LETTER FROM LONDON

Taranaki Daily News, 25 July 1931, Page 14 (Supplement)

LETTER FROM LONDON

NEWS FROM THE HOMELAND.

< THE DERBY,

(From Our London Correspondent.) London, June 4

An immense crowd enveloped Epsom Down yesterday, and gave a terrific 66th birthday cheer to greet the King s arrival with Queen Mary and a royal family party, on the’ occasion of the Derby. His Majesty hardly looked his 66 years, and, smiling and bronzed, seemed to be in the highest spirits and thoroughly enjoying his outing. Pretty frocks and smart suits filled grandstand and paddock, though Epsom is not reckoned strictly fashionable, and the parade of horses, their silken flanks butsliinnnering even the satin coats of their jockeys, was a thrilling event. Mr. Dewar’s Canicronian, the favourite, was regarded by the experts as of doubtful staying power for Epsom, but stepped by far the handsomest horse there, and vindicated his backers by winning pretty conclusively. I do not think the bookies were hard hit. Most of the outside public’s money was on the outsiders. It was the old Derby Day, but with a change. Dublin’s sweepstake has somehow, with its transference of betting interests, altered the spirit of the gathering. BIRTHDAY HONOURS.

This week’s birthday honours list was a dreadful temperamental setback for lots of the Labour Government’s steadfast friends. There had been enchanting rumours, to which their own official journal did not turn a cold car, about Mr. Macdonald creating whole batches of new peers in order to recruit his rather feeble battalion in Che House of Lords. It was also a very strong tip that we were, to have lots more O.M.’s, that really democratic Order being much under establishment at present. All these fond hopes evaporated when the list appeared on Derby Day. There was not a solitary new peer, a state of things only twice preecdented within history, and only one 0.M., which was bestowed on Sir William Bragg, the famous physicist. Sid Upward Elgar’s baronetcy is popular, but Dame Sybil Thorndike’s promotion may cause Green Room back-chat. These actresses are such jealous people. Amongst the new knights is a gentleman whose name is associated with cheap tailoring. Sir William Jowitt, the Attorney-General, shares a P.C. with the Earl of Athlone, and the rest of the awards are for patient merit rather than spot-light celebrity. MINISTERIAL MICAWBERS. Despite rumours to the contrary, Ministers hope to avoid an autumn session. Congested aS business is, political interest now centres more in the constituencies than at . Westminster, and the Cabinet trusts that its remaining programme may be hustled through Without undue opposition. Then conies what will probably bo the final session of. this Parliament. Ministers are watching the unemployment and. trade figures like week-end excursionists studying the barometer. The first real sign of economic revival will be their signal for rushing to the country with ambitious social reform rationalisation scheme. The latter is their only escape front the embarrassment of the Royal Commission’s report on the dole abuses, and the sooner they can take the plunge the better they will be pleased. ONE IN THE EYE. The signal failure of the political intrigue in France against M. Briaud, the Republic's veteran statesman and. Foreign Minister, affords peculiar satisfaction in Downing Street. M. Briand has, by his earnest integrity and breadth of vision, earned more than the iespcct of all British statesmen who have met him. His continuance at the Qiiai d’Orsay is a guarantee against all sorts of potential European upsets in the near future; but there is still a further source of satisfaction. It was M. Franklin Bouillon, the politician whose somewhat sinister influence nearly precipitated trouble between us and the Turk over the Chanak affair, who was largely concerned in the attack on M. Briand. It is quite comforting tc know that the manoeuvre has failed feebly.

WAR VERSUS PEACE. The vast difference between the qualities called for in Cabinet Ministers in peace time and war was strikingly expressed by Clemenceau a short time before his death in conversation with his secretary, M. Martet. M. Martet was talking to his old chief about some of the men who had served in his Cabinet when “The Tiger” remarked: “Nice fellows! They had only one fault. They were too decent. They weren’t made for war. ’ Things are different when vou’re looking into the jaws of the Boche.” Could anything have expressed more clearly the temperamental difference between Lord Oxford and Mr, Lloyd George? ANGLICANS’ G.O.M. Next Sunday will be the 92nd birthday of Lord Halifax, the G.O.M. of the Church of England. Even now, however, the father of our most illustrious ex-Vic6roy of India is not the senior peer. Lord North heads him in the calendar of birthdays. Lord Halifax, who is a most arresting and patrician figure, has the good fortune to be as active and alert in the nineties as most men in the sixties. He is often enough to be encountered in London, and scorns both buses and taxies. He . is a. great clubman, as becomes one who in his younger days was one of King Edwards favourite friends, and one with whom he loved to play cricket at Windsor. The founder of the English Church Union, and the instigator of the Malines Conferences, Lord Halifax is a sort of lay Archbishop. GREAT ENGINEER. Sir Henry Japp, who Isas been bereaved 'by the death of his son, is one of the band of clever young men whom the late Lord Cowdray gathered round him to give the firm of S. Pearson and Son ite worly-wide reputation and success. Mr. Japp—as he then was —was in the early thirties when ho was in charge of the construction of the East River tunnels of the Pennsylvania Railway at New York, to the chagrin of the Americans, who had unsuccessfully competed for the contract, tie has been at the head of many other great enterpriser. and his knighthood is a recognition of hie work as Direct. • of Production during the war. When Lord Cowdray died his partners might have sold the goodwill of the business for a large sum, probably more than a million. They preferred to shut it down rather than to entrust its great reputation to other hands. LISBON'S LAPSE. The action of Portugal in discriminating against foreign shipping in its ports is presumably an attempt to corn-

er the wine trade for its own hulls. Rut it is an utterly indefensible gesture, equivalent to a flag tax. on other nations, and smacks of media.evalism. The flag tax naturally hits , this country hardest, which is peculiarly unfriendly in., view of our historic alliance with Portugal, whibh dates back much further than the appearance of a lortuguese Division on the Western Front. Ex-service men still reriiembcr the record celerity with which those warriors evacuated the Locon sector m May, 1918, and also a G.O. issued by our headquarters. The-latter expressly instructed all ranks that in no circumstances must the Portuguese, our faithful and gallant Allies,” be alluded to as “the Pork and Beans.” Could Army civility go further!

RICH WRECKS. Probably the world slump explains why the City is just now fill! of rumours of romantic expeditions aftei sunken treasure. Unless tradition lies outrageously, there is plenty of it. ien millions in the Turkish fleet sunk in the Aegean Sea a century ago; lialf-a-million in a 60-ycar-old wreck off . the coast of Mexico; 17 million dollars in a Spanish galleon off the Cornish coast; half-a-million in another off the Essex coast; three millions aboard the Czarina, sunk off’ Flamborough Head; . a million in the Dutch' liner Turbantia, torpedoed during the war; not to mention the Lusitania and scores more. Some day these wrecks may be reached. Our diving facilities have enormously improved since the war. And then we . may know how far these sunken treasure tales are true, and how. far the sympathetic invention of incurable romance. FENCING PROBLEMS The British amateur champion and other well-known British fencers arc competing at Vienna in the European foils championship, which has happily survived a refusal by th 6 international judged to continue to officiate. During a bout between Signor Gaudini,'. ot Italy, the holder of the European title, and Herr Haidu, of Austria, in which the latter was leading with four hits against two, some caustic comment by the Italian offended the judges, who at first refused even'to accept’ an apology. The incident has been keenly debated in West End sallcs d’armes, where the far greater difficulty of judging a fencing bout than refereeing a boxing contest is recognised. Sometimes judges . will debate an hour over one disputed lightning exchange, the point being which button got home first. PANACHE. Fencers are often as temperamental as operatic stars. One morning I saw Lloyd, out amateur champion foilist, touch a famous maitre d’armes twice in a practice bout. Then three pretty girls t-ame into the gymnasium. In th® next bout the maitre d’armes never allowed his opponent to have a look in. An exhibition bout between two great masters was arranged as part of a Wesf End cabaret show. And. it was literally “arranged.” The scoring hits were to be equal. But Mr. Cochran s new dancer, La Argentina, suddenly arrived. The younger of the two masters of fence, in sheer panache, proceeded to score five hits to two right off the reel, .to the immense amusement of his older brother professional. So it is easy to imagine Signor Gaudini’s feelings when “down” by two to one against Herr Haidu, DOYEN OF PLAYWRIGHTS. Last Whitsun brought a 70th birthday to Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, doyen of‘British playwrights, whose dramatic eyebrows are still one of the things first-night galleryites look for in. the stalls. Sir Arthur started as an articled clerk in his father’s legal office, but the ' footlights lured him, and he learnt, the art of the theatre as a general utility

man at £1 a'week. Sir Arthur holds firmly that to Write good plays one must like Shakespeare, and have had stage experience. He played small parts with Irving and the Bancrofts, but launched as a dramatist, and wrote curtain-raisers, some of which Irving played in. He got a set of sleeve links for his first play, £5 for his second, but a good deal more than that for the others. “Gay Lord Quex” alone must have made a small fortune.

GREAT MEN AND THEIR TAILORS.

It is said that no man is a' hero to his valet. Like a great many .other familiar tags, it is quite untrue. I have known valets whose devotion to their masters amounted tc sheer heroworship. Now if it. had been tailors, not valets, perhaps the adage would have had more force. Few men, even including the greatest actors, can lord it over their sartorial masters. X once heard a great artist describe his sensations, in a Savile Row atelier, when he found he had to be measured three’ times and by three different people—ono each for coat, waistcoat, and trousers—and realised that his braces were; .tied together with a piece of string. It is perhaps the late Lord Salisbury’s greatest renown that he, with superb patrician air, insisted on his West End tailor measuring him sitting down. BIBLICAL INSECTS.

The natural history section of the British Museum has added to itself some fascinating exhibits illustrating the life and habits of that mystery insect the locust. Amongst them is a locust magnified to sixfold its normal dimensions., It looks just like a new design in bombing monoplanes, with a hint of Soviet Russia in its hue. Experts are cudgelling their, brains to solve, in the, ease of the locust, a conundrum somewhat similar to the familiar one about the winter habitat of the fly. Where do locusts hoard them•selves between plagues? In the arid oven of Central Arabia possibly., In the Mediterranean their raids are common. I have walked ankle-deep • in locusts on the deck of a steamer. But not since 18&0 have .these swarming pests reached England in whole battalions rather than single spies. . DIFFERENT TWINS. It seems incredible that it. is less than 50 years ago since Sir Richard Burton, when he and his devoted wife had exactly £l5 between them,, made £2OOO by his “Arabian Nights” translation. That classic already wears something of the aura ot Homer’s Iliad. Equally incredible .is, the,, fact that Queen Victoria knighted the author of that scandalous literary masterpiece. In some ways Burton was most like, in others most unlike, our. own ColonelAircraftsman ' T f . E. .Lawrence, of “Revolt In The, Desert’’ fame. The latter, is a Quixotic .daredevil idealist. But Burton, who startled .the Master of Balliol by .changing his choice Oxford blooms to flaring marigolds i a night,, was a full-blooded egoist. .‘ “That’s it; bring nip some!” was .his greeting to the waiter who placed ah inadequate steak before ■ him, and he spurned a demitasse, which the waiter explained was “coffee for one?’- by. roaring’: “Bring me coffee- for, ten!” BRITISH AIR GIANT. It hardly needs the imaginative outlook of a Jules Verne to realise that even our most up-to-date equipment of to-day conveys no idea of what future air travel will mean. The present tendency is naturally in the direction of bigger machines. And the British Air Ministry is in the van of this movement. There is being built at Southampton to its order What will be the largest air liner in the world. This vessel will be bigger than the German Do-X, carry more passengers, and have more powerful engines. Amongst other innovations iiointing to future develop-

ment in air travel, this machine will have a compartmented cabr" with sleeping bunks. Fifty years hence, beyond a doubt, posterity will yegard it as we do the old-fashioned railway coaches placed as exhibits at Waterloo Station.

PARTY KITCHENETTES. The modern habit of finishing an evening’s entertainment with eggs and bacon, cooked at any time between midnight and dawn, is not very popular with the cook. For this reason smart young women are having “kitchenettes” installed, which are used only for This kind of cooking. A kitchenette is a kitchen in miniature— except for facilities for washing, up.—and is equipped with utensils that are all “show pieces ornamental enough •to be exposed to tho inspection of guests. I. is really return to an 18th-century, fashion It was then the smart thing _ small kitchen-de-luxe, where the hostess alone officiated. The Prince Regent had one. in which the saucepans. n ere ot solid silver, and the spits, for roasting birds, of gold.