OUR LONDON LETTER

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1926, Page 16

OUR LONDON LETTER

NEWS FROM THE HOMELAND.

THE BETTING TAX

London, Nov. 4.

Most of the London bookmakers report a big slump in betting as a result of the new tax. At the Birmingham meeting there was the unprecedented example of one race without any starting price odds at all. But we must wait, till next March, after the always slack betting season of the steeplechase sport, when most well-to-do bookies go to the Riviera before accurately gauging the effects of the new tax. Human nature is very persistent, and bicking horses is now almost a Rational habit. Either the Government will introduce, the totalisator and take their 10 per cent., or the bookmakers, in sheer competition for business, will shoulder the whole tax, and recoup themselves by shortening the odds a little. Some experts say that Mr. Churchill’s expected ■betting revenue will prove an illusion, and that he had far better have made all bookies pay £lOO or £2OO for a licencf? and wipe out any betting levy at all. Others assert that pretty soon things will straighten out, and that several millions will roll into the Treasury.

LORD LINLITHGOW

Lord Linlithgow’s decision uot to accept the chairmanship of the Conservative Party organisation is not altogether surprising. He knows enough of the duties to be aware that a peer would be under serious disadvantages in carrying them out, and that an interregnum is undesirable. “Hopey,” as his friends call him —his second title being Lord Hopetoun —is serious about whatever he undertakes, and I am told he is fascinated by the work of the Indian Agricultural Commission, of which he is chairman. He has a sense of humour in spite of a rather solemn exterior, and once when asked by a heckler “Where did you get your blinkin’ estates!” replied, “'Where you got your blinkin’ face —from dad.” Some years ago he closed his fine residence, Hopetoun House, overlooking the Forth, and betook himself with wife and family to a cottage. But he is by no means a poor man, and his frugality in that matter was perhaps excessive.

LORD READING

The most interesting feature of the now chemical combine’s board of directors is the inclusion on it of Lord Reading, because his friends assume that by accepting the appointment—an attractive one from the financial point of view—the ex-Viceroy has abandoned any intention of a return to international politics. It is no secret that Lord Reading could have had an important diplomatic post abroad but has decided to devote his abilities to commerce. He is, of course, a great personal friend of (Sir Alfred llond, and they constantly dine at each other’s houses. It is no doubt this close friendship which has given Lord Reading confidence in the future of the company of which he will be a director.

A NOVEL EXPERIENCE

Lady Maud Hoare, the wife of the .Secretary of State for Air, is looking forward with zest to the novel experience which lies before her at the close of the year. It has been arranged that she shall accompany her husband on his flight to India, and so share with him an adventure that has a special interest; for this will be the first of the Egypt-India Air - Service voyages. Lady Maud, whose striking height (she is one of the tallest women in London) makes her a notable figure in any social gathering, will be much missed by her coterie of friends. She is an extremely popular hostess, and entertains charmingly at her beautiful home in Cadogan Gardens.

UPSETTING OLD THEORIES.

Aeronautical experiment is disposing of some well-established theories. One of these ia the generally-accepted belief that persons falling from a great height lose consciousness before they reach the ground. One of several American flying experts, who have practised all sorts of stunts with parachutes, uses a wrist-watch with a very thick second-hand. He has allowed himself to fall for nine seconds before jerking the cord that opens his parachute, thus making a straight dive far greater than from any bridge or building in the world. He never lost full mental control and was conscious of only one unusual symptom. This was that his face got very hot owing to air friction. We have a R.A.F. leading aircraft man who regularly makes sensational parachute descents. He states that, unless you look down at the earth jumping up towards you, there is practically no sensation of falling at all.

STILL THERE!

In the first swift plunge from a great altitude, all the parachutist notes, looking upwards, is the sudden swoop with which his aeroplane has bounded out of sight. It is a very nerve-testing ordeal for novices, but all R.A.F. pilots are now equipped with parachutes, the approved type being one that fits on the wearer’s back, and opens only when ho jerks a cord. This he must not do, in order to avoid entanglement with the aeroplane, for three full seconds after taking off into mid-air. The dive is made from a ladder below the aeroplane, and one novice, who firmly' believed he had jumped and pulled his paraenute cord after the regulation three seconds, was astounded to find himself still standing on the ladder! There is another parachute that opejis itself through air friction, before the parachutist drops at all, and simply pulls him off the! platform. A cinema film of this operation generally shows the novice vainly | trying to resist being pulled off by , clinging to the .struts. I

INDIA AT THE CONFFERENUE.

India is represented at the Imperial Conference by three delegates, Lord Birkenhead, the Maharajah of Burdwan, and Mr. D. F. Chadwick, who used to be trade commissioner here, and is now secretary of’the Commerce Depart-

Tnent in India. Of these the Marharajali is physically the commanding figure. He weight nineteen stone and stands 6ft sin. Hitherto only ruling princes have served on the Imperia! delegation, but the Maharajah is neither a ruling prince, nor his Highness, but a- big landlord in Bengal, who has had much txThe Imperial Conference includes some stalwart men, notably Mr. Bruce, of Australia, the’ old Cambridge rowing Blue, but the Maharajah of Burdwan towers over them all. The London newspapers have been fascinated by ’-is picturesque appearance, and tiiey persist not only in calling him a ruling prince and Hie Highness, but in attributing to him a fabulous wealth which probably overlooks the working of the joint family system in India. The Maharajah has been quite a social success in London, and has, moreover, shown himself to be most business-like and to stick to his brief. Some other Imperial delegates might with advantage imitate the Maharajah’s gift of concise talking.

8.8. C. IN INDIA

The scheme of the 8.8. C. for establishing, its wireless service in India contemplates a start next March. I understand that the 8.8.C.’s original ambitious proposals have been slightly modified, but their plans have in view two stations, one at Bombay and one at Calcutta, each witii a radius of about a thousand miles. The very able official of the 8.8. C specially charged with this work is going into the subject iffost enthusiastically and has lately been down to Burwash in Sussex, where he has talked with Mr. Rudyard Kipling as to what would be the most suitable form of programme to broadcast in India. It is hardly necessary to emphasise how important an influence a really good Indian Wireless Service by tile 8.8. C. might be. A great source of trouble in India is the vernacular press, which’ all over the country is read out in the villages to attentive natives. A thoroughly good broadcast service, with loud-speakers announcing sound policy together with attractive entertainments from the village halls would be a splended counter.

OUR SUMPTUARY DICTATOR

The Tailor and Cutter has long been anathema to all R.A.’s. Its frontal attack on the Academy portraits, sartorially considered, gives great offence to artists, who are seldom what the world would call “dressy” people. And our better-known M.P.’s have regularly fallen under the harrow or the tape rule. But this is the first t,ime the Tailor and Cutter' has broken loose against our Dominion Premiers. True, it finds their apparel more fitting for the Imperial Conference than Mr. Baldwin’s, and our .Prime Minister is severely rebuked for wearing a lounge suit that he would never dream of putting on for a Harrow Prize Day or an Ascot Gold Cup meeting. But Mr. Bruce’s neat dove-grey spats are badly mauled by this professional dictator. This is distinctly disconcerting to a good many men who regard themselves as more or less on the fringe of polite fashion, and is, moreover, though personally I have never worn spats except with a kilt, quite a puzzle to the present writer, because the last time I saw the Tailor and Cutter—he was wearin’g spats!

A GREAT BIRD.

The death after a long illness of the Cheshire Cheese parrot has gloomed half London. The news was broadcast from 2LO with due solemnity. So far as a great scarlet South African parrot can achieve greatness that bird did. For forty years it was the biggest personality in Fleet Street. No really illustrious visitor to this country failed to secure an audience at wliicl; the parrot always took the honours. It was a gifted talker even by the highest Army standards, and besides such side-tricks as imitating perfectly all the sounds of a public bar, not only swore like a cavalry S.M., but obviously knew the right time to do it. I once saw it drop a cigarette box it was perforating.. It promptly exclaimed just what most ex-service men would say if they dropped a halfcrown down a grid. Once Princess Mary insisted on being introduced to “Polly.” It had to be don,e but it aged the manager. If anyone had mentioned the Kaiser the King’s daughter would have heard tilings not mentionable to a drunken cow puncher. A STRANGE MISSION.

One of the strangest missions ever undertaken on behalf of a museum is now being carried out by Mr. Herbert P. Lewis, an American ijow in London. At the request of the Bureau of Archives, Hawaii, Mr. Lewis is voluntarily going round -the world in search of the gorgeous feather cloaks that were worn by the old Kings of the Sandwich Islands, the original name of the Hawaiian Island. The Hawaiians were very hospitable and generous people, and distinguished visitors to their. islands were always presented with one of these cloaks. Consequently they are now scattered in various museums and private collections throughout the world. The cloaks are invaluable, because they are no longer made, and the bird, whose feathers were used to make them, is now extinct' The feathers, all of which are red, yellow or black, are only about an inch long, and it took thousands to make one cloak. They were woven into ail kinds of beautiful patterns. Mr. Lewis’s mission is to find these cioaks, see what state of preservation they are in. and collect information about them for tlie Hawaiian Bureau.

LATEST FROM PARIS

Par is Jias established such a worldwide autocracy in the matter of dress and®fashicns that we must all pay due attention when the last word issues front her ateliers. True this ex-cathedra status obtains mainly where feminine fashions are concerned, but nowadays, what with Fair Isle'jumpers, clocked socks, and male mannequins, there is no certainty when the latest Paris vogue for men may not become equally dictatorial. And tlie very latest masculine

I fashion cult in Paris is a No-Collar League. It is already well established, and is spreading ominously. It lias even crossed the Channel. At recent big London concerts young gentlemen with embroidered necks to their Art shirts, and otherwise collarless, attracted no email

comment. The No-Hat movement seemed, except for a few heroic fanatics, rather to peter out after the 1914 tinhat epoch. But the No-Collai' League perience of executive political work, may catch on.

MR. SHAW AND THE DUKE

It is only just to Mr. Bernard Shaw to recall that, long before Paris thought of its latest crusade, he was inveighing against the starched white collar in this country. .He contended then, and of course contends now, that white is the most appalling colour to place against the human complexion. Also he holds that starched stiff collars are unhygienic and uncomfortable. Since those days the vogue of the soft collar has ecrtainly made, big headway, but mostly even these are still white or eream. Mr. Shaw lias always worn soft collars of a blue shade, which presumably is according to tlie strictest art canons, because most of the Chelsea disciples of Augustus John, who does so himself, wear blue collars of the soft variety. Curiously enough, in this personal affectation Mr. Shaw, who is not usually a flatterer of the Peerage, followed a feme i’-' '--h Duke.

present Duke of Westminster’s father always wore blue collars. But the old Duke made one important concession to tradition and Debrctt. His blu# collars were stiff starched ones.

JEWISH FIDDLER DRAMATIST

! The Jewish Drama League claims as | the result of its offer of a prize for i the best drama of modern Anglo-Jewish life to have- discovered a writer who ! will repeat the success of Mr. Sean O’Casey, in staging Irish life. Ho is Mr. Noah Elstcin, who was born in Shoreditch 26 years ago, but lias spent about half lus life in Manchester. Ho has been errand boy, factory hand, hotel clerk, commercial traveller, shop assistant, and soldier, and is at present violinist in a cinema baud. During tlie last five years he has been a contributor of stories to tlie magazines. His .play, which deals with Jewish slum life in the North of England, is to be produced by the League in December. Mr. Elstein lias already had one play produced at the Little Theatre, Manchester, and another vetoed by the censor. The Jews have long played an important part in the life of the British stage beth before and b fW>