THE NEXT MOVES IN SPAIN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 20982, 10 March 1938, Page 10

THE NEXT MOVES IN SPAIN

SHOCK FGR THE WAR MINISTER THREAT TO GAMBLING (From Our Own Correspondent) LONDON, January 27. Military experts expect the next big battle in Spain towards the end of March when the weather will be more favourable for campaigning. Neutral observers who have recently visited both sides think that at this juncture, more than ever before, the balance is held by Hitler and Mussolini. It is within their power during the next few weeks to send Franco the extra aid which could assure him a fairly speedy victory. If, for political reasons or from a desire to placate Britain and France, the two Dictators withhold further support, then the Spanish Government may well win the next stage in the struggle. Some observers, of course, dissent from this view of the situation, and hold that Franco has the upper hand and is bound to win eventually. Others say the same thing about the Government. But the most reliable opinion is that foreign aid could now quickly tip the balance either way. Since the Government can scarcely hope for any outside help from Russia or elsewhere, the real question is whether Mussolini and Hitler will give Franco the power to strike a decisive blow. £40,000,000 Football Pools The millions of Englishmen (and women) who derive a gambler’s thrill from staking their pence and shillings in the football pools are perturbed at reports that Parliament may be asked to control the pastime—or forbid it altogether. Equally alarmed are the firms which organise the pools. The pools are entirely a product of the past three or four years, yet already £40,000,000 a year changes hands—and the sum is still growing. T t would be difficult to frame a law covering the pools. Their upholders can quite justly maintain that they are not “gambling”, since it requires skill to forecast which teams will win matches. On the other hand, hundreds of thousands of people who know nothing whatever about football fill in their coupons quite mechanically, hoping for a lucky chance—which is pure gambling. The lure of the pools is that they are the poor man’s chance to test his skill or try his luck. He can stake as little as a penny, and he may win thousands of pounds. Almost all the money staked goes into winners’ pockets. The percentage which the organisers keep for “expenses” is very small; but it reaches a formidable total by the end of the season. Soldier of Peace Mr Hore-Belisha, the War Minister, had a surprise when he inspected the pensioned soldiers at Chelsea Hospital this week. After chatting with veterans of the March to Kandahar, the Egyptian, Abyssinian, and other campaign t of long ago, he turned to an Indian Army veteran. “And what campaigns did you serve in?” he asked the aged pensioner. “I never saw a shot fired, and I never want to,” came the surprising answer. By some extraordinary chance the man had lived over 50 years in India and served 18 years in the Army without ever taking part in an engagement. For many years he was a gardener to the Governor of Bengal. Government as Dog-Breeder Dog-breeding is a Government activity of which few people were aware

until this week, when it was announced that the Home Office has bred the ideal police dog. Although some country police forces occasionally use dogs for tracking, Britain has not developed the system in the way that South Africa, America and Germany have done. It was to the United States that the Home Office experts sent in search of the ideal police dogs. From there they imported two bloodhounds, but finding these lacking in stamina, they crossed them with English otter hounds. The resultant cross-breds will now be Britain’s first man-hunters. The plan is not to supply every police force with dogs, but to form a central “pool” from which any chief constable can borrow dogs when he needs them. Though the dogs are said to be able to follow a trail 20 hours old, this system will have obvious disadvantages if a call comes from some distant part of the country. Crime and Punishment An experiment in “making the punishment fit the (motoring) crime,” is being tried at Leeds. The magistrates in that city believe that it is unfair to impose a uniform fine of, say £2 for speeding. That sum may mean little to the man in the Rolls-Royce, but week’s wages to the lorry driver. Police who stop offending motorists have instructions to ask them their income and the number of their dependents; on this information the magistrates base the fine. Justices in others parts of the country are taking a keen interest in the experiment, and it may be adopted throughout Britain. Incidentally, one result of the Leeds enquiries is to show that many people with incomes almost on the poverty-line manage somehow to own cars. Reading Costs Money Some idea of what it costs to run the greatest library in the world may be gathered from the fact that £3OOO will have to be spent to keep the British Museum Reading Room open for an extra hour each evening. Hithe-to the Reading Room has closed at six. Students whose employment prevents them from using the Reading Room in the daytime have long been demanding that the closing hour should be postponed until 10 p.m. The Trustees now tell them that one extra hour is the most that finances will allow. To keep the Reading Room open until 10 would cost another £20,000. Overtime pay for the staff is the chief item on the £3OOO bill for the extra hour. Lighting and heating accounts for the rest. Bomb-Proof Strong-Rooms Some of the big London banks are giving a lead to other City firms in the matter of air raid precautions. They have found an effective means of ensuring the safety of their staff—and almost without cost. If London is raided the clerks will simply take refuge in the bank strong-rooms, which are already as bomb-proof as science can make them. One bank, with a staff of over 1000, has organised regular air raid drills. The staff is divided into groups, each of which is allotted a strong room. To avoid confusion lights of different colours have been installed along th a corridors and stairways from top to bottom of the huge building. Clerks have simply to “follow the red” or “follow the blue” to find themselves in the proper refuge.