CURRENT LONDON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 27 July 1935, Page 9 (Supplement)

CURRENT LONDON TOPICS

ALL HANDS TO THE PUMP POLITICS UNDER THE WEATHER. CHECK TO THE “PARTY GAME.” (By Air Mail—Special to News.) London, June 20. A survey of the world’s existing Governments is certainly suggestive. And the suggestion it enforces is that, in bad economic weather, the instinct of selfpreservation exerts itself even in politicians to the extent of making them abandon party control. How many States are there to-day left m Europe where partisan passions are still allowed full play? Great Britain still retains a nominally National regime. France has vested M. Laval with almost autocratic powers backed by an omnibus vote. Germany, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Jugoslavia, Poland, Austria and Greece are all actual or virtual in which partisan- discussions are taboo. Farther afield both Persia and U.S.A, are in much the same boat. All hands to the pumps seems to be the cry everywhere, and, even when democratic forms still remain, heavy weather compels a cessation of what is called “the party game. The moral is too general to be easily ignored. ■ Naval Heart-Burnings.

It is to be feared that' the Anglo-Ger-man naval talks are to be the= cause of much heart-burning on the part of other Powers. Japan, dislikes them because, as a natural consequence, they will bring Germany, and after her Russia, into the forthcoming naval conference to decide what is to.take the place of the. Washington and London Treaties, Which she has denounced. France dislikes them because the 35 per cent, ratio of our strength which we are prepared to recognise as Germany’s right will bring the German navy almost up to equality with her oWn. . Already outcry is being raised in the French Press about what'is'called •a British tendency - “to lean towards Germany.” It is being , pointed'out that French consent' is necessary, .- as any agreement Will involve: revision of- the Versailles Treaty. Oh that point at least we have adopted a more, realistic view than" France, who seems <to > have ■ overlooked the fact that Germany re.vises that-’Treaty"without consent' when consent is withheld. Inscrutable Cathay. v . - ;China’s almost abject acceptance of Japanese demands is astonishing' and mystifying Britons of long ekperiCncd. in that country. It is: the . way- tof : ' China only to agree to the Power after she has beejrSbadly bitten. -That she has yielded tdi'Jkparfs bark suggests- either that she • sufficient previous experience •to kftoW how formidable is Japan’s bite there is, as Americans' say, something; .‘‘pjioney” about the deal. Those Who- take the former hypothesis moralise--Upon the benefits to be derived from, treating China rough, and sigh regretfully over our lost opportunities. Others see a plot in the business, and suspect that China is allowing Japan to have a hand in the restoration of her monarchy.

Equal Pay. .... a:}. . There are times when the average intelligent citizen must feel towards the House of Commons pretty much as the Iron Duke did towards those unimpressive Peninsular recruits. “I-don’t know how they may affect the ehemy, but, by God, they frighten me!” A eaiw' in point was the debate on the vitaUand urgent question of equal pay for both sexes. Anything more • casual, flimsy; and un-’ intelligent it would be difficult to imagine.- The average third-class'smoker’s morning company, discussing the subject en passant, would display a /; more informed grip of it. Equal pay for equal service is what ought "to be enforced. Then women would survive with men in those forms of employment where they are equally useful. There Would be a great exodus of cheap fCihalS labour in all others. A point the taxpayer may like to have further explained, is. the one put forward by some women members of Parliament, viz., family allowances for civil servants. Why should Whitehall alone enjoy this form a State subsidy? Or is this meant to be the thin end of the wedge? . Air Defence. r J / , ’ Now that Germany has become a first-class air Power, it will be necessary foi the Higher Command-of'the. Royal Air Force to recast their strategical conceptions in regard to the location of the Air Force squadrons.- • Hitherto, the main concentration of our air resources was round about London and the south for the protection of the Channel against any attack from France. It is not that there was the. slightest probability of ah attack by air from France, but that that country happened to possess the biggest air fleet, and the Air Council had to make their plans accordingly. The advent of Germany in the air has • now altered the situation, and increasing importance from a strategical point of view is being attached to East Anglia and the east . coast generally, for that coast would be in the direct striking line from Germany. But, as in the case of France, the greater concentration of air squadrons on the east coast would .have no special significance. It would form part of the ordinary plan for the defence of Britain.

New Airport. From being long a famous “ racing centre, Gatwick, the Surrey resort out Crawley way, is about to become famous as an airport! The latter will be built this year by Airports Ltd., and will be on the most up-to-date lines. A dominant feature will be a hexagonal, or sixsided,. tower above the main aerodrome buildings. The object of this structure is to allow the arrival or departure of six planes simultaneously, and the embarkation or landing of their passengers. Tliis central tower will have direct connection by a subway with a new southern railway station. The airport is to have its own restaurant, post office, shops, and, of course, a Custom house. Gatwick has the big advantage over Croydon that it is in open country, not hemmed in by congested suburbs, and is far less liable to fog. By the'way, how long will it be before the airports are, like our London stations,- equipped with their own cinemas? Surely that will have to come? Below Ground.

It is becoming fairly obvious, to the experts grappling with London’s growing traffic problem, that something drastic must be attempted. So the latest idea, which has not yet got much beyond that stage, is for great subterranean roadways, one traversing London north and south and the .other east and west. Delicate questions of expense, upkeep, and possible effect on buildings . aboveground enter into this suggestion,.but the idea has at all events progressed-so far that engineering experts are getting out plans and estimates. At present, though Liverpool has its splendid tunnel' road beneath the Mersey, all London has in this way is the short Thames tunnel at Elackwall and the still briefer Kingsway subway. But the relief to street traffic, if a large proportion of motors could be located below level, would be immense. Motorists ought not to object. They could travel as fast as' they liked below ground, and scenery has never been one 'of their ruling passions.