OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17126, 5 December 1929, Page 9

OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP

GRAFTS REVIVAL. TO BRIGHTEN RURAL ENGLAND. COMMUNAL LIFE FOSTERED. MANCHESTER, Eng. A revival of the ancient rural crafts that made an earlier England a land of fine workmanship; the spread of (lie simple yet comprehensive educational policy* and the development of an extensive communal life among the villages of Derbyshire and other parts of the North of England are being keenly fostered by Rural Community Councils, local and county. Under the aegis of the Derbyshire Rural Community Council a campaign for the coming winter is being carried out in association with about 150 local councils, and the programmes planned predict happier and brighter times for those who live in the quiet and lonely places of the county. An extraordinary range of interests are being catered to in the programmes issued from the Derby headquarters, in its good work of “assisting the revival of social, educational, and economic life in the villages.” The suggestions are largely concerned with lectures, concerts, •recitals, group study circles and similar educational work—all sponsored for the purpose of bettering the cultural conditions of the inhabitants of rural areas. Lectures of various kinds have been planned and chemistry, general history, child psychology, music, art, geology, and government are incorporated in the range of lectures available. Music and drama in the villages are regarded as of - great importance and a fine company of Derbyshire players is offered at a nominal charge for performahoes in the villages. A course of. lectures on musical appreciation combined with community singing is also offered. These movements are being developed on a broad scale. Evening schools for village drama producers are being established, at Buxton* Chesterfield, and Derby, and a week-end drama school will assemble at Great Hucklow. Classes for village music conductors are to bo held in Chesterfield on Saturday mornings, the tuition offered being such as will fit students for the class teacher’s diploma of the Royal Academy of Music. A Derbyshire drama competition in one-act plays will be held next spring. Special classes for village choirs have been added to the musical festivals of the county and the organisation of a village band contest is contemplated. Chief among the proposals being developed is a return to rural craftsmanship. The Derbyshire Council now has a guild of craftsmen, numbering 55 and | consisting of- smiths, stone workers, saddlers, potters, wood carvers, basket makers'and other craft workers. Classes in drawing and design and other useful subjects have been arranged through this guild, and the council is guiding the | students back to the old artistry that | characterised the work of the guilds of former centuries in England. Less ambitious but no less essential matters are included among the activities of the councils. The ideals of the movement range from preserving ancient trees to burning burnable rubbish, from the reviving of old industries to the construction of new village halls. Indeed, scarcely any aspect of village life and economies' is left untouched in programmes that have been arranged through the central agency at Derby, ‘which is merely the guiding influence in the scheme which sees the local councils working out their own policies and projects for the .betterment of the social, esthetic, cultural, and intellectual wellbeing of the villagers.

ENGLISH ACTORS IN REVOLT. AMERICAN BOWERY TACTICS. LONDON, Oct. 16. International hostilities have broken oat in the theatrical world' of Ixmdou over what are described a?, the Bowery menace of American producers. Of late years more artd more American companies and producers have manoeuvred productions into West- End theatres, arousing ip some instances keen resentment among the English actors and producers here. Feeling has come to a bursting point with Oscar Ashe, famous actor arid, author of the record-breaking ' musical, play, “Chn Chip. Chow,” and lie tints erupts to-day in one of the newspaper*,: “Is it no-t time,.’' be asks, “that English, actors and English managers who employ them should take action to stop the insulting language used by some American producers in London theatres?” One of the undesirables greeted a theatre company the other day with the words, “Ytraf blank English actors, apd yet you think you won the war.” In anbf-hpr instance an actor accustomed to direction and the behavior of tho late Sir Charles Wvndham and other English managers arid gentlemen, misunderstood the time of a- rehearsal in onp of the best conducted theatres of the West End, lie found the American producer, a hulking Bowery tough, lolling in the stalls with a. huge cigar irl the corper of his mouth, and tendered him a polite apology. The producer retorted: “You blank English, actors, you have no discipline.” The cigar should have been puliqd out of his mouth and replaced with, the lighted end foremost, but some of us are depied such an opportunity.” Oscar Ashe’s outburst, while considered unnecessarily violent- in language, is felt in theatrical circles to be justified, but not as regards all American producers, some of whom are irreproachable in behavior. PASSING OF A GREAT REVIEW. There were many Londoners sorry to, learn that the issue of the Edinburgh Review published this week was to he the last, and their regret, no doubt, will be echoed by English-speaking people throughout the world. The Edinburgh i Review was started in October, 1302, and had mado its appearance every quarter until this week. Now the publishers, Messrs. Longmans, Green, have | found that people are no longer content to take their criticism of politics, literature, and life at Quarterly intervals. ,so| the quarterly whch first taught Britain that a periodical journal could have a. policy and a potyer of its own is to go. During its 127 years the review has had only seven editors, the last being Mr. Harold Cox, who has bean in- the chair since 1912. The review was founded to conduct an active Whig policy, but as the editor says in a foreword to the last number, the political views that it was intended to support have ceased to piny a leading part in the national life. To-day the monthly and weekly magazines, the daily press, and broadcasting compete with tho quarterlies in offering highly-trained •criticism and specialised information in oyery branch of human knowledge.

THE DIVORCE MILL. The divorce judges, who have been subjected, to great pressure of work in recent years, are in for another busy term. Hie Michaelmas term begins on October 14, and a total of 700 eases.is expected by the time the lists close next week. The courts in London will probably have dealt with about 2600 suits by the end of the year. To this total will have to be added Assize eases, which will probably exceed 1500. making the year’s record about- 4100. Last year the decrees granted numbered, 3740, and in 1927 the total was 3190. The divorce courts in this country now handle approximately four times as many cases as before the war. Different people will draw diverse conclusions from this increase; but- the only certain thing is that it is no subject for facile generalisation. At any rate, although the proportion of one divorce to every 114 marriages which prevails in this country may seem high, it- is still some way behind that of the United States. In that “land of the free” the proportion is one divorce to every seven marriages. Among the causes which have certainly helped, for good or ill, to increase divorced in this, country are the better facilities offered by the'As,size jurisdiction and the Poor Persons rules, together with the equalisation of the grounds for divorce as between the sexes and the operation of Judicial Proceedings (Regulation of Reports) Act, which reduces the publicity to which divorce court proceedings were previously liable. LONDON'S FIRST “JIXT.”

“Jixis” have made their appearance in the streets of London. They are little two-seater blue and grey cars fitted with coupe-limousine bodies. They were designed by Mr. William Gowan, who has incorporated many novel ideas. The inside color scheme of the cab is blue and walnut. There is a special microphone, so that the driver can hear the passenger’s instruction in the noisiest of traffic. There are leather pockets in the doors, 1 electric light, ash tray, mirror, and silk blinds, while the taximeter is placed so that it is easily seen bv the passengers. Although the manufacturers assert that the Jixis are cheaper to operate than the four-seaters, the fares are to be the same. Another advantage in the adoption by drivers of the two-seater, is that SO per cent, of taxi-users travel in pairs, so that (•he additional space in four-seater cabs is wasted. This new cab is capable of 60 miles an hour. Patented rights of the design have been acquired in Germany, ] France, Italy, Canada and America. THE NEW SKATING ROOM. Ice-skating in London had completely died out some years ago, hut now there are throe rinks in full swing. The postwar ice-boom was started with the Ice Club in Grosvenor road, which reopened for the season yesterday. On its inauguration this club was responsible for one of the greatest “squashes” ever known in London. Hundreds more had been asked to the ceremony than the place could possibly hold. Pandemonium reigned inside, the surrounding traffic was a solid block, and many could get nowhere near the building, and to make matters worse, it was the wettest of wet nights. '1 he famous pre-war resort of skaters was Prince’s Club, in Knightbridge. of whieli Constance, Duchess of Westminster was. constant patron. The premises are now a motor garage. SEVEN MILES OF ANGLERS. This is not an ordinary fish story, it is true. One rlav this week 528 fishermen sat for four hours on a bank of the River Whitham. in Lincolnshire, to con-< Lest, the angling championship of Kngland. There were 44 competing teams of 12 men each, and Boston (Lincolnshire) Won with a catch weighing s?lb. The highest individual catch was that of a member of the winning team, whose 44 roach weighed lllb. Altogether 10,000 perch, roach, dice, and other fish were caught. They were kept alive, and after the judges had weighed I hem, every onv*.as returned to the river unharmed, But, according to the organiser of this strange contest., the 10,000 fish caught were only the most stupid in the j river, as so mu: h fishing is done in the • Whitham that the finny residents of it , are claimed to he more cunning than the I fish in any other river. During the four hours that the competition lasted the anglers sat silent in a line seven miles long. There were miners, factory workers, and farm hands, and wives, sweethearts, and daughters sat. in admiring silence beside the men folk, 'being careful not in move their feet or throw a shadow to terrify the fish. In the ln,st half-hour competitors threw their; bait into the river in a dramatic attempt to attract flic fish.

SCOTS WIT A HAE. Fashionable London is being swept by a revival of Scottish dances. The popular Duchess of York, daughter of a proud Highland family, is responsible for-the bagpipes being “in” again. One of the best-known dancing instructors of London said in a recent interview;— “The revival of the eightsome, Scottish reel and Highland country dances has been made partly in honor of the Duchess of- York, who has confided to her friends her liking for the steps.” Patriotic, Scotchmen are endeavoring to. popularise the kilt. This is being dpne on the grounds of economy as well as love of the traditional dress. A peer claims to have worn the same kilt off and on for thirty years and declares it looks as well as ever ! RlOl’S FIRST FLIGHT. It was a thrilling sight. The airship for which the Empire had waited for lour years was successfully aloft, answering tho finger-tip control of the officers in the cabin projecting below her envelope. Tho great craft seemed to express certainty, of her complete success. High enough up to dispel the suggestion of her overwhelming bulk, this airship, the largest thing that man has projected into tho blue air, was yet close enough to reveal all her shapeliness. London’s millions revelled in the picture of the sleek silvery body gliding for the most part under grey clouds, above the housetops.

A FRIEND IN NEED. Jones for a long time had been growing steadily more and more morose and grumpy. Nothing would go right. One night he was playing bridge with some friends. Bad luck “dogged him” throughout the evening, until, on being “doubled’ for the fourth time, he lost his temper. “What’s the trouble, Jones?” asked Brown. “Oil, I don’t know. I’ve felt fagged out and miserable for some weeks now.” "I know your trouble, old man—you’ve neglected your nerves. Try Marshall’s Fospherine.” And'Jones did! What a dieffrenee it has made. He’s a new man! "Marshall’s” is a coneentrated nerve food which is quickly absorbed into tho system. It feeds, soothes and strengthens ragged and worn out nerves. Ask your chemist, or storekeeper for tho six-sided 'carton—loo doses for 2/6/

Now and then, as the airship wheeled, a. fugitive shaft of sunlight would light, upon her, to dance and ripple along her tapering sides and settle for an instant, like a flame, upon the planes about her tail. It was a fascinating spectacle, and London was justified in staying her busy life a moment, or two to watch this triumphal progress through the air. It was stately, easy, unflurried. Only an occasional wisp of smoke from the exhaust, of one of the starboard engines, as it was brought intermittently into play, presumably as an aid to steering, intruded upon a picture, of complete composure. Even the sound of her engines reached the ground as a, melodious purr. The city turned out in force to welcome the vessel. Streets, roofs, and windows were thronged. The traffic pause was a boon for the thousands on bus top, but traffic police had a hectic 10 minutes in some places getting the stream of vehicles flowing steadily again after RICH had passed.

INVENTIONS. A wide field is covered by the inventions shown in Westminster at tho fifth of the international exhibitions organised .by the Institute of Patentees. There are domestic labor-saving devices, and toys, sports, and games which make a general appeal, and may he bought by visitors from the stands. There are mechanical appliances for the service of trade and commerce. Among the latter is a “gas sentinel,” which, it is claimed, when fitted in mines, or street manholes will prevent explosions by signalling the presence of gas apd disperse it by the operation of a fan, One of the labor-saving devices causes a lire to ho lit downstairs by pulling a card in the bedroom. » “Thus,” as the inventor says,' “a fire will be burning i brightly downstairs by the time the j riser is dressed.”