. The second half was silent, and its flatness and dulnoss by contrast were positively ludicrous. It is a mistake, too, to suppose that the dialogue is necessarily shrill, mechanical or scratchy. One of the actors whom 1 saw and heard in a film was O. P. Heggie,, and nothing could have been more impressive than the dialogue as he spoke it. It was exactly like listening to the man in an ordinary theatre, or, better still, in one’s own drawingroom. Ethel Barrymore also has a voice which reproduces perfectly. For vchrs leading American producers wanted her in the .films, but, although she had all manner of tests, she had to give up the idea as hopeless. All the men in the business agreed that she was not the movie

type- But see her in talking films, and she is a different being; the moment she opens her mouth she acquires a new and dynamic personality.” Mr. Lonsdale explained that his present plans were to return to America in the spring, and to write for the talking films. Already the Americans were buying up British players and playwrights, and unless Loudon moved it would soon bo too late. Where English companies offered £2OOO for the talking film rights of a play the Americans offered £IO,OOO. Salaries paid to players were in proportion. Sound films are to be produced in "Australia within the next six months. SIX TIMES THE LIMIT. You can hear a good song a hundred times, but y-ou can, only stand a good story about six times. Then you say, “Oh. T’ve heard that one.” That reminds me of the man listening to his friend’s talented daughter playing the violin. He seemed to be taking no notice, so the father said: “What do von think of this lovely music?" “Ach ! I’ve heard the fiddle before,” was the reply. Sir James’ shortest story concerns an offender wliose friend told him the sheriff was much influenced by genialitv and that if he wete tactful he would probably- get off. So -when the sheriff entered" the court the man bowed, and said: “Good morning, sheriff. I hope yon are very well." “Fine.” said the sheriff. “Five pounds.”