CURRENT LONDON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1935, Page 14 (Supplement)

CURRENT LONDON TOPICS

SENIOR FIELD MARSHAL DUKE OF CONNAUGHT’S BIRTHDAY. LONG CAREER IN THE ARMY. (By Air Mail—Special Correspondent.) London, May - 9.* His 85th birthday last week is a reminder that the Duke of Connaught, senior field marshal, has survived his brother King Edward by a full quarter of a century. Perhaps the Duke’s lifelong enthusiasm for soldering explains his wonderful vigour near the ’nineties. His army career began at 18, when he passed out of Woolwich into the R.E. He soon transferred to the R.A., but shortly joined the Rifle Brigade, which is his real army love, and in social kudos actually, though popular superstition confers it on the Guards, the corps d’elite of our regiments. Incidentally, the Duke commanded the Guards Brigade at Tel-el-Kebir. He has held high command both in India and at home, and became Commander-in-Chief in Ireland when Bobs . Bahadur left for the Boer War. At Windsor on the Prince Consort’s last Christmas the Duke, at the age of ten, had had a Territorial uniform and miniature rifle given him. He promptly donned it, and saluted with his rifle, but only after having a pot shot at his father.

Germany’s Air Preparations. I was told the other night of an incident which throws some light on the unexpected rapidity with which Ger-\ many has obtained parity in air strength. A British firm ordered some special machinery from Germany, and unable to get delivery or a satisfactory explanation of the delay, it sent a representative to inquire. He found the works practically deserted, and was told that some weeks before the whole of the skilled staff had been commandeered by the Government fo ( r the manufacture .of aeroplanes, bringing the normal output of the establishment to a standstill. That Was in October last. Scrap Iron.,

It is a noteworthy coincidence that Herr Hitler’s shipping order for new submarined-jumps in date with the tow-, ing of the scuttled German battleship Bayern from. Scarpa Flow to Rosyth, This warship was laid down the year before Der Tag, but was not in time for Jutland, and her fifteen-irich guns barked no Hymn of .Hate in the Great War. Along with her surrendered compeers of the High Fleet, the Bayern was scuttled by the Geiririan caretakers in June, 1919, but her barnacled corpse was raised last September, and,, bottom upwards, has been .towed by three Tugs to the naval knackers to be broken Up as old iron. She embodied many .German ideas of warship construction to which due attention- has no, be6h paid/ by dur sea’ architects. It is rather disturbing that, with our long practical experience of ship construction, we should have had so many things to learn from our German' challengers, Amongst them were the futility, of armouring only the sides, and not the decks, of modem warships, when long-range shells hit downwards with howitzer action, and also the vital precaution of making ammunition lifts flash-proof. Projectile Aircraft

At a moment when everybody is guessing what changes the next quarter of a century may bring forth, it seems' fairly safe to venture one prediction. The fly-, ing machines of 1960-will M as complete-, ly different from existing ones as ’ the’ original Rocket engine from the latest streamline locorpotive. Imperial Airways have just placed with a famous Rochester firm ah order for a £lOO,OOO composite.. plane of which ■' the Air; Ministry is bearing part of the cost. 1 This machine is an entirely novel type; and may revolutionise long-distance air transport. It is' a huge four-engine flying boat into which, by a patent device, a smaller four-engine seaplane, capable of carrying a heavy load, is interlocked on the big machine’s, wings. The, full power of all eight engined can be used for the takeoff. and, when the right altitude has been reached at any given distance, the smaller machine caff be released to continue its journey alone whilst its parent plane returns to ite base. The projectile seaplane will be fueled to carry 10001 b. of mail three thousand miles. . Historical Retrospect. ,

Mr. Douglas Jerrold's “England,” a brief historical retrospect and a cynical forecast, is a book all M.P.’s ought to be compelled to read. The author shares Treitschke’s opinion that an Imperial democracy is an absurdity and an unwritten constitution- with an unlimited democracy an impossibility. Politicians may differ from this view, but it might shake them into a little less obfuscated thinking. Mr. Jerrold calls L.G. “the greatest inflationist of dawning ideology in the history of political ideas,” and accuses him of “always sailing too near the clouds, in his perorations and too near the wind in his manoeuvres.”, Mr. Baldwin he says has, under the astonishing alibi of a pipe-smoking rustic, laid the foundations of an urbanised bureaucracy ■ indistinguishable from Socialism, and Mr. Neville Chamberlain has»enunciated the revolutionary doctrine that taxation is a fund to be divided between different interests with claims upon the State, We badly need a few Mr. Jerrolds to give vitality to the back benches a® Westminster. Even the Bookies. D.espite the fact that Ascot does not come until well on in June, the Earl of Granard and his staff will be busily engaged at the Ascot Office in St. James’ Palace, from now on, dealing with applications for the coveted badges to Society’s inner circle—the Royal enclosure. Theoretically, everyone who goes to Ascot is his Majesty’s guest, sightseers, punters, and bookmakers included. Consequently, the control Of the course is vested in. the King’s representatives. Last year a change was made in the arrangements, owing to the lamented death of Viscount - Churchill, who for a quarter of a century was steward and trustee of Ascot. The work is now divided, and . Lord Hamilton of Dalzell is the King’s representative and trustee, and controls all the racing arrangements. But the issue of permits was considered to oe a more fitting task for a member of the Household. Therefore, Lord Granard, as Master of the Horse, undertook these duties last year. Cricket Truths. ... . .

I have a’ notion that our cricket quidnuncs are just a trifle top cocky. They "are inclined, in the case of all visiting tea ms except perhaps the .Australians. to assume a native superiority that may once have existed but no longer does so. When- we sent our by no means weak side to the West Indies, the general attitude was that they were on a comfortable holiday. But the West Indies soon awoke them rudely from their dreams. And now, when the South Africans arrived, the experts talked indulgently of the visitors being, as they certainly are, fine sportsmen—and modest withal—but hardly up to Test standard, especially in the bowling departments. Well, the first real unofficial test against Worchestet, seems to have dispelled that illusion pretty thoroughly. First-class-

ticket in England is at perhaps its lowest ebb. Whether we have to thank gplf for that, or tennis,' makes no matter. The point is that. It will take our selectors all their time, to field, q side to beatthe South Africans. . . ‘ Indian Secretary’s Health. Sir Samuel Hoare enjoys' such good health normally, and is making such progress,' that there is' every . hope 'he will be fit' for the resumption,,,Of the India Bill discussions. He has had an arduous .with. 1116 cd , ilii'nitt6e.sittips: three and sdmetimes four dajii ajwegk,. but the end of that stage is now in sight. It has been suggested that'Jiig right-to; promotion Will .be .recognised .by his transfer to the Foreign Office, but a mcffp. interesting -proposal is that he should -be; the first Viceroy under the regime Which he is assisting to set up. He has many of the qualities needed, including an urisur- 1 passed knowledge of the new scheme, and the assistance of his wife, Lady. Maud Hoare, would be' invaluable. But India may not attract a man whose chief recreation is skating. Exit the Olympic. These are tragic days for famous old ocean liners. No soor r has the Cuharder Mauretania, Que m of the Western Ocean for so many years, passed intothe shipbreakers’ harids than there' is a suggestion that the Olympic, the famous White Star boat, may share the same fate. When the left tne stocks in 1911 the Olympic was the biggest ship afloat. A year later her sister ship, the ill-fated Titanic, struck an iceberg on hep maiden voyage, and sank with fifteen hundred lives aboard. During the - War the Olympic was well in the picture, and she rounded off her achievements in 1918 by ramming the German .U-boat 103 in the Atlantic. Only last May she was again in. the news, but this time through colliding with, and sinking, in a dense fog the famous Nantucket lightship off New York harbour. The Americans were much upset by this unfortunate occurrence, and the owners of the Olympic, toprevent the vessel being seized- against: the claim for damages, had to deposit a 509,000 dollar bond.' ' ' 1 1 Red Marauders.," The evacuation of British and American citizens from Yunrtanfu before an invasion of Communist trdops might give the impression that China is still in much the same state as she was during the anti-foreign disturbances of 1927Actually the situation is quite different and very much better, YUnnan is the extreme south-western province, and it has never been to any great extent in the control of the Nanking Government. The attacking forces, moreover, though commonly.- termed nothipg,

IBiwnf Billir inmiiiil ■ IM : vrhate'vdr to' do with the Cortimunist riidvemeiit, arid certainly .have no money *-? wasted upon them by Moscow. are, in fact, bandits pure and simple, rind their- politics are summed iip in the oh* ~ i word “lodt.” That these brigands come tr be assembled in Such hordes all-along the wild western borders of China is a result of the break-up of the old private army system. The defeated troops of the Tuchuns fled piecemeal to the moun-. tains of the Upper Yangtze and it is frdm those rocky regions they have now gathered in forces sufficiently large to spread terror through Kweichow and Yunnan,, but without .organisation and supplies to enable them to become a menace io.. , China. .as a whole,'.. . .. „■ 'y ' T .. t