OUR LONDON LETTER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20103, 9 May 1935, Page 8

OUR LONDON LETTER

PRIME MINISTER’S FUTURE FLYING THE ATLANTIC EVERY DAY (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March 19. Once more there is talk of Mr Macdonald’s early resignation from the Premiership. Every time he has a cold he has the doubtful pleasure of reading “exclusive forecasts” of the date of his retirement. It is now suggested that he will go immediately after the Jubilee celebrations in May. Two suggestions are being canvassed in political circles. One is that Mr Macdonald will change places with Mr Baldwin. As Lord President of the Council, he would then remain in the Cabinet without having any arduous duties. Meanwhile Mr Baldwin would become head of a Government which is, after all, predominantly Conservative. The other suggestion is that Mr Macdonald will retire altogether Into private life, and take a peerage. Taxing Jubilee Profits People who get an unexpected windfall, outside their normal income, can often hope to conceal it from the Income Tax authorities. But firms who are letting space in office windows overlooking the route of the Jubilee procession on May 6 are not going to be so fortunate. There has been too much publicity. The taxing authorities are well aware that prices ranging from £lO to £SO are being asked for seats at the windows, and the Exchequer will exact its 4s 6d in the £. Quite apart from the taxation, letting space at windows and on stands may not turn out so profitable as it seems. Anyone will be able to see the Jubilee procession from start to finish (on the cinema screen) for a shilling. Many may decide that it is not worth £SO to catch a threeminute glimpse of the actual show. These costly seats may be half empty when the great day comes. Ministers Under Guard Mr J. H. Thomas, the Dominions’ Secretary, whose guard of detectives has been doubled following a rumoured plot to assassinate him, is one of only five Ministers who have constant police protection. Any member of the Government is entitled to have Scotland Yard men in attendance, but very few do so. They find it irritating to be constantly trailed. The Prime Minister has two plainclothes men watching him day and night. He is always trying to shake them off by rapid walking. Sir Samuel Hoare, Sir John Simon and Sir John Gilmour, the Home Secretary, are tl» other guarded Ministers. Assassination is a crime rare in English history, and it is highly unlikely that any of these detectives will ever have more serious duties than that of keeping autographhunters at bay. The only politician out of office who has ever been guarded by Scotland Yard is Mr Lloyd George. He dispensed with his detective some time ago.

Flying the Atlantic Every Day Every few weeks brings a new plan for establishing regular air communication across the Atlantic. The latest comes from a Canadian airman, Captain Roy Brown, who is still remembered as the pilot who brought down Richthofen, Germany’s famous wartime “ace.” Capt. Brown aims at a daily service between Britain and Canada, covering the 3,800 miles in 48 hours. Such a service, he claims, is quite practicable now that commercial ’planes can do 180 m.p.h. The proposed route is from Scotland, via the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. The longest water crossing would be less than 500 miles. Capt. Brown points out that this “hop” is no bigger than the Timor Sea crossing on the London-Australia service. This northern route, which has already been surveyed by Lindbergh, has the advantage of avoiding the Atlantic fogs. Trial by Jury Declining The Administration of Justice Act, which came into force 18 months ago with the object of speeding-up the law’s slow machine, has had the unexpected effect of robbing many litigants of the traditional right to have their cases tried by a jury. Trial by jury, one of the oldest foundations of English law, is rapidly falling into disuse in certain types of case. Criminal charges are, of course, still heard by juries. So are cases of fraud, libel, slander, breach of promise and one or two others. But road accident cases, actions for assault, negligence and the general run of civil cases are more commonly heard by a judge without a jury. The new law gives the Master of the Supreme Court the right to decide whether such cases shall be tried by jury. Pressed by the arrears of work in the courts, he almost always decides against a jury—often in face of strong protests by litigants and barristers. Boys are Cleverer Feminists will be annoyed with Professor Drever, of Edinburgh University. He has been conducting psychological tests which definitely put boys ahead of girls in the matter of intelligence. Not only are the majority of clever children boys, he says, but most of the stupid ones are girls. The professor tested 250 boys and girls, and divided them into classes according to (he number of marks they got in the various intelligence tests. In the top class emerged eight boys and only one girl, and in the next class eleven boys and eight girls. At the other end of the scale, six girls were classed as “of very inferior intelligence.” But only two boys fell into this bottom group. The average age of the children was 14, and the tests were those often supplied in English schools to determine the career for which individual children are best suited. To Sa- e the Shipwrecked A new life-saving apparatus which can be used in the roughest sea, when lifeboats would be useless, has just been successfully tested at Cardiff, Wales. It is a net supported in the water by large corks. A comparatively small net can support as many as six men. Though at present used only at life-saving stations ashore, it is reported that the apparatus is soon to be supplied to many passenger and cargo boats.