CURRENT LONDON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 23 March 1935, Page 14 (Supplement)

CURRENT LONDON TOPICS

EVENTS OF THE EMPIRE ANCIENT, ROMANTIC CAPITAL. CZECHOSLOVAKIA’S LJUBLJANA. (Special Correspondent). London, Jan. 21. Statesmen of the Little Entente have been conferring in the ancient and romantic capital of Slovenia, which rejoices in the tongue-twisting name of Ljubljana. I confess, when dealing with Czechoslovakia and other still more troublesome names associated with the modern Balkans, I am tempted to thank heaven that my school days were . Cast in somewhat easier geographical times. Ljubljana must be a regular nightmare to the contemporary public schoolboy. He-is not often strong on spelling even simple English words, and, if he tackles the Balkans conscientiously, he well earns his public school tie. But Ljubljana has been in the news before this. In 1821 there was a solemn Congress of European statesmen and royalty in the picturesque city, with its castle and rock, to discuss affairs in Naples, where red hot revolution had shown its head. It is a great centre for trout fishing, and Sir Humphry Davy, who designed the miner’s safety lamp, was the first Englishman to tickle the Ljubljana stream. Jubilee Festivities.

According to the talk in Court circles it is the intention of the King and Queen to give two State balls at Buckingham Palace during the coming season. This is a special departure to mark the King's Silver Jubilee. The present understanding is that one of these grand affairs will be held in May and the other in July after the June Courts. The last State balls held at Buckingham Palace were in 1924 in honour of the visits of the King and Queen of Roumania and later of the King and Queen of Italy. There has been a ball at the Palace since then, but thto was a private one, and riot of State character, afid it was to Welcome home Lady May Cambridge from South Africa four years ago. As King George has given up dafiCifig altogether, WP ffiay hot have the usual royal qUadrillfes which formed a dignified feature of State balls in the past, and probably there are hot many dancers nowadays who could perform in Otte. Long Highland Mfeifthty.

Sir Reginald MacLeod, Who has juSt returned to Lbriddh after a meeting of Invert ess-slurs natives, the other day recalled Some bf his experiences When he was Conservative candidate for the county .nearly half a century ago. One elderly elector, on being canvassed for his Vote, emphatically refused it, oft the ground that he would never support a descendant of the men who refused to •come out with Prince Charles in 1745. It be explained that on that occasion the MacLeods declined to take any part in the rising, as did also some of the other clans, Whose leaders had more sense than sentiment. The Prince was b'" - ' disappointed that the Whole of the clans did not rally to his baiiner, and- the absence of so powerful a body as the MacLeods helped to bring about the failv-- of his enterprise. It is characteristic of the lengin of Highland memories that the incident should have been recalled after an interval of 140 years.

Lucky Man. There is only one private shareholder in the Iraq oil company. He is an Armenian, now a naturalised British subject though resident in Paris, whose father brought him to Liverpool at. the age of 19. A compatriot, who was illiterate but made a fortune out of the ‘Baku oil wells, interested him in oil, and he secured before the War the original Mosul oil concession from the Turkish Government. Though his holding in the Iraq company is only, five per cent., it is on six and a half million shares, and must make the lucky holder one of the richest people in the world. His son was educated at Harrow, and took a Cambridge degree during the War. The opening of the new pipe-line, constructed with such immense labour and at such great cost, will considerably enhance the fortune of the enterprising and far-seeing Turkish concessiohee. It must be a nice feeling to know that What amounts almost to liquid gold is now on tap straight from Iraq to the European markets, and that it keeps on flowing like Old Man River. Last Off Gallipoli.

The Great War was such a big thing, though its peaks are already gathering the mists of ancient history, that controversy still rages over even small points. One dispute seems now to be settled. Who was the last man to leave the Gallipoli Peninsula when that deadly arena of lost chances was finally evacuated? It was beyond all doubt Commander R. Langton-Jones, R.N., now retired, though in his memoirs Admiral Sir Roger Keyes names another officer. Commander Langton-Jones now tells us that he was the last man hauled aboard H.M.S. Fury, just as dawn was breaking on the day following the night of evacuation, and after the main magazine’s explosion had converted the cliff behind W beach into a gulley. The Turks were very excited by then.- As he stood waiting, and looking back at the scene of so much epic adventure, Commander Lang-ton-Jones’s left shoulder strap "was shot away by shrapnel as a parting souvenir.

Mascagni’s Masterpiece. From all accounts of the first night of Mascagni’s new opera at La Scala, Milan, it will not be long before all England is echoing the tuneful arias of “Nero,” Mascagni has taken his time over the

opera. He began it in 1896 at the time when the world was only just beginning to be familiar with the beautiful melodies of “Cavalieria Rusticana.” So there is small wonder it should now: be regarded as his masterpiece. In those days the knowledge Of new music travelled slowly. The chief medium of its distribution to the populace was the barrel or piano organ of the Italian street musician. It was through that jingling instrument that I first became familiar with the now famous intermezzo, and that must have been a year or tW6 after “Cavalieria Rusticana” had become a regular feature in the repertoire of Italian opera houses. All that is-different now. Thanks to broadcasting, the whole world starts humming famous songs a day or two after their first production in public. Author of the Beacons.

It is remarkable how many ex-presi-dents of the Oxford Union get into the limelight later Oh. The late Earl of Birkenhead is an outstanding, but by no means exceptional modem instance. Mr. Hore-Belisha, our much-criticised Minister of Transport, is the most recent example. Up at Oxford before the war, he returned to complete his course on demobilisation, and became the first president of the Union when its suspended activities were resumed after 1918. From Oxford he passed Into Fleet Street, and later into Parliament, and his fame is now beaconed all over London and the country by his much-abused orange groves. He is a polished and ready speaker, of the genre beloved Of the Union, but since taking up political life he has modified the Oxford Union debating manner to suit the more modern oratorical canons now observed at Westminster. Mr. Robey Looks Back.

George Robey has been to the Adelphi Theatre to see himself as he was twenty years ago. He saw a replica of himself-— a little more hair perhaps, slightly darker eyebrows, a trifle slimmer, but definitely George Robey—in the film “The Soul Of a Nation.” He was astonished to find, that he was front-page news twenty years ago for standing on a plinth in Trafalgar Square conducting a recruiting campaign'and raising money for the War Loan, “."I’d do it again to-morrow,” he said enthusiastically, waving his walk-ing-stick. “Don’t tell me that the youth of England la pacifist. Let me give ’em a bit of commdnsense, and tell a couple of stories, and there wouldn’t be enough uniforms to go round.” He was annoyed by the picture of the suffragettes. “When we gave women votes,” he said, “we deserved to have a war.” Yet the picture that made his eyes inoist was Marie Lloyd kicking-off at a football match during the early days of the War. Royal Colours. The Kings Silver Jubilee is bound to have its effect on fashions. More clothes than usual will be bought, by those who are likely to be cofnmanded to State functions,, as well as by the social set which expects to attend the hundred and one “occasions” arranged in honour of the Jubilee! So dress designers are much occupied with plans for suitable styles, official engagements always demanding clothes with an important air about them. While materials will be rich and impressive, special attention will be paid to colours, for these are even more important where an Abbey or a Buckingham Palace setting have to be considered. Two new blue shades—one of which has been chosen by the Queen and called “Jubilee blue,” and another named “Windsor blue”—are likely to be very popular. There is also an exquisite rose tone, called “Margaret Rose,” after the King’s youngest grand-daughter.