ROBBING THE MAILS: HEALTH CONFERENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18985, 3 February 1930, Page 8

ROBBING THE MAILS: HEALTH CONFERENCE.

LONDON LETTER.

(Special to the “Star.”) LONDON, December 18.

In consequence of many mail-bag robberies this year, it has been arranged that banks who are sending notes to branches or from branches to London shall henceforth not send them as postal packets, but commit them direct to railway officials, and send their own staffs to collect them at the end of the journey. The Post Office will be relieved and pleased at the change, which it has urged on the banks for a long time. The thieves who specialise in mail-bag robberies will find that bundles of currency notes are less easy to secure. Whether there is one gang or several, the police do not seem to know. But undoubtedly they specialise in the work, and have done much too well out of it, so well that the Post Office and the banks could not arrange terms of insurance against the risk of money being purloined from the post. The methods of the thieves are neat and mysterous. One big coup at least is believed to have been made by a man who was consigned in a dress basket which travelled beside mail bags in the guard’s van of an express. Confederates held the guard in conversation for a few minutes while he was making his round of the train. The big heavy basket was claimed at the next station, and not till it was off the train was it noticed that a mail bag had disappeared. The practice of sending by post big parcels of bank notes has become a matter of routine since the war, but it seems too risky to continue. In any case, it is not a normal and customary use of the post. Until gold ceased to be used for ordinary currency, the banks always conveyed it between the provinces and London by couriers, usually one or two of the bank’s own clerks travelling in a reserved carriage of an express train.

An Empire Health Conference. An Empire Red Cross Conference will be held in London next spring. Invitations have been sent to all existing overseas Red Cross societies and also to various colonies where no actual society is in being. In the Dominions the organisation is strong, Canada and Australia sharing the credit for initiating a junior Red Cross movement that has grown amazingly all over the world. In the colonies, however, wartime organisations were allowed to lapse, and the time has come to revive at least some of these local organisations on a peacetime basis.

The conference will seek to make known the manifold civilian activities of the Red Cross, and to link closer together the work of branches within the Empire. The Duke of York will preside at an inaugural meeting on May 19, at St. James’s Palace, and after a week of discussion and committee work the conference will close with a review of detachments by Princess Mary at Hatfield. A feature of this review will be a demonstration of the work of the junior branch. There are 15,000 children enrolled in this country, and the certificates of proficiency issued by the Red Cross Society have attained a recognised status. This junior branch is not in any sense competitive with other organisations. It works through school teachers and within the Scout and Girl Guide organisations, inculcating simple rules of health and enlisting the natural enthusiasm of children for social service. In some backward countries it is the only health service provided in the schools.

Research Into Whaling. The research ship Discovery 11. has left our shores after a formal farewell visit by the Duke of Gloucester. The ship is really a floating laboratory, and from the point of view of equipment this modern successor of the Dundee whalers is far ahead of any exploration ship that ever sailed from a British port. She is small, under 1500 tons, and in appeal ance more like a Trinity House yacht than any other ship to be met with at sea.

A break is made with tradition, in that Discovery 11. dispenses with sails. With a steaming range of 10,000 miles on oil-fired boilers, the last reason for masts and yards has disappeared and the two short pole masts simply support a wireless aerial, a searchlight and a crow’s nest. From stem to stern, however, the special purpose of the ship is plainly apparent. The stem is straight and stiff and the bows have a “ flare ” to enable the ship to navigate through pack ice without damage. A harpoon gun on the forecastle stands with darts for the purpose of marking whales. Along the decks are several different types of boats, from cabin motor cruiser to a small dinghy, and a couple of slim whalers that, except for the fact that they are steel, are exactly like the boats men have used for whaling for centuries. Right aft, where the ensign of the Falkland Islands is hoisted, a huge circular net hangs ready for service. Discovery 11. will make a prolonged stay in the Antarctic, and carry out a close investigation into the habits of whales with a view to the adoption of measures to control whaling. At present, whaling is so profitable that the owners of a factory ship, which disposes of catches as they are made, sometimes make a fortune in a single voyage. It is feared, however, that unrestricted whaling will result in the extermination of the whales, and the industry itself is providing funds for the research work now to be undertaken. Travel Association's Activities. Advisory committees to guide and assist “Come to Britain” activities abroad are already operating in New York and Buenos Ayres, and it is intended to open offices in the more important world centres as soon as funds permit. In the meantime the full organisation in all parts of the world of the Foreign Office and Department of Overseas Trade is furthering the Association’s activities, and numbers of very valuable reports have been received, while British Chambers of Commerce abroad have also promised their assistance. Given the considerable increase in the number of members and in the amount of the association’s revenue, which is confidently expected, it will be in a position to achieve far-reaching results for the benefit of this country. It is estimated that the first year’s, income will reach a total of about £IB,OOO, and it is stated that fresh applications for membership came in almost daily during the first months of the association's activities. Both membership and income have been adversely affected by the fact that the majority of British municipalities are precluded by law from subscribing, although many of them are known to be anxious to do so.

A mass of information “literature,” photographs and posters for dissemination has been collected from all parts of Great Britain, and the association has issued a calendar of British events for 1930, -which is being printed for the benefit of potential foreign visitors, not only in English, but in French, Spanish and German also. Articles are also being circulated to the overseas Press.