CURRENT LONDON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 14 March 1935, Page 12

CURRENT LONDON TOPICS

AIR PACT REFLECTIONS NO HOSTILITY TO GERMANY. SIR JOHN SIMON’S EMPHASIS. (Special Correspondent). London, Feb. 7. Both in Paris and London great pains have been taken to make it clear that the proposed Air Pact implies and intends no hostility to Germany. Sir John Simon was particularly careful to emphasise this fact in his broadcast. But even the man in the street knows well enough that, though certainly not meant in any offensive or aggressive spirit against Germany, the Air Pact’s sole raison d’etre is fear lest that country should, in the near or distant future, try to repeat, this time more suddenly and in the air, the military tour de force that so nearly succeeded in 1914. What anxiety exists anywhere lest either France, Belgium, Italy, or Britain should suddenly launch an aerial armada against any of their neighbours? That haggard possibility is confined solely to the country which has boycotted the League, re-armed contrary to solemn obligation, and Is drilling night and day against some emergency which certainly does not include her own home defence. Our French Visitors. The French Premier and Foreign Secretary, MM. Pierre Flandin and Pierre Laval, whose London visit has so agitated Teutonic mentality, have nothing in common except their front names and their devotion to France. M. Flandin, a stalwart and unemotional Burgundian, belongs to a family of country squires whose ancestors have been Generals and Colonial Governors. He looks more English than French, and, thanks to an educational course in England, speaks our language well. His Gallic phlegm is well expressed in his comment, apropos the existing situation, “It is a nuisance having a lunatic asylum next door, but we are not too worried!” M. Laval, small and dark, is an Auvergnat, a son of the plebs, but a French lawyer, and Mr. Lloyd George might easily, by his looks, mistake him for one of his Criccieth neighbours. He is an indefatigable worker, but not free from Gallic temperamentality, and made himself quite unpopular with his former Social- - ist colleagues when he declared that they < sought their leaders in the rubbish dump. Both are young as politicians go, but i here M. Laval has the advantage. The New Deal. Mr. Stanley Baldwin is to start a big platform campaign in the early spring. This was arranged long before Mr. Lloyd George launched his "New Deal” ’ scheme. By the time Mr. Baldwin starts his speeches, however, we shall pre- , sumably have a much fuller and better idea what is really in Mr. Lloyd , George’s mind. In that event it is likely that Mr. Baldwin will have something to say on that new issue in our political life, and there is no knowing what his attitude may be; If Mr. Lloyd George maintains his present disinclination to “go Left,” it is quite a possibility that Mr. Baldwin may be as sympathetic as ( Mr. Neville Chamberlain appears to be towards the ex-Premier. Whether next autumn or later, the coming general election raises problems which demand earnest attention. A National party reinforced by Mr. Lloyd George might defeat the Socialist anti-Nationalist campaign. Unemployment Muddle. There can be no doubt that the Government is seriously perturbed over the unhappy misunderstanding which has arisen over the administration of unemployment transitional payments under the new system. Reports from all over the country indicate that the new regulations have resulted in a very general reduction in the payments granted to applicants. That this state of affairs is absolutely at variance with the intentions of those responsible for the drawing up of the scheme is beyond question. The chief trouble is that at present even officials of the Ministry of Labour and of the new Unemployment Assistance Board are at a loss to account for how the adverse interpretation of the instructions is being arrived at by the local administrators. Once the cause is found the cure will be applied with no ' loss of time, even if J. necessitates, complete permanent rescission of the present regulations. From the political aspect the contretemps is hardly less unfortunate than from the humanitarian, for it is raising Socialist extremist stock more than anything that has occurred since the debacle of 1931. Continuity. There is something impressive about our loyalty to centuries-old custom and tradition in London. There are innovators, impatient of the dead past and eager to hustle into a perhaps deadalive future, who would scrap all these historic associations, beginning with the Lord Mayor’s Show, but most Londoners have a finer sense of the fitness of things, and realise that only the mule lacks ancestral instincts. Take last week's quiet little dinner of Past Overseers of St. Margaret and St. Jude. This is the Society’s two - hundredth - and - twenty - first dinner. It starts punctiliously at seven o'clock, and ends just as punctually at ten, but the great moment comes mid-way. On the very stroke of nine the assembled company, rising in their seats, solemnly pledge “The immortal memory of Nelson.” This is because, in 1805, precisely at that hour, the members were at dinner at Greenwich when a ship, passing up the Thames, brought the tragic news that the hero of Trafalgar was dead. Some people may think this sort of thing silly. I respect it Currency Problems. It is hinted that currency stabilisation, as well as the new Franco-Italian entente, may be discussed when the French Premier and Foreign Minister pay their impending visit to London. This seems rather unlikely, otherwise the French delegation would surely have included the Finance Minister too. On the France-Italian entente our French friends will find us quite enthusiastic, but out attitude to any plan for currency control may be less cordial. The contest between the dollar, the franc, and the pound, resembling Mr. Midshipman Easy’s famous triangular duel, is awkward, and much curiosity exists in some quarters as to the inroads rumoured to have been made on our huge currency equalisation fund. But this country is not prepared to put its signature, or even give a tacit assent, to any stabilisation pact, until there is an absolute watertight guarantee that all the parties concerned will play fair. National Cage Bird Show. Over five thousand birds were on view at the Crystal Palace, ranging from the homely little canary songster to exotic birds of Paradise and gorgeously-plum-ed tropical humming-birds. Exhibits arrived from all over the Kingdom, and many from abroad. Holland sent twenty new specimens of orange,, blue, and agate canaries, the owners stating that these colourings have not been produced by the usual methods of selecting diet. English fanciers are anxious to know the'

secret. One of the most interesting exhibits was a pair of wild canaries. Few people would recognise them as such, so much difference have generations of selective breeding wrought in the tame ; variety. To feed its feathered guests • during the show, the Crystal Palace : authorities required over 7cwt. of seeds, i besides quantities of fruit. Some of the ; tiny foreign birds eat a pear a day. Most , of the specimens were for sale—at prices , ranging up to a thousand pounds. ' Ancient Lineage. ’ Viscount Galway, New Zealand’s . future Governor-General, is the seventh peer of a line descended from the j ancient Yorkshire Moncktons. The lat- . ter got into serious trouble with CromJ well for their Stuart loyalty, but at a i later period of troubled English history i sided with William of Orange against the Stuarts. He and his Viscountess were i their Majesties’ guests at Sandringham ; last week. Lord Galway served with . the Sherwood Foresters in South Africa : and as a Life Guardsman was with the cavalry on the western front. Both he and Lady Galway are keen outdoor sporting folk, but they are not taking their horses out with them to New Zea- ’ land when they sail in April. They i will rely on local mounts. The one ex- ' ception is their children’s white pony, a great family pet, who will make the long ’ voyage with them, as will also a gover- ’ ness for the youngsters. Lady Galway hopes to continue her Girl Guide actiL vities in their new home. She has been much associated with the Princess Royal ’ at inspections of that admirable contin- , gent. Sir Maurice. L Will the full story ever be made > known, I wonder, of Sir Maurice 1 Hankey's personal influence in modern European politics. He has returned to ! London after a trip to the Antipodes, ■ and will no doubt play as quietly influt ential a role in coming big events as he ■ has done in those of the past twenty years. Sir Maurice was just a Royal Marine officer in a blue uniform with a Sam Browne, until he suddenly appeared behind the scenes in Downing Street as assistant secretary to the , Imperial Defence Committe six years . before the war. As secretary to the War Cabinet he shared all the big and ; .little secrets of highly-placed Ministers, t and his consummate persuasive tact did ■ a lot to keep that august body up to ( snuff. He was the big noise behind the • scenes at Versailles too. Genial, in- ■ scrutable, alert, and incisive, Sir Maurice gives an impression of pulling > the strings as delicately as a fly-fisher.