A LONDON LETTER.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 152, 14 September 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

A LONDON LETTER.

Topics of the Day. LONDON, July 10. Lord Byng’s Way. Fleet Street probably knows as much about the inner working of Scotland Yard and the Metropol tan Police as any outsider. And 1 imagine there is little doubt the Fleet Street view of the Home Secretary’s decision regarding Sir William Horwood’s successor is that it would have been better to appoint some provincial head constable, with a. thorough knowledge of police affairs but with sufficient youthful vigour to tackle what is undoubtedly a big and urgent problem of drastic reform. But accepting Lord Byng’s appointment as un fait accompli, there is no question the old Communder-in-Chief of the Third Army has one strong asset. He never accepts second hand evidence, but has the ingrained habit of looking into things personally. Old comrades who served with him on the Western Front can vouch for this. Looking Round. There were some General Officers who were rarely seen near the front line, and then always accompanied by a heavily red-tabbed staff. It was quite different with Lord Byng. He would constantly, and often unaccompanied, have a look round the front line for himself. On those hazardous expeditions he discarded all possible outward insignia of his rank, and, unless the weather was unusually line, wore an old mackintosh over the simplest khaki uniform. He looked, in fact, more like an ordinary Tommy than anything else. A,ml his tours were of a most thorough and comprehensive nature. He saw all there was to be seen, and heard personally what was going on. There was one occasion when he incurred the ire of a transport sergeant, who had no notion to whom he was speaking, because he hoty rebuked him for kicking a frightened horse. Mr Frank Rose. By the death of Air Frank H. Rose, the Parliamentary Labour Party has lost a striking personality. He may have been a .Socialist in theory but by temperament he was an inveterate individualist. His contonApt for the cranky views of some of his cilleagucs and those who held them was intense and he rejoiced in saying so in a loud voice and with sardonic humour. He was repeatedly in danger of expulsion for heterodoxy and for years he had carried on, to his great enjoyment a controversy with the .South Aberdeen branch of the party machine. It had disowned him and'threatened to run another candidate against him at next election —a challenge which Mr Rose was keen to accept. Not long ago a letter in which he had scarified the local leaders was signed “Yours in the indissoluble bonds of proletarian unity.” Mr Rose completed his apprenticeship as an engineer in .South London just over half a century ago, and recently he brought his technical knowledge to bear on the Government airships, in which he heartily disbelieved . The Ironic Earl Some admirers of Lord Birkenhead think, in spite of his legal renown as one of the youngest and ablest Lord Chancellors and his belted Earldom, that “F.E. ” has not quite fulfilled the earlier promise of a great career. He celebrated this week a s(ith. birthday, and it is slightly over 22 years ago since, by one electrifying maiden speech in the House of Commons, he hitched his provincial junior counsel’s wig to a metropolitan woolsack. The critics of fate consider that “F.E.” ought to have been Prime Minister before this. Even that ambition might yet be realised, though it seems doubtful now. A contemporary states that Lord Birkenhead ’s chief literary attachment is to Scott. Like other people of literary tastes, the Earl read Scott in his youth. Long before he left Oxford Dr. Johnson had become his special hero, and I believe Boswell’s “Life” remains his favourite volume. Fo r Eastern Voyageurs. The new P. and 0. liner Viceroy of India will mark a big advance on anything in the way of comfort travel yet attempted on the Indian Ocean route. The new boat is to accommodate 415 lirst-class passengers with single-berth cabins, and an arrangement for linking up will enable family suites to be available. Numerous cabins de luxe and rooms with bathrooms on suite will be provided, and the whole vessel is to be ventilated on the punkah louvre system, which Glydc shipbuilders arc now developing in conjunction with the Thermotank Company to a high pitch. There is to be a swimming bath on board, and an ambitious scheme of arj tistic decoration is to be carried out for | the ship’s lounge and other passenger apartments. An Elizabethan smoke room will be countered by an Adams card room. The new P. aid 0. venture will be launched towards the end of the summer, and make her maiden voyage at the end of March. Jovial Democrat When he returns to his Gold Coast Kingdom, Sir Ofori Atta will leave behind him pleasant memories. Londoners have not been hosts to a more jovial good fellow than this democratic dusky monarch. His good humour is invincible, he has a schoolboy zest for fun, and his delight in London’s sideshows is unfeigned. All these qualities, and Lis engaging habit of wearing his gold crown of State, as other mortals do a felt hat, on all and every occasion, make Sir Ofori a real Cockney favourite. Never has London been more thoroughly “done” than by him. His tour de force was his shrewd talk to the city shareholders in the Akim Company. His big moment when smiting his chair with frank admiration, he heard himself on

a gramophone record. And what a true democrat. When his small page, nodding in the distinguished strangers gal lery during a dull House of Commons debate, almost let the royal crown slip off his lap. Sir Ofori merely exchanged grins with him. Paris Divorces

The news that the French authorities are to put a stop to the “Paris Di vorees” which have become so popular v.'illi rich Americans because they have proved quicker and cheaper than the famous Mexican and Nevada “ceremonies” will be a had shock for some twenty American lawyers in Paris. They have really done nothing else than arrange these backstair divorces and their livelihood will be gone if the French judicial authorities maintain their present attitude. There will also lie some uneasiness in America. There has always been some doubt if these divorces were valid. If the French authorities take a firm line it may well be that the American courts will refuse to acknowledge that the decrees al ready secured in Paris are valid. Blind Man’s Bluff. He was quite blind, and 1 watched him sympathetically as some good Samaritan took him by the arm and piloted him across the crowded thoroughfare. On the opposite pavement he was left to his own devices, and was lost for a time in the swirl of the traffic. A few minutes later he reappeared on the curb —tapping the pavement appealingly with his stick. Yet another good Samaritan came forward and with his help the blind man retraced his steps across the street. He wandered up in my direction, and when he displayed once more a preference for the other side of the road my curiosity was piqued. Taking him by the arm, 1 led him across. He was voluble in his thanks, and as 1 slipped some coppers into his hand he dilated on the horrors of being alone and blind in the midst of a crowd. I nodded my asset, remembering the old adage that a nod is as good as a wink to a blind man.

Tactless Miss Gunning The Hemingford Grey Manor house, up for .sale this week at St. Ives in Huntingdonshire, is one of the few remaining genuine 12th century houses in England. It is a tine old stone structure, with an exterior stairway to the top floor, massive ceiling beams, ancient fireplaces, and a moat running round three sides of a garden bordered on the other side bv the Ouse. It was the 18th century residence of the two Irish girls famed as the “beautiful Gunnings.” one of whom became Duchess of Hamilton and the other Countess of Coventry. Their father was John Gunning, of Castlecoote, Roscommon, and their mother Bridget, daughter of the fith Viscount Bourkc of Mayo. It was the younger Miss Gunning, afterwards Earl Coventry’s wife, who once made a tactless remark to the King. In conversation with his Majesty, she declared the one big function she wanted to see in London was a coronation.

The Dainty Motorist The Hon. Mrs Victor Bruce fits in < with my ideal of a woman pioneer. She was one of the guests the other night at a London dinner-party in honour of “Women Pioneers of EEmpire,” and the gathering of men and women who met her could not fail to be struck by 1 her charming daintiness. She is petite, has very pretty hair, and a smiling mouth, and no matter whether you see her in all-enveloping overalls and leather coat in which she does motortrips, or in a dainty frock, she always looks as though her personal appearance was the one thing about which she was concerned. As a matter of fact,*l have never seen a woman who troubled less, apparently, about her clothes and her complexion. And yet she is always perfectly attired, and the essence of feminine attractiveness. Rather shy, she hates being in the limelight or making speeches in public. She treats her pioneer motoring very lightly, and vet she has seventeen records to her credit, and in one month alone, drove over six thousand miles to the North of Finland.

Tigers and Rabbits. Among life’s insoluble problems must, I fancy, be included the perennial con troversy about golf courses. While the tigers all clamour for still more difficult golf, and particularly for testing longdistance tee shots, the rabbits bemoan the devastating standard already set by existing conditions. The rabbits have the sound democratic argument about the greatest good of the greater number, since rabbits far outnumber tigers on all golf links. The tigers have the strong plea that only councils of perfection can keep any competitive sport heklthily progressive. A suggestion has now been seriously made that two sets of tecs should be provided, one for tigers and the other for rabbits. It is n futile hope. Most links already possess short ladies’ tees, but how many selfrespecting male rabbits will be seen using them? The snag in this tiger v. rabbit controversy is the insurmountable one of human vanity. Inclusive. This is the time of the year when shooting men are making their final ar rangements for the grouse moors which they will rent in August and as a rule the agents who specialise in the letting of shiots have a busy time. This year however, they have an important rival in the form of one of the big shipping companies. This company which specialises in the transport of American millionaires has inaugurated a novel scheme under which an American living in New York or the Middle West can pay an inclusive charge which will cover the cost of steamship passage, railway fares, the rent of a shoot, the use of a castle, and all the incidental expenses of sport such as guns, cart rigdes and keepers. As Americans are nowadays tile chief supporters of the larger shoots the agents regard this innovation with undisguised horror. A Commons Customs 1 It is not generally known that the

custom is still maintained of u eertrtj number of members of the House <>» Commons meeting privale'v for P r ®y before the opening of the sitting. A on, time the mooting Ih, '* k . P plan, daily in tho room of Hir Erskine, the into Sergeant-at 'ran, •>“! now they are held weekly. '< he ....l.eeo.nin C to mention tlm those who join in these devotions. ”«« 1 may sav that they inelude rnetidieljl of the Government and several Son* ists A short passage of - ript»* » tend, and one of those present n fellows in an extempore prayer. 1“ * meetings were established nearly a dred years ago. and a small .remnant maintain the practii’a.