CURRENT LONDON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 21 October 1933, Page 2 (Supplement)

CURRENT LONDON TOPICS

FAMOUS FIGURE PASSES DEATH OF GREY OF FALLODEN. GREAT LOVER OF BIRDS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, September 7. The whole country has been deeply distressed by the death of Lord Grey. Quite recently he was up in London seeing his oculist, and no one was prepared for the news of his serious illness. The present generation, I suppose, has almost forgotten the Foreign Minister, whose painful duty it was to proclaim war against Germany. He owed his post as Foreign Minister in great measure to the influence of Margot Asquith, who was always one of his most sincere admirers. Gladstone predicted that he would become Prime Minister, and, but for the failure of his eyesight, the prediction would very likely have come true. But his interest was always divided ' between politics and the pleasures of country life. The latter, if anything, were always a little bit in the ascendant. A great fisherman, and a great lover of birds, he has done much to promote the establishment of bird sancturies in different parts of the country., St. Francis of Falloden he has sometimes been •'called—the saint who was “kind to the birds.” Mr. Henderson’s Return.

Mr. Arthur Henderson received a stirring welcome when he looked in upon the Trade Union Congress at Brighton. Enthusiasm will be no less vociferous when in the late autumn he takes his seat in the House of Commons. In Parliament, moreover, the greetings will not come along from colleagues of his own pgrty. It is useless, however, for the Socialists to pretend that such demonstrations are in token of any great victory of their colours at the polls. It is typical of “Uncle Arthur’s” prudence that he assured himself of the safest of safe seats before he ventured to redress the humiliation inflicted upon him at Burnley. The great benefit all parties of having Mr. Henderson once again in Parliament is that the House will at last be enabled to hear the authentic voice of Labour, and no longer be left in bewilderment by the garrulity of individual and unauthorised interpreters. The Big One.

We may be tranquil over one point. When Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, the British Government’s chief economic adviser, goes to Washington to reopen War Debt negotiations he is in no danger of being physically over-shadowed by even the biggest expert U.S.A, can table to meet him. Sir Frederick, who is still in the robust forties despite his economic lore and prestige, is a very tall man, con-, siderably over six feet in height, and massively built to match his inches. No matter how many negotiators may attend the War Debt seances, he will in this sense be the Big One. He. should impress the Americans in others ways as well, because he has a high smooth dome of forehead and wears hom-rims of the best American brand. He is, I should say, just the sort of man President Roosevelt would like on his own staff. Gold Hoarders’ Fears.

The point of greatest significance about this renewed rush to buy gold seems to be escaping the attention it deserves, Generally, it is assumed to be due to lack of confidence, both in the dollar and in sterling. That, however, does not explain it. The greatest eagerness to buy is on the Continent, and the metal is obviously being secured for hoarding purposes. But hoarded gold not only earns no interest, but entails, considerable expense for its safe keeping. Continental investors, however, if they have qualms about dollars and pounds, have no need to put their money into British or American funds or undertakings; they could place their savings similarly in France, or with one or other of the gold standard countries. That they are not doing this, and prefer to sacrifice interest and pay a premium for the safe custody of their hoards, is consequently not so much an- indication of their distrust of the off-gold currencies, as of their fears of further departures from the gold standard. Strange Ways of Celebrities.

When prominent people meet, it is natural that we should suppose they do so for some definite purpose connected with their several stations and responsibilities. Assurance from official sources, however, is always forthcoming to the effect that our suspicions are unfounded. We are duly informed that Herr Hitler’s recent visit to President Hindenburg was for the sole purpose of enquiring after the aged Marshal’s health. Rumours that Dr. Dolfuss and Signor Mussolini spoke of other things than sun-bathing during their recent seaside idyll are indignantly denied from Rome. And now we are solemnly assured that Mr. Montagu Norman crossed four thousand miles of sea and land solely for a social tea-party with President Roosevelt, during which finance was never even mentioned. When Stalin and Gandhi go arm-in-arm to visit Lossiemouth we shall know that their sole purpose is to go shrimping on the sand.

New Minister to China. There will be much satisfaction among British residents in China over the announcement of Mr. Cadogan’s appointment as Minister Plenipotentiary at Peking. Mr. Cadogan’s invaluable services at the Foreign Office in connection with the League of Nations, and in particular the scrupulous and unbiassed work he performed in relation to the Manchurian dispute, will commend him both to the native and foreign communities of China. Sir Miles Lampson, whom Mr. Cadogan succeeds, has been held in high esteem by the officials of the Nanking Administration and by the big British commercial interests. In China as she is at present, however, the unofficial voice is of even great importance • than that which speaks for a by no means de facto government. If Mr. Cadogan forms his conclusions on Chinese problems as dispassionately as he did With regard to Manchuria, he will be able to give our Government a better knowledge of the Far East than it has had for years. Geneva Envoys.

Whitehall takes the League of Nations with proper gravity, and the Foreign Office has already made all arrangements for the forthcoming assembly at Geneva. For this meeting the British delegates will be Sir John Simon, heading the party in his capacity as Foreign Secretary, Mr. Ormsby-Gore (First Commissioner of Works), Mr. Hore-Belisha (Financial Secretary to the Treasury), Mr. Douglas Hacking (Under-Secretary to the Home Office), and Miss Florence Horsburgh (Conservative M.P. for Dundee), with Sir William Malkin as legal adviser from Foreign Office. Practically all these people, with the notable exception of Sir John Simon, are new to Geneva’s idiosyncrasies. Ono regular figure is omitted. Lord Cecil has, at his own request, been dropped.

Henry Ford and the Code. It seems a little unfortunate for President Roosevelt’s recovery campaign that the first industrial magnate to come up against it should be Henry Ford. General Johnson, the C.-in C. of the prosperity

drive, is the sort of man, we are told in American idiom, who bites off the ears of the horse which does not respond to the spurs. “You must sign the. code, or you won’t get a blue eagle,” is his dictum, but it remains to be seen whether Mr. Ford sets any value at all Upon this badge. Many other industrialists have conformed to the code with reluctance, £nd there is a chance that if the example is set them by Ford they may reconsider their decision and discard the blue eagle. Another difficulty that will' face General Johnson ii that the name of Henry Ford has been held up for so long before the American public as typifying all that is admirable and patriotic in the industrial world, that many Americans will regard it as little short of blasphemy if he now calls upon them to crack down upon their hero.

Nasty Snags for Nazis. Herr Hitler is having no luck on the purely scientific side of his political creed. Not long ago an eminent.. Scots professor pointed out that the Nazi theory of the Aryan races, and their supreme contribution to Western civilisation, is a complete error. The foundations .of that civilisation were laid by non-Aryan races, and, at the time it happened, the ancestors of the Germans were primitive savages searching for shellfish on the banks of the Baltic. Now Sir Hesketh Bell, our distinguished Colonial ex-Governor, states that the Roman salute, which plays so vital a part in Nazi politics, is far older than Rome. He encountered it in Uganda, and it was there employed by aboriginal chimpanzees. I take it Sir Hesketh has no intention of holidaying this summer in Germany.

British Vogue in Finland. The “British Week,” which opened in Helsingfors this week marks a happy furtherance of that friendship for this country which Finland has always shared with the nations Of the Scandinavian group. Long before Finland s independence from Russia, her people always had a leaning towards the habits and fashions of England. Though little encouraged by Czarist officials, this tendency to AngloSaxonism was marked among the menfolk by a strong desire to dress according to London modes. Cloth caps and tweeds were conspicuous in the display of every first-class outfitter of Helsingfors, Abo, and Viborg. The sale of such articles was not greatly curtailed by reason of the little lead seals betokening that Russia’s high Customs duties had been paid.

More Railway Electrification. I hear that help to employment and a stimulus to our heavy industries may be expected from decisions about to be ratified by two main railway companies. The railway companies concerned are the L.M.Sz and. the L.N.E. and the activities they now have in immediate view will arise from an electrification of their suburban lines running from King’s Crdss and Liverpool Street. stations. These plans are the first fruits of tnd new London Traffic Control, and must involve a considerable employment of labour' at present without work as well as business for our iron and steel industry. A further stimulus in both these directions will be the new Tube extensions, serving both the West End and the southern suburbs. All these enterprises will be launched under the auspices of the Trade Facilities Act, with its financial guarantees. Lenin’s London Associations.

Obviously Moscow has granted the utmost assistance to Mr. Ralph Fox for the writing of his life of Lenin, which has just been published, and is probably the best-informed biography of the Bolshevik apostle yet compiled. Mr. Fox writes without disguise as a profound admirer, but he does not allow that to interfere with his due perspectives. An interesting chapter deals with Lenin s London period, when he met Trotsky and Gorky, and Vthe three of them founded the movement that was to sweep Russia change European history. The British Museum reading-room has a . lot to answer for. Karl Marx fed on its Pastures, too. When Lenin and his wife took rooms off Tottenham Court Road, their landlady gave no heed to revolutionary risks, but objected to the lack of the regulation wedding ring on Mrs. Lenin’s finger. A queer commentary on the things that matter.

Bolshevised Shakespeare. I am told that Moscow is having a run of Shakespearean plays. This is. indeference to Stalin’s profound admiration for our Bard'of Avon, but the .Moscow plays are excruciatingly bowdlerised and Bolshevised versions of the original English masterpieces. Hamlet, through Soviet spectacles, ceases to be a distraught poet and idealist, and becomes

a hard-boiled cynic. The Ghost is a piece of elaborate propaganda work, conceived by the Prince of Denmark with the object of recovering his rightful throne. Eten madder versions are played by the Bolshevik theatrical company of Anthony and Cleopatra, which as shown in Moscow is a Tearful melange of Shakespeare and Shaw. I never felt better disposed towards Stalin than when told that the Dictator’s criticism was: “This stuff is not Shakespeare.”

Motor “Banditry.” Scotland Yard realises as clearly as anybody that so far its best efforts have failed to round up the motor th/igs. It is said that London is “worked” by three main gangs, who openly refer to themselves among their friends as “car bandits,” and they have so efficiently planned their coups that the game is a lucrative one with very slender risks indeed. Their big advantage, of course, is surprise and mobility when operating over so huge an area as London, and we must presumably hold our Souls in patience till Lord Trenchard produces for us the' perfect up-to-date collegetrained detective. Meanwhile, however, something might be done by making the law a little less gentle in its dealings with car thugs. Part of the romance might go Out of “car banditry” if its practitioners and their admirers knew it was invariably visited by “the eat.’

Air Sense.

Remarkable progress is being made in this country in the art of gliding. Since we took up this Handmaiden of the science of aviation clubs have multiplied all over the country, and British exponents have achieved sensational records. It is quite normal for a glider to remain in the air for much longer periods than would, in the early days of aviation, have been regarded as wonderful even for an engined plane. There is a disposition in certain quarters to talk of gliding as an indispensable apprenticeship to real flying, but expert airmen deprecate this opinion. They are quite ready to admit that it is an admirable preparatory training, and gives its exponents confidence and air sense, together with a Useful knowledge of air currents, but it is by no means an indispensable approach to flying. Another London Sight.

I have discovered that another sight has been added to the old London round. Foreign and dominion tourists, who set out to “do” London properly, now frequestly .include St. Thomass Hospital in their itinerary. French visitors are particularly keen on visiting this shrine since the matron of St. Thomas s, Miss Still, was chosen in Paris, as president of the International Council of Nursing. St. Thomas’s is intimately associated with Florence Nightingale, and has many precious relics Of that historic heroine of Crimean days. Besides a lot of her letters, which visitors are allowed to look at, the hospital boasts bonnets arid frocks that She wore, interesting now for their Victorian simplicity also, and the very carriage in which the Lady of the Lamp drove to. Scutari. #