LONDON LETTER

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18614, 16 November 1928, Page 10

LONDON LETTER

Lord Birkenhead—G olfing Prince—Army Manoeuvres —Sultan’s Tour Gift to Nation—Dickens —The Tote.

LONDON, September 13. A Loss to Public Life. While Lord Birkenhead blandly refuses either to confirm or to deny the report that he is leaving politics for some other form of activity, it is an accepted fact in political circles that he will no longer be sitting on the Government benches in the House of Lords at the end of this year. As to the precise nature of his new activities, secrecy has been successfully maintained, and the most contradictory reports are in circulation. It may, however, be assumed that he is going to take up a post which will be better remunerated than a Secretaryship of State. Indeed, his retirement from politics raises in a very definite form the whole question of ministerial salaries, and sooner or later the House of Commons will have to consider whether the present scale of payment is an adequate reward both for the duties which are discharged and for the opportuinties which have to be sacrificed.

The withdrawal of Lord Birkenhead from the Government and, presumably, from politics is a serious loss both to Mr Baldwin and to Parliament. Mr Lloyd George has told us that there was none of his colleagues in the Coalition Government whose counsel he valued more highly than that of Lord Birkenhead. Although in public life he has been a ready and frequent speaker, he remained more or less silent at Cabinet councils, but the expression of his opinion at the end of a prolonged discussion always carried great weight. When Mr Lloyd George made him Lord Chancellor, most people were inclined to think that it was a most daring experiment, but in a very short time Lord Birkenhead made his mark both as a Lord Chancellor and as a debater in the House of Lords. He had been regarded as a great advocate rather than as a great lawyer, and, to the astonishment of many, he proved himself one of the greatest of law lords. One of his judgments earned an extraordinary compliment from his colleagues composing the Court. They placed it formally on record that, in their opinion, the judgment of the Lord Chancellor, in which they concurred, marked a great advance in the inter pretation and restatement of the law on a knotty problem.

Stirring up the Peers. As a debater he introduced fresh life into the House of Lords. He declined to allow himself to be oppressed by the solemn and heavv atmosphere of that chamber, and spoke with a refreshing vigour and an entire disregard for con vention which at first scandalised and then delighted the peers. There was a banking peer who had been promoted from the House of Com? mens whose tones were as funereal as his views were pessimistic. He was holding forth once on the terrible financial plight of the country, and was followed by Lord Birkenhead, who cheerfully observed, “ The noble lord was a little ray of sunshine, wasn’t he?” And his description of Lord Salisbury and Lord Selbourne as the “ Dolly Sisters ” gave some offence to the two noble lords, but a certain amount of malicious pleasure to their friends. He was seen at his best when he was endeavouring to push through Lord Buckmaster’s Divorce Reform Bill. He spoke throughout the controversy with deep sincerity, and in dialectics he proved himself more than a match for the whole bench of bishops. Indeed, the late Archbishop of Canterbury was compelled to lament that, while the merits of the case lay on the side of the bishops, they were no match for the terrible dialectical rapier with which the Lord Chancellor kept running them through. Lord - Birkenhead has very long eyelashes, and as he sat on the Woolsack he often appeared to be fast asleep, but woe betide the peer who acted on that assumption. Lord Salisbury once complained that the occupant of the Woolsack was prevented by slumber from following his arguments. Lord Birkenhead gave no sign of life, but as soon as Lord Salisbury had finished he got up and went through his speech point by point with damaging results to Lord Salisbury’s

Royal Golfers. There is not one male member of the Royal Family, with the exception of his Majesty, who is not a keen golfer. Until this year the Duke of York was perhaps the best exponent, but since the Prince of Wales came under the tuition of 44 the doctor,” as James Braid is known the world over, he has made such rapid strides that it is now doubtful whether the Duke would win one game out of three. Only the day before he sailed for Calais, the Prince went round the Worthing course in 84 strokes, a total which might have been two or three strokes less but for the somewhat curious attention of visitors who had learned that his Royal Highness was on the links, the links.

Wearing a bright jumper and plus fours, the Prince presents a very live appearance, and, like the modern golfer, he prefers to practise under the eye of an expert before engaging upon a personal contest. He has taken his clubs with him to Africa, and hopes to play on some of the highly sporting courses there. His length from the tee and his strength with the irons will be an important fator, but the grefins, or 44 grounds,” as they are called in the south, may affect his putting. One of the last acts of the Prince before leaving for his African trip was to become the patron of the Artisan Golfers’ Association. The doings of artisans of every degree when brought to his notime intrigue him immensely. He was delighted to find that among the artisan class there were so many golfers of note who only required encourage ment to be placed in the forefront of the golfing world. One of these artisans has already acquired international fame, and there are others who are on the plus mark —city policemen, of all men—who are bound to be famous in the near future. But for the fact that his Royal Highness wa? leaving for Africa, he would have been present at the artisans’ annual tournament at Sunningdale to present the prizes. He was more than delighted to learn that during the year seventeen artisans’ clubs have become members of the association, which now has a total of 6000 members in all parts of England and Wales.

An Army on Wheels. In the near future the British Army will be practically an army on wheels, so sweeping is the change which is being brought about by 44 mechanisation.” To visit the area of the present manoeuvres in Sussex is to visualise

the time when every soldier will motor into battle and to speculate on the probability of 44 mechantry ” taking the place of 44 infantry ” in the Army vocabulary. Wheels are indispensable. There are motor-cars for commanding officers and staff officers, varying from 44 babies ” to six-cylinder 44 sixties ” —all very properly, British cars. In the transport lines the peaceful sound of a horse munching in a nosebag has given place to the purr of a pet engine. The light van is there, and in contrast, there is the huge six-wheel-ed, pneumatic-tyred vehicle which carries its cargo of machine-gunners or infantrymen smoothly over the steepest and deepest hillocks and hollows. The mechanical transport section of the Army is for ever exercising the inventiveness of the British motor engineer. It demands from him a small 44 semi-track ” vehicle which may be seen hustling signallers or staff over broken ground to some new location; it demands a full-track vehicle for towing eighteen pounders or howitzers and carrying gun crews; it demands a monster twelve-ton tank that snorts and rattles over and through obstructions at a speed that seems more suitable for a tar-macadam road; and it demands the light two-men tank, with its curious steel protection like a box without a lid. Petrol, not hay, is the fodder that matters most. Where one gallon sufficed before the war thousands of gallons are needed to-day. Petrol is the 44 moving spirit ” of the army in Sussex—this army on wheels. Warfare at Manoeuvres. The sleepy village of Wisborough Green, near Cuckfield in Sussex, was roused to activity in a somewhat startling manner one afternoon this * week. A duel between men armed with revolvers and others with rifles completely shattered Wisborough’s tranquillity. It was a battle of the Roses in miniature, the combatants being Yorkshire and Lancashire soldiers. The former were greatly outnumbered and were caught between two fires. Nevertheless they offered a stubborn resistance and refused to surrender until the umpire decided that they were out of action. For the first time during the present Aldershot Command manoeuvres gas was used in theory, notice indicating the gassed area. It was of the mustard variety and was spread over an area of 150 square yards in extent. Wearing their protective masks, with big eyepieces and. pink protruding tongues, the attackers presented a formidable appearance as they passed through the danger zone. One of the principal objects of the operations, which was carried out by Second Division troops, was to discover to what extent in delaying actions fire power could be replaced and assisted by mustard gas. As the gas was imaginary it was somewhat difficult to provide an answer to the problem. Attacking forces made progress far in advanpe of what was anticipated. Their right flank operated across the river Arun, and made an unexpected entry into Wisborough, securing many prisoners, including a cavalry patrol. The battle of Wisborough Green was quite a thrilling event. At one moment the place was over-run with enemy troops, and the next the defenders had re-estab-lished themselves. The position was contested throughout the afternoon with fluctuating success. Quite undisturbed by the changes, an Air Force wireless expert was lying stretched on the ground receiving messages from numerous aeroplanes operating overhead.

A Guardian of the Persian Gulf. In about a week’s time the Sultan of Muscat will begin the 44 official visit” as guest of the British Government that had to be postponed on account of his illness. The principal item in a programme necessarily restricted at this season of the year will be a visit to Portsmouth to view the Fleet. Later the Saltan will visit Scotland and Ireland before making a tour on the Continent. The Sultan is accompanied by his Prime Minister, an Englishman— Mr B. S. Thomas—who read a learned paper on Arabia at the recent congress of Orientalists.

The Sultan’s interest in the Navy arises from the position of his country at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. British men-of-war are frequent callers at the only good natural harbour on the Arabian coast. At one time the domains of Muscat and Oman extended down the east coast of Africa to Zanzibar, and across the Persian Gulf. There is still a curious foothold in Baluchistan owing allegiance to the Arabian Sultan, so that his territory commands both sides of the Gulf. The port of Gwardar may attain fresh importance, because an alternative air route to India, avoiding Persian territory, would pass there. Even supposing the route across Persia is developed, a fiying-boat service down the Gulf, touching at Oman and Gwardar, is a probable auxiliary link in the Imperial air communictions. The independence of the Sultan is one of the vital British interests in that part of the world. Famous Mill for the Nation. In the seventies Mr T. R. Parkington was a student of the Ipswich School of Art. He went to South Africa and prospered, but he never forgot the deep impression made on him as a boy by Constable’s county and Constable's paintings. Two years ago Mr Parkington bought the Flatford Mill estate, where John Constable spent part of his early life, and’he handed it oyer to the trustees, ensuring for all time the preservation of one of the loveliest scenes in Suffolk. Mr Parkington has equipped the miller’s house as a students’ home, and has arranged three annual scholarships for English, Scottish, and French students of art. Students will be able to live in the miller’s house for three months or more at no cost to themselves, and with such facilities as are needed for the practice of their art. From their home in Ipswich Mr and Mrs Parkington have taken some beautiful old furniture and arranged it in the miller’s house, so that students will be able to work in an atmosphere much the same as that in which Constable himself lived. Sir Edward Packard, Mr Rowley Elliston (the Mayor of Ipswich), and Mr E. H. Turner (the Mayor of Colchester) witnessed the signing of the deeds in the old mill house. Willy Lott, Constable’s friend. lived his eighty-two years in the miller's house, a sixteenth century building with heavy oak beams and great chimneys. It has been perfectly restored, and the students’ bedrooms have been pleasantly furnished. This is not Mr Parkington’s first benefaction of this nature. A year or two ago he presented the

Oak Hill Estate at Ipswich, consisting of a fine mansion, and beautiful grounds (which he maintains), to the Institute of Journalists for use as a convalescent home. The Sincerity of Dickens. The controversy which is now taking place concerning the sincerity, principles, and private life of Charles Dickens reminds one of the fact that only the other day the editorial room in which he used to dispense his favours was quite by accident destroyed. It was here on the top of a Bouverie Street office, on the first floor, that Charles Dickens edited, for a very brief time, a morning newspaper. He made the room in which he did his work historic despite his transitory tenancy of it. His most remarkable contribu tions during this period were a series of letters on capital punishment. He brewed his bowl of punch with the deft hand of the expert and was never more delighted than when handing his brew to his friends.

Although Dickens wrote so rapidly and charmingly about punch, he himself was a very moderate drinker. Exactly what his recipe was I do not think anybody ever knew, but those who had the privilege of tasting it said that it was like the nectar of the gods. The room has, with the aroma of the spirit, now disappeared. When a modern day author receives £IOOO or more for quite a commonplace book, it is interesting to remember that Dickens fifteen guineas a number for 44 Pickwick,” and altogether about £2500 for the complete work; £3OOO for 44 Nicholas Nickleby,” and about the same amount for 44 Barnaby Rudge.” In connection with this controversy, which concerns his private life, it is important to note that all who knew him, from Carlyle downwards, spoke of his very fine qualities, his sincerity, his generosity and kindness, while his fondness for children and animals was intense.

Betting by Totalisator. The competition of the rival totalisator machines has now begun, for the Betting Control Board have yet to decide which form of machine they will license. A film giving a demonstration of the working of the Julius 44 tote.” was shown at Australia House last Saturday. This machine, it is claimed, has proved itself capable of catering for the betting needs of huge racing crowds in Australia, New Zealand, India, and the Far East. On the French racecourse at Longchamps also the Julius totalisator has been established.

Major Cone, the chairman of Totalisators, Limited (who are the sole concessionaires in Great Britain for the Julius 44 tote."), explained to a reporter that all it was necessary for the punter to do was to go to one of the two hundred or more ticket issuing offices on the course to back his fancy. 44 He has a ticket shot at him from an automatic machine, recording the particulars of his bet,” said Major Cope, 44 and within two or three minutes after the finish of the race, he can go to the pay office and draw any 4 dividend ’ due to him. At Randwick, three minutes after the horses have passed the post the winning punters are at the windows collecting their dividends. On Sydney Cup day our operators have paid out in the paddocks 23,000 winning tickets in ten minutes.” It is claimed that the Julius totalisator is both fool-proof and rogue-proof. The man who attempts to get money on a false ticket has very short shrift. This particular form of totalisator is the invention of the son of a New Zealand prelate. The film will be exhibited at the Palace Cinema, Doncaster, on Monday. Wednesday, and Thursday, when leaders of the racing world, who will be attending the St Leger week meeting, will be invited to see it.