A LETTER FROM LONDON

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19766, 14 February 1927, Page 5

A LETTER FROM LONDON

TOPICS OF INTEREST DOINGS OF THE DAY. [ From the “ Chronicle’s ” Special Correspondent. ] LONDON, Jan. 6. Sober Christmas. One impressive and outstanding fact, on which I have heard many spoken comments this year but seen never a one in print, is the remarkable sobriety that marked the Christmas festivities. I was out and about all through the holiday, and in many parts of London, and 1 saw only one case of drunkenness or anything approaching It. It strikes me as a noteworthy tribute at such a season to the genuine temperance of post-war London. Times have changed indeed. I can recall the time when more drunkenness occurred on one Bank Holiday than will now be seen in a whole year. It may be that unemployment has something to do wit a it, and perhaps the drink restrictions have done a good deal. But I have a feeling that there is more than that in it, and that Londoners at any rate are nowadays far more temperate by inclination than ever before. In this re-1 formation it would not surprise me to hear that the cinema played as important a part as anything. A Miraculous Mission. The recent death of the Mikado recalls that, once the Japanese revolution was over, and the country committed to modernism instead of the grimmest and most antique conservatism in the world’s history, a mission of selected observers was despatched to the West. Its members visited all the most advanced civilised Western States, and, by a miraculous comparison of notes, chose as model for Japan precisely what was best and foremost in each nation visited. This task was done with amazing certainty. Not only was the German Army chosen as the military model, and the British fleet as the naval, decisions dictated by worldwide repute, but down to almost minute details of Western life the most advanced and scientific model was invariably taken. Thus the mission selected as the medical model, Italy; as the dental, America; as the surgical, England; as the pharmaceutical, France. These Japanese pioneers, coming with fresh minds and eyes, viewed the prowess of the West in every case with impartial and unerring judgment. New Naval Armaments. There will shortly pass into the service of the British Navy, two grbatly improved guns. These arc the mighty 1 16-inch, with which the Nelson and the Rodney, now fitting out, will be armed, and the 8-inch, which will be mounted ' on the 10,0Qp-ton cruisers under construction. The two battleships will ' each have nine 16-inch guns, a battery capable of firing a salvo of some nine ' or ten tons of shell close on 30 miles. The capabilities of the new 8-inch weapon are still a secret. As, however, ' the Washington Agreement fixes 8-ine.h as the maximum calibre for cruiser armament, it may be taken for granted that our gunnery experts will obtain the greatest destructive power possible ( within the limitation. Not only will • all these new war vessels be the most j heavily armed of their contemporary } types afloat, but they will have’ also an advantage in steaming power. In engining the lighter class, however, the 1 engineers will have their work cut out * to eclipse' the performance of the comparatively old and smaller cruisers ( Caledon, which, on her trials, reached h the remarkable speed of 47 knots, well I over 50 miles an hour. (

Interchanging Military Staffs. j A schelne for closer relations between ( the home military staffs and those of p the permanent forces of the Dominions I is in process of development. It aims j , at regular interchanges of personnel,! especially with a view to overseas offi- j ccrs keeping in close laison with mill-1 tary thought in the Mother Country. | There is a suggestion that the Chief of! ' the Imperial General Staff should make a tour of the Dominions during his ’ period of office, but however desirable r such visits might be, it is improbable , t that the officer could be spared for so j 7 long a time from his duties in White-1 hall. As part of the scheme. Col. Fos- i ter, Chief of the Australian Staff, is to be in, temporary command of the’ Se-1 J cond Cavalry Brigade during next train-1 Ming season, and it is probable that | I several other overseas officers will be; similarly attached to other branches of ' the service. Some years ago there was i ’ i an overseas section in the department , of the Chief of the Imperial Genera) ■ Staff, but it came to an end with the ® War, and has not been restarted. e Boy Baronet. i Sir Rupert Clarke’s death at Monte s Carlo on Christmas night has introduced ] to Debrett its youngest Baronet, a small [ t hoy of seven still skipping about his c parent’s beautiful Hampshire garden in small-size' knickers. The baronetcy • was created in 1882, the first holder f being the father of the one just dead e in his 61st year. The founder of th? >. family fortunes, however, was his o grandfather, a sturdy Aid gate butcher n known as “Big Clarke,’’ who emi- >. grated to Australia and bought for the , proverbial old song Melbourne property that brought in his own lifetime a fortune which, with many thousand acres, " passed to the late Baronet’s father. This romantic apotheosis was due to the gold rush, and its ramifications. Sir Rupert was an enthusiastic advocate of colonisation “downunder” by Britons, and took a keen interest in ethnology. By his first marriage ho a had two daughters, and his lucky heir n is the eldest of three sons by his sej i cond wife.