OUR LONDON LETTER

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1930, Page 19 (Supplement)

OUR LONDON LETTER

NEWS FROM THE HOMELAND. OUR FORCES IN INDIA., | (Special to News.) London, May 15. Patriotic European civilians throughout India will soon be in the thick of grave fighting, if there is any repetition of the Sholapur incidents in other cities. In a number of the more important cities there is an auxiliary force composed of Europeans only, which is not to be confounded with the Indian Territorial Force. The auxiliary force is liable only for service in the area in which each is raised, whereas the Territcorials are liable for duty anywhere in India when required by the military authorities. These auxiliary forces have in the past done a great deal to preserve order, and their work in Shanghai and Singapore has won the unstinted praise of the Regulars. Nearly all except the younger ranks served in one or other of the theatres of war. Their training is carried out enthusiastically on the best military lines, and they are to-day in reality far more reliable and valuable than the Indian Territorials. SECRETARY FOR INDIA. Hardly any. Cabinet Minister is so much in the limelight at the moment as Captain Wedgwood Benn, who was 53 this week. In accepting the Secretaryship of State for India last June he, with his eyes open, shouldered a responsibility no less arduous that Mr. Thomas’. Even his political opponents rejoiced that one with so long a Parliamentary experience should have been appointed. There were other less welcome possibilities. First entering Parliament in 1906, the son of the last' Sir John Benn, another well-known member, Captain Benn has made few enemies, despite the fact that he is a hard-hitting fighter. He dislikes Lloyd George, and would not remain in the same party with him. But it is doubtful whether even L.G. dislikes Wedgwood. He was a hard-working Liberal Whip, and served in the Air Force with distinction in the war, winning the French Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre, the Italian War Cress, and our own D.S.O. . £A £lOOO. NOD. Just as the swallows return in the spring, so does' Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach, of Philadelphia, arrive in London for the book sales. He is the most formidable of all the Transatlantic bidders at the big literary auctions. The habitues of Sotheby’s gaze on him with awe, and speculate as to the real extent of - his bank balance. There is nothing typically American about his figure, which is slim and small; but he has a hundred per cent. American physiognomy, including a resolute mouth and an aggressive jaw. He camouflages these racial attributes by wearing rimless glasses instead of horn-rims. Dr. Rosenbach has been called “the man with the £lOOO nod.” A relentless yet merciful bidder, his way is to cut short hi rivals’ agony of suspense by jumping up the bids in thousands. The famous Britwell sale six years ago realised a total of just over £48,000. Dr. Rosjnbach’s' share of that “bag” was £40,000. THE HONOURED FEW. Within one month the Order of Merit recently' lost two of its most distinguished members in the Earl of Balfour and Dr. Bridges. Since the Order was instituted by King Edward, 28 years ago, it has achieved the position of being the most exclusive and most coveted of all in this country. Limited to 24 holders, there are at the present moment only 14, including two honorary foreign members, Admiral Togo and. Marshal Joffre. Of the original members upon whom the O.M. was conferred by King Edward, there is not a single survivor. The only two existing Service members are both sailors —Earl Jellicoe and Earl Beatty. There is nothing remotely “militarist” about the O-M., so Mr. MacT'nald should be able to recommend a few suitable ■ recipients without being hooted by his own back benchers. CONTROL OF PRICES. Great interest centres in the .Government’s Bill to regulate retail prices. Ministers realise as well as others the difficulty of making such proposals effective without State control of supplies, but the widespread popular appeal of their declared policy impels them to carry on. I hear they are impressed by one practical example. Long before Mussolini was heard of, the Italian Government, alarmed by Sicilan bread riots, instituted State bakeries, at which the public could not only buy bread at standard prices, but to which they could take loaves' bought els where to be duly weighed. That plan fulfilled its purpose effectually, and some of the Government’s supporters believe its wider application here might be a notable instalment of “Socialism in our time.” PAYING THE PIPER. Dr, Tutton’s suggestion of a voluntary levy toward? national upkeep by the untaxed masses is no naive that one suspects it must be ironic. Twenty years ago our revenue was divided between direct and indirect taxation on the fifty-fifty principle. But our sagacious politicians have changed all that, and to-day half the colossal burden of the Budget is borne by less than 2,250,000 out of our nearly 29,000,000 enfranchised citizens. Not one in 14 of the latter is a direct taxpayer. We approximate to Lord Salisbury’s prophetic vision of ‘ the rich paying all the taxes and the poor making all the laws.” I cannot see Mr. Maxton welcoming a voluntary levy. Jn Germany, which is a Socialist Republic, the poorest citizen pays h's due proportion of income tax. LIPTON AN OCTOGENARIAN. That breezy Irishman. Sir Thomas Lipton, became an octogenarian this week. While so many of his generation are preparing to bid farewell to mundane affairs at that stage. Sir Thomas’ boundless energy is concentrated on another plucky attempt to lift the America Cup with Shamrock V. Good luck to him! He is a great personality, and King Edward, who always had a discerning eye for “the goods.” had a great regard for him. and honoured him with his friendship for many years. Sir Thomas' career reads like a chapter out

of Samuel Smiles’ “Self Help.” Time was when he slept under the counter of his single grocer’s shop. It is doubtful whether his career would have been possible in this age. Enterprise of his stamp is suffocated by beneficent Shop Acts. Hard work is a thing the workers are increasingly being protected against by Act of Parliament. ROYAL TOURNAMENT. Representatives of all three services are undergoing intensive" training for the Royal Tournament, which opens at Olympia at the end of the month. As usual, there will be strenuous endeavours by everyone associated with it to make the exhibition better than its ' predecessors from both spectacular and financial points of view. Last year’s tournament was visited by nearly 400,000 persons, and over £30,000 was realised for service charities. A very fine programme is in course of preparation. It is interesting to recall that the 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers, which is to stage the historical pageant at Olympia, was among the first British troops to march into Cologne in 1918, and was the last to leave Wiesbaden last December, which events were commemorated by General Thwaites handing into the battalion’s keeping the Union Jack which had flown over British General Headquarters in the Rhineland. An interesting item in the tournament’s programme will be a representation of mobile warfare in which a position will be attacked by a completely mechanised force of all arms. LONDON’S LANDING STAGE. This week Mr. J. R. MacDonald will perform, the ceremonial opening of London’s latest travel amenity’. This ia the new passenger landing stage at Tilbury, a huge structure projecting 300 feet into the Thames, with adequate provision for passengers in the way of wait-ing-rooms, shelters, and luggage depots. Thia equipment, long overdue, has now been obtained by the co-operation of the Port of London Authority and the L.M.S. Railway Co. There is no saying how London’s new landing stage, obviating the present necessity for conveying passengers by tender between the shore and liners in the river, may affect sea-travel . tendencies. Over 300,000 passengers arrived in London by seaTast year, and it is hoped —whatever Liverpool or Southampton may say —that some day even Atlantic liners may be lured to London. MORE LAW WORK. I hear th ire is a good deal more work coming into the Inner Temple this term than has been seen for over 12 mouths, and it looks os though a slight revival of litigati n was taking place. A junior counsel, who is a good deal in demand in commercial disputes, tells me he has received instructions in 11 new cases this week, which is a large number even for a'busy man. More litigation is usually a sign of improving trade, because it is a fallacy that bad times mean more law suits. The golden years of the legal profession -were the immediate post-war years, when boom profits made it possible for commercial houses to indulge in “frivolous” litigation. t LIGHT AEROPLANE CLUBS. Contrary to expectation, the Government subsidy of £15,000 has been continued to the light aeroplane clubs, but conditionally on their lending a hand in. the elementary training of candidates for temporary commissions in the R.A.F., and providing certain facilities for the periodical training of reserve officers. The clubs, however, are not sufficiently equipped to undertake much of this work beyond its preliminaries, as their machines can give but little practice for handling high-powered aircraft. Altogether there are abQut 24 light flying clubs in the country, but only 13 have been officially approved to r ceive the" subsidy, these . having a membership of over 2000, and operating some 50 aircraft,. Eleven clubs, with about 1000 members, rre unsubsidised.

A DESIRABLE BREAKDOWN, Conservative members who laughed and cheered when the Foreign Secretary announced to Parliament the failure of the Anglo-Egyptian negotiations were somewhat perhaps lacking in decorum, but they certainly had much to excuse them for their behaviour. With the Egyptians in the frame of mind they have been in, agreement could only have come at the expense of an' irrevocable blow to our prestige, and the laughs and cheers were really due to relief at knowing that Mr. Henderson had stood firm. The Egyptians, I learn, were 'demanding unrestricted immigration into the Sudan, with the obvious intention of flooding that country with agitators for the purpose of undermining British influence. They were also demanding that at the end of a year the treaty of 1899 should be brought up and revised, with a view to securing Egyptian sovereignty over the Sudan. Generally it is believed here that the Egyptian delegates will soon feel rather crestfallen after the first cheering is over upon their return to Cairo, ' It is likely that the Egyptian public,,will decide that they have made a bad mess of affairs. On three of the four points under negotiation, they had arrived at a satisfactory settlement. Now, through their insatiable demands, the proposals of the draft treaty are wiped out, and Egypt will have to go back to the declaration of 1922, in letter, if not in spirit. There are still fewer than 200 private aeroplane owners in the country. YORKSHIRE IN A NEW MOOD. It is significant that the Yorkshire cricket team in its first match under the captaincy of A. T. Barber showed a will to win and an ability to make runs quickly, when they were wanted, that have not been conspicuous qualities of Yorkshire in recent seasons. The brilliant victory over the AI.C.C. at Lord*, is a happy send-off for the new skipper. In these days, when county cricket captains are hard to find. Yorkshire is luckv in having persuaded A. T. Barner to take on the job, even though h'B reign will only be a comparatively short one. Barber' is a brilliant all-round athlete—the kind of man who inspires affection,, as ’well as respect, in the men he leads. He was a triple Blue at Oxford, playing for the University at cricket. Soccer football, and golf. His ability as a half-back is good enough for the best professional uoinpaiiy.

DUELLING FROM BALLOONS. Nine people out of ten would tell you that aerial combat was an innovation of the Great War, but that would not be correct. It was thought of long before—l 22 years ago. It happened that two gallant Frenchmen, M. de Granpre and M. le Pique, “fell” for one Mdlle. Tirevit, a little lady of the opera. Her bright eyes smiled upon both. Thus the elimination of one or the other became obvious to each, and they decided upon a novel way out of the difficulty. In the presence of a packed audience in the Tuileries, they ascended in balloon;?!, ami blazed away at each other with

blunderbusses. Half a mile up M. de Granpre sent M. le Pique to the earth. M. de Granpre descended in safety, but whether he married the lady is not recorded. TERRITORIAL ARMY RECRUITING. On the whole recruiting for the Territorial Army continues to be unsatisfactory, notwithstanding the special efforts made this year to attract men to the colours. It seems impossible to get beyond the 137,000 mark, which is the lowest strength recorded in any yeai since 1922, when the figures were very close- on 138,000. When the force was

reconstituted in 1921 over 126,008 officers', N.C.0.3 and men, the vast majority with war service, at once joined up, and by 1924 the numbers had gradually crept up to 147,300. lhe •peak mark of strength, however, was reached in 1926, when a total strgenth of 147 614 was recorded. From that date a decline set in, over'B,ooo dropping out in the succeeding 12 months, and the force has never rallied from that slump. It is possible the sinister influences which have succeeded in destroying th» cadet movement have been surreptitiously at work Undermining the territoria t organisation.