A Letter from London

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20181, 25 June 1928, Page 10

A Letter from London

Special Correspondent.

All Right* Reserved.

LONDON, May 3. From Scandinavia. It would be amusing to count up — on the fingers of both. hands—how often Court gossip has, in the mind’s eye, affianced the Prince of Wales to some charming lady of suitable age and eligible rank. But still, with his 34th birthray now well in view, U.K. 11. i remains the same hard-riding, faacy- ; free bachelor Prince. These recurrent rumours are not his fault. He is far 'from being in the least a flirt. They i are due solely to the circumstance that, few heirs-apparent in history f I have ever remained single in their (thirties. We may have another intriguing report, in the merry month of 'May, when the Crown Prince of Sweden comes to Town, and brings: .. ith him the beautiful Princess Ingrid. I ihe Crown Prince’s daughter celebrated her 18th birthday last month, s a highly intelligent and (.harming ;irl who speaks English like her mother longue, and has literary tastes. She s also a first-rate hausfrau. with a technical college cookery diploma a ous verrons always remembering that the Prince of Wales is not our only eligible Royal bachelor. Their Majesties’ Guests. The King and Queen are always genuinely pleased Io welcome distinguished visitors who come to London ..•a any conference or other public >. uasion. During the present year will be several important Interim i onal meetings here, and already Kii.g George has intimated in at least mice cases that their Majesties Lope •j receive the delegates at Buckinga.un Palace. Through such hospitality •iis Majesty manages to keep pretty well abreast of important developments in science, industry, and literature, and lu secure that encyclopaedic knowledge ■ which often surprises those who meet ‘him. The first Palace delegation will Ibe when some important visitors are | here for the Harvey tercentanary. In (June his Majesty will receive the i Empire farmers, who are becoming great globe-trotters. Three farmer delations have ben here .n thre years ' —from Canada and South Africa—but 'the present one represents all our Dominions. Finally in July when the Geographical Conference meets in London. the. members will probably attend a Royal garden party.

Grenadiers and St. George’s Day. j There is a suggestion which receives good deal of support in the regiment itsjf, that, the Grenadiers shall in future mark St. George’s Day by officaiiy • .earing the rose. Both the Irish and Welsh Guards elaborately commemorate their national anniversaries, these bong the only two out of the ten bat- ‘ taiions of the Brigade of Guard? which j especially parade on such occasions. ' Many regiments of the line Lave their own special annual parades, but these are usually in celebration of the part played in some action in which the unit earned distincton. As a rule inch celebrationh take the form of Trooping the. Colour, which is duly decorated with a garland of laurel leaves. Official sanction will have to be obtained if the suggestion concerning the Grenadiers is carried out. With that object questions will in due course be addressed in the House of Commons Ito the Secretary for War. General Wrangel. ; Soviet Russia was doubtlessly dei lighted to hear that General Vrangel 1 was dead. He has been regarded respite the years he has been in exile, as I me one man who had the will to fight for his countrymen also in exile against ;the usurping Soviet tyranny. Of tall anil commanding stature, “His Exicellency,” the title by which he was 'always addressed by his officers was 110 outward appearance typical of the (Russian High Command exerting jauthority, but living apparently un- ! conscious of th* work his officers and (men did. This, however, belies General iWrangel. He both worked and strove hard against the constant under-cur-rents of intrigue that infested his staff, ' and robbed the troops he commanded of (many successes. Lack of money and supplies forced his hand, for when both jwere in sufficient quantity they disappeared miraculously owing to the (commercial instincts of The Russian ’officers to seize the former and barter the latter for mere money. I met him in Constantinople, and again later m Paris. He was always hoping against hope that the big private banking houses of Europe would help to finance another <>v .-I Hun, as he, thoroughly despised the, so called efficiency of the Soviet Army. Most of his officers dis- : ppe:ir<‘l .\’e.i his fortunes went

wrong A number of them are now existing ou me Somme batlefield, eking out u living as carpenters, decorators, and masons in the reclaaiatiou or the devastated areas-Prayer-Book Prospects. ’ As soon as posible time will be found in both Houses of Parliament to discuss the Church Assembly measure dealing with the revised Prayer-Bouk. It is likely that on this occasion the; Commons will have their debate first, since a repetition of the previous decision there would make it futile for Ihe peers to devote time to the subject. The state of opinion is exceedingly difficult to guess, since the controversy cuts across all the ordinary lines of cleavage- So far as can be judged, however, the recent alterations have not had any material effect; certainly none of the leaders who were hostile before has given the last sign •of being placated. In the House of Lords, the woolsack will be occupied (by a determined opponent in the person of Lord Railsham, whereas his predecessor, Lord Cave, made one of the • most persuasive speeches on behalf of ' the measure. Royal and Youthful Game. ' The talk about the Duke of York competing agair at Wimbledon this year is all nonsense. He has hardly touched a raepuet all through the i winter, and, since his return from Australia, has developed a passion for : ilf. While in Australia he talked v. iih <iriiinii Brookes, the Australian • ruck, and maybe made some casual

allusion to the possibility of their meeting at Wimbledon. The Duchess of lork has also gone in seriously for golf now, and the Duke often partners her in a round- H.R.H has developed quite a useful drive, and bids fair to outstrip the Prince of Wales w ; th his wooden clubs, though the Prince has firmly established his gen al superiority on the inks, and, even allowing fur the Duke’s improved distance off the tee, can still concede him a few strokes and win his half-crown. Red Bag Grievance.

The urgent need of amending- the law which permits a British ship to sail the seas with a foreign crew has again been emphasised by the report of the Court of Inquiry into the loss of the • British ship Dalton off Marseilles in January. There was not i. single Englishman on Die ship when she grounded and became a total loss. The court in its finding stated that misgivings must inevitably arise when it was know., that this ship went to sea heavily laden with an entirely foreign crew. here are 1,000 officers of the British Merchant Service who cannot get ships because there are so many companies which register their vessels at British, take them abroad, and man them with foreign seamen. These ships sail under the British flag, and enjoy all the privileges to which this entitles them, as well as better insurance rates. Every British ship leaving a British port must have two British officers, but a British ship can trade between foreign ports with an entirely foreign crew. Several ships thus manned have been lost in the past few yearsEpsteiw’s Revenge.

Lord Edward Gleichen’s book on London’s open-air statuary is a Signified and expert rebuke to those scoffers who make a joke of the British capital's art manifestations. True we have some very appaling statuary scattered about our streets and parks, but most of these ghastly objects be long to the worst phase of Victorian days. We have some fine examples of the sculptor’s art, including several works of former generations, and our latest sculptury is even impressively good. Our worst pieces are the Albert and the Victoria memorials. Our best comprise Eros, the Burghers of Calais, Physical Energy, Cromwell, Charles First, the B.A. War Memorial, and. as the London newspapers are gradually coming t believe, the shamelessly abused but most effective RimaLondoners almost frothed at the mouth over Epstein’s work at first. But the sincere ecstasy of competent foreign critics is slowly educating the Cockney groundlings. Boy Scouts’ Muster. One of the busiest men in this country during the next twelve months is likely to be Mr. Hubert Martin. C.8.E., not in his official capacity as chief passport officer at the Foreign Office, but in his unofficial role as International Commissioner of the Boy bcouts’ Association and head of its international bureau. He is preparing for the great gathering which is to take place i the summer of next year, when boys to the number of over 30,000 will be assembled under canvas on the coast near Liverpool. When I met him the other day at the gathering in honour of the young Dane, Palle Huld, who has just been round the world in under 45 days, Mr. Martin told me that over 4G nationalities ■’vill be represented, and that it is hoped to conduct parties of them to places of interest in various parts of the country. MrMartin is a quiet-mannered can in the early fifties, and unlike most administrators, is a pubLv speaker with a delightfully easy and polished style. He is looking forward to his task without dismay for the Boy Scouts are trained in self-organisation and self-discipline. Stock Exchange Derby “Sweep.” I am told that the number of tickets in the London Stock Exchange ‘ 1 sweep” on the Derby promises to reach nearly a million. In that case after deducting 25 per cent, for charitable purposes the first prize should be not less than a quarter of a million after allowing for substantial consolation awards. I know that the ticket, I bought, some weeks ago is numbered something over 420.000. This—and other—evidence of the popularity of lotteries suggests how the Chancellor of the Exchequer might raise almost as much money as he likes. It is geneially assumed that Parliament has prohibited lotteries out of puritanical motives. The .truth is that the embargo was established to prevent priate individuals interfering with what was regarded as a valuable State monopoly. Black Ties. A stroll <kown Bond Street reveals a surprising number of black ties worn by the smartest men and I was told to-day at one of ;he most exclusive shirt and tie shops that black ties are in great demand. 'This is largely because shirts are getting gayer and gayer, some of the smartest patterns carrying a very fine pink or green check. These bright coloured shirts, with soft collars of the same material, look overgay when worn with coloured ties, but are less striking with a black tie. Another Wimbledon Invader. Miss Penelope Anderson, who has crossed the Atlantic with Miss Helen Wills on a lawn tennis tour which embraces Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam as well as Wimbledon, is a newcomer to European courts. She ranks seventh among the United States women players, and was reserve last year for their W’ightman Cup team, in which it is possible she will this season find a place. The only line which we have to her form, at the moment, is her performance in the United States championship last autumn. Then, in the third round, she ran up against Miss Betty Nuthall, and took 7 games off her in two sets, the final score being 6-4, 6-3. Betty, of course, subsequently progressed to the final, where she lost to Helen Wills by 6-1, 6-4. Miss Wills and Miss Anderson are al-

ready in Paris, and it is unlikely that they will come to this country much before the Wightman Cup matches are due to take place. “Made in England-” A programme I have received, of an International racing week in Berlin during July, is only another illustration how sport on the Continent is permeated by British examples and British influences. Football, lawn tenuis, golf, and other games, as they establish themselves across the Chan nd, retain many of vhe phrases and technical terms to be found in their English rule books. Now, in this German race week, we'find nearly all the events named after famous English horses. Hermit, Flying Fox, Isinglass, Lemberg, Galopin, St. Simon, Bayardo, and Vcltigeur are all called into use for this purpose, and I am sure the sporting townspeople of Doncaster will be glad to know that the home of the St. Leger is immortalised by an event entitled Doncaster Race. The Germans are putting up some goodsized stakes, the most valuable being for the St. Simon Race. Here the winner takes £2,000; the second £200; the third £150; and the fourth £75. There are other events with total stake money of £1,700 and £1,600 ly-Seven-a-Side.

The victory of the Harlequins, for the third time in succession, in the big London seven-a-side rugger tourney was not expected. Backheath were the favoured side this year, principally because in A. T. Young, who was not available on other occasions, it was felt they had the most elusive player imaginable for a seven-a-side game. But the seven-a-side rugger is a curious sport, in which the main asset is great speed, and the Harlequins have, in J. C. Gibbs, the fastest thing at present, in rugger—or possibly soccer also—football boots. It. was the strenuous strategy of W. W. Wakefield, England’s old international captain, and the matchless speed of the light ning Gibbs, who is in private life a West End tailor, that enabled the Harlequins, even in a very thin rugger year for them, to retain the seven-a-side laurels so completely. Someone observed, after watching him qt Twickenham in the finals, that seven-a-side rugger seemed to have been invented for Gibbs. Pictures on the Wall.

The Royal Academy show is nothing to write home about. Beyond the esotcrically tragic pic -res of the late Charles Sims, madder but more beautiful than the crankiest work of the determined Modernists, and a few really superb portraits, the average is one of monotonous mediocrity. Neither Epstein nor Augustus John exhibits anything, and the big Modernists are solely represented by Richard Sickert’s cleverly daring and quite effective portrait of Rear-Admiral Lumsden. Orpen’s best portrait of many is neither that of Mr Selfridge in the role of Big Business, nor “L.G.” in the whimsical Low manner, but a delightful'.y vivid study Dame Madge Kendal in brown. y has a delicate

portrait of bta ul Miss Mercy Webbe and a powerful study of the Cardinal Archbishop of New York as Irish as Tammany Hall itself. Cope’s picture of King George is conveniently effective, but certainly Arthur Nowell’s of Queen Mar}' does not flatter It makes her Majesty look decidedly a grandmother. Sardonic Orpen. Passing over the usual Shannon sea nymphs, romantically waxen Cowper maidens, primevally sunburned Greiffenhagens, and severely restrained and delicate Dicksees, one notes a frank study of his two plump nieces in their undies by Glyn Philpot, a witty and attractive Coster portrait study by Madeline Green, fat blondes drastically nude, who look as though blown up with a bicycle pump, by Laura Knight, Ricketts’ subject picture of a contrite Salome and sick Herod, several typical Mannings, of which by far the jolliest is a bracing Hunt turnout, Gunn’s portrait of J. C. Squire looking conscientiously the Bohemian literateur, Eves’ capital likeness of Sir Frank Benson, Jack’s rather stolid portrait of Princess Mary, and, prettiest exhibit of the year, Ralph Peacock’s charming portrait of a charming little girl, sitting up naively to be “took.” But the picture of the show, from the artistic as well as the popular standpoint, is a sardonic study by Orpen. A Hanging Judge. This is called “The Black Cap or the Passing of His Lordship.” It is beautifully painted, in ravishing colours, with all the artist’s ; übtle grim humour. Preceded by a portly flunkey, followed by another bearing his long train, a decrepit ohd Judge, bent and bespectacled and yellow, passes before a curtained wall, holding elegantly in bis finger-tips the morsel of dread crape that constitutes “the black cap.” This may be constituted the year’s 11 problem” picture, though its meaning seems obvious enough. It is a masterpiece in the sardonic. Much more of a “problem” is Anna Airy s painting “Headache Stairs” figures on a jetty that might overlook the Thames, the possible innuendo being that here the victims of “the night before” await a boat to get aboard their ships again. Lander’s portrait of Lord Hewart is not so goad as Birley’s capital study of Mr Baldwin ruminating on the divine political comedy. The Sims pictures—in mystic mad beauty —are haunting. One “Here am I”—a figure of elfin grace ascending from opened white handsis poignantly prophetic of the painter’s end.