A Letter from London

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 296, 15 December 1928, Page 18 (Supplement)

A Letter from London

Special Correspondent.

All Rights Reserved.

LONDON, Oct. 28. The Dominant Factor. Mr Churchill’s sudden trip to Paris to buttonhole M. Poincare is part of the present somewhat hectic incidents of British politics. As the late Lord Oxford more than once observed, there is a lot of human nature in politicians, and they would, for instance, be more than mortal did the impending general election not obsess most of their preslent thoughts and activities. When that ! dramatic struggle comes, as come it will probably earlier than some people arc suggesting, it will bc found that Mr Churchill’s Budget is the Government’s tour de force. Benefits that might have been squeezed out of the Chancellor’s bag last April were merely kept back to enable him to play the better “fairy godmother” next. April, and his conversation with the French Premi. :• was undoubtedly to the same end. If a satisfactory reparation and debt settlement could possibly’ bc reached between now and next spring, Mr Churchill would bc able to “beat Snowden hollow” as Lord Morley’ would have said. Lord Morley and the War. Lord Alorley’s 1914 memorandum is truly the “human document.” One not only recognises the mordant literary style and the coldly’ genial irony, but almost hears a slight nervous cough punctuating the dry staccato tones. From that point of view it is interesting, but it adds nothing to what was already well known. Several of Mr Asquith’s Cabinet colleagues, when the avalanche of August. 1914, loomed above them, wavered greatly. But u.i.y Lord Modey and Mr John Burns, Loih veterans past their strenuous prime, shirked the <pic an 1 left, the (Hvern ment. Will anyone who to day sun cys dispassionately bu'. fairly the tremendous events that ensued, when Lord Grey’s heroic simplicity prevailed and ,Britain entered the lists, dare cither to censure those who hesitated or to condemn their final decision to stand up to destiny? Bad as things may be now, who can contemplate Europe’s position to-day had we betrayed both our neighbours and our traditions? The Right Hon. JohnThc most amazing thing about Mr John Burns to those who knew him well at Westminster is the way he has kept out of thc limelight since he retired from Mr Asquith’s War Cabinet. Curiously enough, n u his 70th. birthday’ the former member for Battersea found himself thrust into the glare of publicity by Lord Morley’s acid memorandum. Though he is now snow-white, Al r Burns’ sturdy figure is still full of activity’. He gets about, talks to policemen and ’bus conductors, lays down the law in the National Liberal Club smoking room, and enjoys a quiet game of billiards. As a Parliamentarian Mr Burns was no Trappist. He was indeed the long-distance, champion of “C.B. ’s” Cabinet, and no orator of our time suffered more from suspended peroration. Real Sex Duel.

Candidates of all parties at the next General Election must be prepared to be heckled on many’ topics, but none will be more persistently and perhaps awkwardly pressed than the demand for sex equality in the Civil Service. At the present time, though both start alike, men receive better pay’ than women in the higher branches of Whitehall, amt both sexes equally’ resent the difference. The women protest against !a financial disparagemnt which is contrary to Parliament's sex-equality decree. The men object to a differentiation which has, they claim, already’ had the effect of ousting male employees at standard rates by’ underpaid women. This problem of the Civil Service is one that will have to be faced, and it is typical of problems urgently felt in other classes of employment where men and women work side by’ side. Civil servants want equal pay for equal work, and are asking for a Select Committee on the question. Guards’ Flying Club. The Brigade of Guards has unofficially formed its own flying club. This novel dejmrture is quite worthy of thc courage and independence displayed by many’ of thc younger Guards’ officers, who arc by no means the pampered Society }>cts that popular superstition, despite the epic of the Guards’ Division during the war, still persists in believing. Perhaps few people outside the Guards’ Brigade know, for example, that no junior officer of the household troops is allowed to keep his own car, even of the most modest dimensions, until he has learned to ride o\er a steeplechase course. The Guards’ Flying Club will be main tained out of their own pockets, and I understand that arrangements have been made with a well-known civilian lying club for the hire of machines and tuition in piloting. Over 30 officers of the Brigade hate become members of the new club. Coming Back Again. It is probable, unless Anglo-Egyp-tian relations develop unpleasantly’ in thc meantime, that King Fuad will pay us another visit next year. Next summer his Majesty will come, however, not as n State guest but as a private visitor. There will be any' number of well-known people eag(*r to entertain him, and in one respect King Fuad will be glad to accept their hospitality. He is wealthy enough to do all thc entertaining he wants himself, but even a monarch cannot buy good sport. Shooting is as much King Fuad’s hobby as it is King George’s, and he is reputed an exceptionally good game shot. He docs a lot of duck shooting in his own country, but is keen to take part in some of our grouse, pheasant, and partridge shooting, and particularly anxious to try his hand at doer stalking in the Highlands. All being well, he will be afforded plenty’ of opportunity next

“Poppy” Day. The British Legion has arranged to hold “poppy” day' on Saturday, November .10, as was the case when Armistice Day previously fell on a Sunday. In seven years the proceeds from the sales of thc little emblem rose from £105,000 to £504,000, and the Legion’s 3,000 or more branches are working hard to surpass last year’s great record. Well over 20,000,000 poppies have been made in the. Logion’s workshops during the last twelve

months, and most of the consignment for the Dominions, who are generous customers, have already been ( h.,. patched. The manufacture ( ,f the poppies provides regular work all the year round for several hundred disabled ex-Servico men. Thanks to the vigilance of the police, the despicable frauds rampant a few years a<’o () f passing off on the unsuspecting public Continental-made poppies as the genuine urti.de have been almost entirely suppressed. J Russian Jewels Fight* The light for the possession of tin? Russian ro.val jewels, which is to b? staged in the Courts very shor’.ly, i,*. going to be both protracted and exceedingly costly. It j s generally assume 1 that the (:sv be taken right through the Courts, and it will rr«.\e one of tin-; ’ legal battles where cstimate< licely made as to the precise number of c )( UMIII( | S ot * p )Uin( i s p. li(l |1( couiKi 1 by the litigants. The case will certainly b. watched with the keenest interest in every’ country in Europe, Im-ause in effect it will decide whether in the eyes of the civilised world the pre-re vol ut io n owners of property in Russia have been “lawfully” dispossessed of their property by exuropriat ion. Princess’ Lite. 'I here may bo some stir caused, in political as well as literary circles, bv the Autobiography of Daisy’ Princess of I’less, which has just been published by John Murray. .It is an astoundinglv trank description of life and people in exalted station, from the author’s mother, the famous Mrs CornwallisWest of King Edward’s day. to the exCrown Prim e of Germany. Daisy Princess of I’less was herself a great beauty, and bore three fine sons to her husband Prince, but the aura of Serene Highness and a prim German Court of stiff ritual simply trapped the tomboy spirit /if an independent English girl with a strong Irish strain, and the denouement was inevitably’ domestic, shipwreck. According to the Princess—in a passage of amazing candour—the exKaiser’s eldest son, at the date of his marriage, know absolutely nothing of the opposite sex. Whisky Competition. In spite of the falling off in the consumption of whisky, 1 understand that a number of financiers are trying to organise effective competition with the distillers’ company which has almost a monopoly’ of the trade in these days. With whatever justification 1 know not, but it is said that there is now less variety in qualify and blend, though no less choice in names, than there usd to bc, and th > people who are getting together think that the public would readily respond to the introduction of new brands. A number of Scotsmen who are resent tid o ft he amount of foreign barley imported into their country are also said to be behind the movement. So far, 1 have heard of no intention to try to effect a reduction of price, though that would probably come as the result of competition. Second-Hand Cars. A friend of mine has this week pur chased a second-hand car which thrci months ago was sold for £205, ami which its former owner drove 2.200 miles. He has paid £lO5 fo r it. This was not, I am told, an exceptional bargain, but accurately reflects the extraordinary position in the second-hand car market, where there are many more cars than prospective buyers. Hiro purchase is resj»onsibh‘. Dealers prefer to sell new ears on the hire-purchase system because the. finance is easier to arrange, and the. dealer has no capital of his own tied up. since the business house financing the hire-purchase transaction pays the manufacturer direct. When a car is seized owing to the hirer’s default it is sold as quickly as possible in order Io ascertain the loss at once. Inoculation For Colds. A solicitor friend of mine who for years had found the autumn and winter a misery for himself and his clients because* ot the series of bad colds from which he always suffered is now a great champion of inoculation. Two years ago he was inoculated for the first time, and since then has not had a single bad cold. The doctor who has just done the treatment for this year told him that he is an “inoculation success.” but that others are not so lucky. It seems that the treatment is usually successful in about three cases out of four. Th«‘ percentage, however, is high enough to warrant the growing popularity of inoculation, especially among professional men and traders to whom a day in bed means pecuniary’ loss* 'l’he clerk to whom a cold means a holiday is not so keen on prevention. Unshadowed. The Earl of Birkenhead gains, by his migration from Westminster ami Whitehall to the <‘itv and Lombard Street, more than tin* prospect of manx times his former income. Eor one thing he recovers, what should bo appreciated by one who is a member of thc London Press Club, full liberty of journalistic action. But perhaps his lordship’s biggest boon is one of which few peopi? might think. He will no longer be shadowed wherever he goes by’ a piaiß* clothes man from Scotland Yard with a protuberant hip-pocket. After fifteen or sixteen years of public service, during which he has never moved about without his attendant ofiicial “shadow, ’’ this must be a. great relief. However decorous one’s movements and habits, it must bc depressing to be eternally shadowed, and this privilege of going unattended is on? Lord Birkenhead’s friend, Mr Churchill, may envy' him most of all.