LETTER FROM LONDON

Taranaki Daily News, 7 February 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

LETTER FROM LONDON

NEWS FROM THE HOMELAND, ‘ INDIAN CONFERENCE. (‘Special to News).. • London, December IS. I am told by those who are in touch with the proceedings of the Indian Conference that progress has been much greater than had. been, anticipated. 'So much is that the case that some observers are apprehensive lest the agreement so far reached should prove to be more apparent than real. Concurrence on general principles is apt to cloak the difficulties which lie in their application. The real struggle, on community representation, has still to come, and, though the Hindu and Mohammedan leaders are anxious to find a compromise, they cannot guarantee that it will be acceptable to their constituents. 1 hear, that the Prime Minister, as chairman, is repeating the success which he gained in the Imperial Conference, but most of the work has now passed into th© hands of committees, and their conclusions will deejde the fate of the discussions. INEXPLICABLE. Failure ’to maintain even a quorum of 40 members for. the economy motion is the worst 'blunder the Opposition ha© made this Parliament. With the country in the throes of its worst economic crisis, with its small percentage of direct taxpayers bent double under their burden, and unemployment costing us over £100,000,000 a year now, on top of a war debt and pension total of £400,000,000, such cynical treatment of the one topic that has any real impinge on practical politics is disastrous. It absolutely vitiates such feeble prostestations of economy zeal as either the Liberals or Conservatives have troubled formally to make, and. dangerously swells, the growing popular voice that places Parliament amongst , the category of outworn traditions. There are quite clear-headed, unemotional people who begin, to believe this country is heading for a sensational upheaval,. SIR JOHN SI’MONIS FUTURE. Not many days ago Sir John Simon, in a speech, made cryptic reference to “those who have a political future.” It was at once assumed that 'Sir John, obviously disgruntled by the existing Parliamentary and political situation, contemplated quitting the Westminster arena. I gather that such interpretation may be entirely erroneous. All the present indications are that Sir John, whose reputation in the country has stood very high ever since his remark; able intervention during the still remembered general strike crisis, intends to be far more in evidence at Westminster and on platforms in the country than 'hitherto; Strong pressure is being exerted in this direction, and the only question is under what political ■banner he will fight. There are those who would not be immensely surprised if Sir John eventually, and perhaps before long, adopted a bold course and cut the existing party painter. SIDELIGHTS ON THE DOLE. Sir Bruce Bruce-Porter’s revelation about the dole ought to intrigue Miss Bondfield’s official interest. A Canadian friend, whose duties include censoring prison correspondence, has written to Sir Bruce that he frequently comes across references to prisoners’ friends who are “doing very well on the dole.” A typical example of this is: “Millie has left .school, and had a job for a month, so she has got th© dole.” Sidelights such as these are valuable as evidence how gross js the habitual abuse of a system now costing us over £100,'000,000 a year. To measure accurately the change in our political'psychology now, and before we incurred the staggering economic burden of the war, it is necessary' merely to recall the first old-age pensions proposal. A-t that time consternation was caused ‘by an expenditure estimated at only £5,000,000 per annum. TIT FOR T£T. The Ministry of Agriculture’s report on cattle inoculation is being hailed, in some quarters as a promise of foot-and-mouth disease’s certain cure. My information does not bear that out. The Ministry of Agriculture has tested inoculation, as a preventive measure only,for some weeks, and finds the results encouraging. Nearly 50 cattle have been inoculated-—it is rather a joke that we should now foe retaliating for smallpox vaccine by vaccinating cows' — and, though on farms adjacent to infection, these have escaped the disease. Similar experiments with pigs have been equally successful. - There is likely to be a widespread use of the new serum, but it is not, I understand, a cure for existing disease, and its purely preventive utility extends no more than ten days. Affected cattle must etill be 'destroyed. The treatment will, however, limit the area of infection, and reduce th© slaughter bill. So far this 'year the latter stands at only £2OOO, compared with millions half a century ago.

HELLO THE EMPIRE.

Now that wireless telephony has 'been established between Australia and New Zealand, the Imperial vocal link exists between London and three of the oversea Dominions. We can talk to our kinsmen in Ottawa, ' Melbourne, or Auckland. Soon Johannesburg will join the Imperial conversazione, and, beforo the Indian Bound-Table Conference is demobilised plans for bringing Calcutta within the magic circle will probably be referred to a siutable committee. And all the time scientific research and engineering experiment .are improving the existing potentialities of wireless telephony. There are all planner of oddities associated with this latest development, such as the fact that- London now converses with Australia two ways. These Empire-girdling voices go Eastward Ho during the a.m. hours, but Westward Ho during the p.m.

CHEMICAL WARFARE RESEARCH.

The Chemical Warfare Research Department of the War Office has 'been the subject of continuous attacks . in the House of Commons, and Commander Kenworthy’s Bill promises to, abolish the vivisection operations of 'this branch of the service lock, stock and barrel. Most of t’he experiments are carried out at the closely guarded station at Porton, on Salisbury Plain, and in the. course of the year many hundreds of animals are used, for the preparation of poison gases and their antidotes. All the complaints are based on humanitarian grounds, but the Secretary for War is insistent , on the necessity for this kind of research, and also,that the terms of the license., and certificates issued to the operators definitely exclude any possibility of unnecessary suffering. Mr. Shaw’s, assurances, . however, have not satisfied those members who declare that a .seal must be put on Porton’s activities. The total staff Of the Research Department is 102, which includes 13 at’ Headquarters, 80 at Porton, and nine at the ■subsidiary station, at Sutton Oak, nea?

Liverpool, th® annual cost bf the whole (being £106,300, or £ll,OOO less than M*t year.

aiR. udWAßii.

I was under the impression that, I was familiar with Mr. Noel Coward’s wide range of artistic activities. But it was only yesterday I learned from a friend in Ebury Street, where the clever •young actor-playwright-producer-com-poser has rooms, that he is now keener 'on draughtmanship than any other of his varied forms Of self-expression. Most, of his spar® time these days is devoted to sketching. Architecture is his particular hobby, to which his beautiful farmhouse on the'edge of Romney Marsh bears charming witness. It is an ideal blending of old-world picturesqueness and utilitarian modernity, the latter quality epitomised in the installation of five bathrooms, perfectly equipped. At his Ebury 'Street home another interest has come to lure him from his labours. At the moment his pride is a litter of Dachshund puppies, which ar© allowed the freedom Of his bachelor apartments. OFFICERS’ TRAINING CORRS. The successful political attacks made on th© cadet movement are now developing against the Officers’ Training Corps. There are indications that reductions in strength and other changes will be made in the organisation, but what the War Office’s intentions really ar© will not be divulged until the next Army estimates are presented to Parliament. The corps, which was formed under the recommendations of th© Ward Committee of 1907, is given elementary military training with a view to the eventual appointment of its members to commissions in the Regular and Territorial Armies and in th® Supplementary Reserve. It is composed of two divisions, the universities supplying the senior, and the public schools the junior. The strength of the former is 165 officers and 44'32 cadets, and of the latter 630 officers and 34,581 cadets, making a grand total of 39,878, the estimated cost of the organisation during ths present financial year being £161,600. Th© foregoing figures do not include the Inns of Court 0.T.C., with a strength of 14 officers and 162 other ranks. . TICKETS WITH A PULL. It is ages since Punch first coffimented upon the advertising potentialities of the railway systems in a- picture entitled, “Puzzle —Find the, name of the railway station.’’ Since then not only the stations and the fields along the track have been used for advertising matter, but the publicity man has invafied passenger compartments, and there would appear to be no surface or corner of railway property that is not available for the purpose of ..“coercive” display- The London, Midland and Scottish Railway, however, has discovered that there is still one hidden reserve of its property which has so far escaped exploitation as a means of conveying advertising announcements. It is the innermost recesses Of the pasteboard folds which go to the making of the inch by inch-and three-quar-ter passenger ticket. ' With th© New Year this hitherto inaccessible interior of the. ticket will be made usb of for the display of reminders to buy British, goods of great variety, and all that the traveller will, have to do to receive the message will be to comply with the invitation, to “pull” printed in red letters on bne side of the ticket. DUMPED FURS. The wholesale fur trade calculates that £200,090 worth of Russian, furs •has bden . dumped in London during the last few months. It has been dumping, moreover, of dressed skins, and not of the raw furs which Russia used to export so largely, and. which were worked up by English furriers. Prices are being cut to ribbons, and I was told today that a Soviet agent, who refused to consider an offer for raw skins at Is 6d

a square foot, was actually selling th® same far after dressing at Is I<L Dres®* ed and dyed skins have (been sold at Is Od a square foot, which no English furrier could .produce under 3s dd. MIDGET GOLFS (SUCCESSOR. Feminine enthusiasts teH ms that ’“banking,” th© very newest, indoor .game that is an' ingenious combination of ‘billiards and golf, is even more fascinating, than its immediate -predecessor, midget golf. This entertaining innova* tion is a brainwave of Melbourne man’s. It is a complete 9-hole course on. a billiard table, and a really inspired player can hole out in nine shots. The famous bi|liard* player himself has succeeded in holing out in 12. •I understand that he gave a thrilling leochibition “match” with Alex James, of football renown, in the popular sports department of a famous London store,''and that “banking” i® already a erase.. A JOVIAL UNDERWORLD. London’® “underworld” usually has a sinister meaning, but there is one phase of it that is most cheerful and even festive. I refer to those hug©. cellars ’below th© city streets, which are need as bonded and wherein ars stored to mature enough wipes and spirits to supply the demand© of several “dry” Americas. At this season th© underground vaults, dimly illuminated with candle* and. strongly reminiscent of Guy Fawkes plots or Ypree tunnel* ling companies, are at their busiest. In a few days’ at Christmas the storage of many months is unearthed; in fact, the bonded warehouse is a most emphatio repudiation of Old Scrooge. Incidentally I hear that whisky makers ar© delighted at the recent b.eom in sherry. This is not quite so disinterested as it sounds. The best whisky must be matured in old sherry casks, and until the boom in that wine it was Often difficult to get empty sherry casks at even £6 each.

•LORD CURZON’S DISAPPOINTMENT.

Much has recently been written about the lat© Lord Curzon’s grievous temperamental setback—-the Archbishop, of Canterbury mentioned, it at the memorial ceremony—wfien his own political colleague* at home supported Lord Kitchener against him over their Indian quarrel. It is questionable, however, whether that was Lord Curgon’s 'biggest disappointment.. His whole career and personality , wore the aura of a potential Prime Minister of England, and when Mr. Bonar Law went that ambition seemed legitimately within reach. Rut it was not to be. It was conveyed to Lord Curzon, by a famous old courtier, in the kindest manner, that'modern condition* rendered it imperative the head of the Government should be a Commoner. That was the unkindest cut of aIL NEEDLE PLAYS. The latest novelty is one so obvious that it ought to have .occurred to someone before. I refer to the gramophone play, or eight-minute drama, for which there is, I am told, likely to develop a big demand. It will be a special branch of th© playwright’s art. One technical point is that the suspense pause must com© just when one side of the record is finished, and it has to be turned oyer to run off the other side. I can. imagine GJ8.3., if the idea happened to appeal to him, turning out quite a fine gramophone ..drama, though*it would mean rather drastic condensation of the dialogue. Afr. Edgar Wallace, in quite another genre, should be equally successful at it. Such scenarios are already in existence, and the gramophone potted play, a triflle. infinitely more brief than the shortest curtain-raiser, will become an attractive side-line for innumerable writers in the near future. The poor theatrical managers are out of luck again.. I can see. another slump in theatrical business when the needle play get* established.