OUR LONDON LETTER

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14829, 17 December 1921, Page 3

OUR LONDON LETTER

NEW WORLD IN OLD EUROPE. POLITICAL, INDUSTRIAL, SOCIAL

LONDON. October 20 Special Constables.

It, i? wonderful how many people turn out in London for almost any kind of show —particularly for one in which a member of the Royal Family figures. But it is chiefly owing, we have good reason for thinking, to London's real and enduring gratitude to the men who served as special constables during the war that there was such an immense crowd on Sunday afternoon to sec the King's second son, the Duke of York, distribute some 5000 Long Service Medals awarded by his Majesty to specials whose service—all quite honorary—lasted for not less than three years of the war period. Only those medallists paraded who are continuing their service, in what is called the Police, reserve —a stand-by force with no regular duties, ready for service in an' emergency. They were under Sir Edward Ward, the remarkable man who raised the original force and has commanded from the inauguration, in August 19 Li, when Citizens over Ihe soldier age took up police work and let London's regular police, to the number of over 4000, go into the fighting lines. After the presentation of medals there was a march past;' and Ihe men who during the air laids did their rescue and protective work in the open, while everybody else took cover from bombs and, the shrapnel of our defence guns, were seen in some detail. They stepped out so gallantly and vigorously as to give spectators the assurance that if ever they were wanted affain in the public service—it matters little for what so that the cause is law, order and humanity—they would not be found wanting.' There was a pathetic episode in the afternoon's programme, i when the widows of men who died in I the service came up for .medals won by their late husbands, and a deep note in Ihe pathos of the scene was struck when a mother put, forward her little son to receive his dead father's medal. The Dukj stooped down, stroked the child's bend, shook him warmly by the i hand, and was obviously very much > moved. Radium a Failure. We do not recollect any item of news from the Antipodes which has received such prompt and so much intelligent attention, or has been more widely discussed, than the few lines sent ' by Renter from Auckland, giving Sir Thomas Parkinson's view of radium. This is all the cable gives us:—"Sir Thomas Parkinson, who has arrived here from London, stated in an interview that radium was a failure, and that many leading surgeons Had discarded it in favour of X-rays. Radium was not only not effective as a remedy, it was positively dangerous, as its burning effect aggravated instead of curing maladies." Not much detail, but a very direct and definite statement, leaving no room for doubt, al- | though some of speculation. While here, no doubt, Sir Thomas carefully . studied his subject. His conclusions, lie declares, arc shared by leading surgeons. If they are correct, then Ihe attractive idea that radium mi-ahl be a substitulo for surgery must be abandoned. Curiously enough, the message from Auckland was preceded by an extended account of how I Professor Poddy, Ihe radiologist of I Oxford University.-recently arrived in London, carrying two gramme? of radium, ihe largest, amount, it is averred, that has ever been transI ported. "The radium has been ae- | quired." he told a pressman, "by the Imperial Foreign Corporation of London, for whom I am scientific adviser. It has been rented by the Corporation from the Czccho-Slovakia State mines for a period of 15 years. The Corporation will, in turn, rent it to people in this country, scientists and others, who have .special use for radium. Through the courtesy of the British legation in Prague, I was allowed to travel as a King's messenger, which accounts for my having the package in a Foreign Office bag. I was accompanied by my wife and my secre- : tary, but had no escort. We never allowed the radium', which is valued al £70,000, out of our sight. I shall probably lake il to Oxford, where I hope there will be an opportunity of establishing a resarch laboratory. Naturally, we are all very pleased al being able lo procure our two grammes, of radium. It will, be of ! enormous help in scientific and medical | research. Hitherto our great difficulty : has been that we have never had enough to work with. Thirty milligrammes is the largest amount that I have ever experimented with before. The cry of the medical profession has ■ always been, 'We cannot get enough.' " I Of course, radium has other uses, but, if your expert is right, only the. research men of the healing profession will want it. The British Soldier

Sir William Roberston speaks in terms of unstinted admiration of the conduct of the British soldiers on the retreat from Mons. He says:— "Bruised, battered and sometimes beaten to their knees, they were never beaten in spirit, and even in the j darkest hour it never seemed to cross their minds that they were or could be beaten. They continued to fight j grimly on. with a determination which has never been surpassed, and never will be. Officers and men of the Regular Army were seen at their best." No doubt about it. For they went into battle with all the traditions of the Army strong within them, and one of those traditions was that nothing could beat British soldiers. Further, their discipline was good in retreat. How about the Germans in that regard? This is what. Sir William says of their conduct when they had been driven back from Ihe Marnc: "Everywhere I was wanton and wicked destruction — , shops gutted, fields and streets lit- | tered with empty wine bottles, household goods deliberately destroyed, and ! filthy deeds committed too abominable jto mention." A perfect picture of the German. Things have changed a good deal for the better in the British Army since Sir William Robertson served in the ranks. That there was room for improvement his book shows. Talking of barrack life, he says that the bed blankets were seldom washed, and that clean sheets were issued once a month only. Sunday was a day of sheer misery and hard work. Even trivial offences were classed as "crimes" and the prisoner was interned in a room 15ft. square and improperly ventilated. Three "crimes" are on (he Field Marshal's own record. First he was one of a corporal's escort who allowed a man to escape: next, he allowed a horse to escane: thirdly, according to 'his commanding officer, he allowed

both a man and a horse to escape. It, ,is a marvel ttiat so persistent an 1 offender in the same direction should ever havei gained any stripes—he would have cot them on his back in the j "srood o'd days"-—or have pained a commission or boon able to master seven lanaune-es. and to become Chief of the Ge n cral nod tell the Prime Minister of the day |. ha I he would not have his fightins: scheme.at any price.