FROM A CLUBMAN’S CHAIR

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20611, 28 December 1936, Page 5

FROM A CLUBMAN’S CHAIR

WAR AND ORANGES WHERE LONDON STUDENTS LIVE (Specially written for “The Timaru Herald" by Charles Martin) LONDON, November 19. Though he has been on the throne more than nine months, King Edward is still in the process of “moving in.” He is trying to make the best of the fact that Sings have to live in the Palaces provided for them, and cannot go house-hunting like ordinary men. Having chosen a suite in the vast mansion of Buckingham Palace and had it reconstructed to his liking, the King is now busy with his country homes. He does not like Sandringham, the favourite residence of his father and grandfather, but is coni'.'.ntratlng instead on his own country house, Fort Belvedere, near Sunningdak. He Regrets the Change The house is quite a small country place, but the King has put in hand such extensive alterations that is clear he Intends to live a great deal there and to transact much of his official business at Sunningdale instead of at Buckingham Palace. Already he spends almost every weekend at Belverdere, and has urgent r a‘o papers brought from London by n courier service of motor-cyclists. As for Buckingham Palace, the King would probably not live there at all if It were in his power to chose. He : 'ucn preferred his cosy quarters at

St. James’s, and he has done his best to make his Buckingham Palace suite look as homely. The rest of the vast Palace he regards merely as an hotel in which to entertain official guests. Coronation Seats No sooner has Parliament reassembled than M.P.’s are beginning to pester the Government about those thousands of “nationalised” seats along the route of the Coronation procession. Cutting out private enterprise, with its threat of profiteering prices, the Government has decided to erect a number of grandstands. But who is to sit on them? M.P.’s are afraid the best seats will all go to Civil Servants, and they want an assurance that the public will have a chance of getting some of them. Thousands of applications have also come in from the Dominions and Colonies and from India. The High Commissioners are urging that these should be duly considered when the Government stands are being filled. —And Coronation Suits Meanwhile, straight from the mouth of one of our biggest woollen merchants comes the news that blue will be the Coronation colour for men. How he knows I cannot tell, but he has backed nls confidence by producing nine different ranges of suitings all in a new whitish-blue shade which he has christened “Coronation blue.” "Everyone will soon be wearing it,” he assures us. No Christmas Cheer from Spain I know people whose only memories of the Great War are of ration-cards. Perhaps the children of to-day will remember the Spanish Civil War because it had its repercussions on England’s Christmas cheer of 1936. Oranges, the importers say, are going to be short. So are Valencia raisins and Spanish almonds. While the Spaniards have been too busy fighting to attend to their crops, Pal

estine has had its troubles too, and there will be few Jaffa oranges on the market this Christmas. Who Buys Champagne? Then there is France, with her own political and financial worries. The crisis there has hit the champagne growers, who find that their rich French customers have suddenly dwindled. But the champagne people still look to Britain as their best market; and I was interested to see that they rank the Dominions high on the list of foreign buyers of France’s most expensive wine. Curiously enough, Sweden comes second only to Britain as a champagne customer. London’s “Rail-Resters” Now that Mr Hore-Belisha, our lively Minister of Transport, is in the Cabinet perhaps he will be able to do something about London’s latest nuisance, the “rail-rester.” Some time ago, in the course of his road safety campaign, Mr Hore-Belisha fenced in with rails or chains scores of the most dangerous street crossings. His idea was that pedestrians should be thus shepherded to safer places when they wanted to cross the road. But London's leisured population (the same who stand for hours watching road-menders at work) have other ideas of the usefulness of the Belisha rails. They make fine places to lean on while one is 'tching i'.fe whirl by. At any busy crossing you may see scores of idlers lounging against the rails, and the police often have to desert their traffic duties in order to move on the loafers. They seem to think it is Mr Hore-Belisha's job to tackle the nuisance. Students in London

While Londo: University’s magnificent new buildings are fast changing the Bloomsbury sky-line, the ’Varsity authorities are seriously considering

the question of “living in.” Should the students be compelled or encouraged to take up residence in the University, as they do at Oxford and Cambridge? London has 30,000 students, a large proportion of whom are from India and the Dominions. Only 20*0 of them are in residence. The res live where they please and are undir no kind of supervision by the University authorities. To many this freecom is one of London University's chi*f advantages. But those of the opposite camp think the University will never have a real corporate spirit ultll all its students are in college residence. Scrap-Iron Boom These are great days for tie rag-and-bone man. “Rag or bine!” is still their mournful cry, but w.lat they really want now is scrap-irot. I am told that the armameits boom is indirectly responsible for thi demand for old metal of all kinds. Pices have gone up with a bound, aid though householders still get only a few paltry pence for their old fire-graes, piping and other scrap, the raf-and-bone men are re-selling them at a big profit. They are combing the suburbs of every English city and (agerly buying junk that was unsalable a few months ago. Gentle Awakening Something new in alaim clocks has just come on the market. Buy it, and you need never again siffer the rude old-fashioned awakening. The clock begins with a gentle ouzz which is enough to rouse the rverage sleeper. Put it has a louder note in reserve for obstinate cases, and if you neglect the first low warning the *eal alarm automatically comes into play.