LONDON TOPICS

Evening Star, Issue 22450, 22 September 1936, Page 12

LONDON TOPICS

THE TRUTH ABOUT SPAIN [l'uom Our Correspondent.] (By Air Mail.) August 20. Not a day passes but one hears furious arguments between people who hold sharply conflicting views about the Spanish civil war. It is well we in this country, therefore, should follow events intelligently. Stout disciples of popular control uphold the Government side in Spain because they think it stands for democratic freedom against unprovoked attack by a would-be military dictatorship, flow far the rebel rising was unprovoked it is impossible to say. The rebels allege that they merely anticipated in selfdefence a carefully maturing Red coup d’etat to sweep away the weak Socialist Ministry and establish a Spanish Soviet. Whether this is true or not, the situation now is that, just as in Russia, the existing Socialist Ministry has for all practical purposes been superseded by Communist leaders, who seized their chance when the Socialists armed the mob. The issue is now, therefore, between two sorts of dictatorship, and the sickly plant of Spanish democracy has been torn up by the roots. People I have met who are well acquainted with Spain, and have within the past few days escaped from that country after long residence there, are white hot with indignation over the attitude adopted to the civil war by many people and some papers in London. They declare that all talk about Spanish democracy fighting for freedom against a military dictatorship is just the purest and cruellest claptrap. The Red Communists, well armed and remarkably well tutored for the emergency, are now in supreme control on what is called the Government; side, and a reign of terror equal to that which swept over Russia after the Bolshevik revolution is already developing in Spain. Distinguished Spanish statesmen, Liberals with not the least Fascist tendencies, have either fled for their lives ro been put up against a convenient wall, and the mild Socialists associated with the Ministry are virtually superseded and prisoners. All moderate and middle-class Spaniards are praying that the so-called military dictatorship may assert itself in time to save them from their impending fate, WIRELES FORGERY. Modern science seems destined always to be the victim of ancient villainy. The motor car supplies the inspiration for the tank and the aeroplane for the aerial bomber. Wireless is quite a new thing, yet already it is being pressed into service for the most scurrilous propaganda purposes The poison pen is nothing compared With the lying broadcast. In Spam they have gone one better than even lying wireless propaganda and false reports. Lb was announced early in the Spanish trouble that General Goded, who has now been shot by the Reds, bad been captured, and volunteered his services *to the Government side against the rebels. This was meant specifically for the Majorcans, whose hero the general was, and to give vraisemblance to what was palpably strange news some gifted Spanish announcer, carefully imitating the general’s voice, addressed the bewildered Majorcans over the ether _ in confirmation. Perhaps it was wise, when Broadcasting House was bunt, to give it a fortress potentiality. THE BITTER END. Air Lloyd George, whose' potential activities are apt to mask his literary feats, is coming to the end of his Magnum Opus. The fifth volume of his memoirs, probably one of tho most highly-controversial publications ever printed, is coming out in the autumn, and the sixth and final volume will be out before tho Christmas turkey is ripe for slaughter. The final volume will contain a comprehensive index to all six volumes, which is * very necessary equipment in the case of a work winch extends to millions of words, and is the longest war book yet published, with the possible solitary exception of the similar memoirs of L.G.’s wartime compeer, AI. Poincaire, of France. Volume five, which deals with the armistice period, holds promise of arousing no less critical comment than did some of its predecessors. But L.G. calmly faces his critics and contradictors, and usually has chapter and verse for them. PARLIAMENTARY TERROR. Lord Banbury, formerly Sir Frederick of that ilk, and M.P. for Peckham and . the City, has passed away on his pleasant Berkshire estate at the ripe age of , 85. A Winchester boy who became a railway magnate, Lord Banbury, in his M.P. incarnation, bad two overmastering passions. One was a love of dogs, especially collies, and Uio other an irrepressible yearning to block all legislation not affecting canine welfare. He was known as the champion obstructionist of the House of Commons in pre-war days, and lus dapper figure and slightly rubicund good-tem-pered face, rising from some alert backbench ambush, sent dismay through many an eager parliamentary cohort and a death thrill through innumerable Bills. Sir Frederick could talk longer and with greater circumlocution, always keeping religiously to the point, however, than anyone outside the ranks of the old Irish Nationalist Party. But they caught him out once. He was •deeplv interested in an anti-vivisection Bill for dogs, and his enemies threatened to block that measure unless Sir Frederick allowed a whole avalanche of others through. The collies won. STRONG HAND IN MOSCOW. Nothing ever escapes from Russia in the way of news concerning counterrevolutionary plots until the O.G.P.u. has the whole affair well in hand. We are now to have staged in Aloscow a sensational trial for treason, in which about a score of Russian notabilities, including Trotsky, Kameneff, and Zmovieff all intimate associates of Lenin and the original Bolshevist revolutionaries, will figure dramatically. Trotsky, after being turned out of France, is now finding asylum in Norway, and there can hardly be any chance of Moscow securing his extradition. But he is probably the chief instigator of any threat to the existing Stalin regime in Aloscow. Trotsky has never abandoned his earlier ambitions, nurtured since he lived in London and worked as a compositor. - Kameneff is already in a Soviet gaol as being concerned in the assassination of Stalin’s chief lieutenant a few months ago. Zinovieff is the author of that famous General Election letter which helped to doom tho first Labour Government in Downing street. VON RIBBENTROP’S APPOINTMENT. Herr von Ribbontrop’s appointment as German Ambassador at the Court of St. James’s confirms general exnectation. This jolly-looking diplomat, who ernduated as a wine traveller, is ot rather smaller build than the average

German and also somewhat less solemn in manner. He knows this country and London inside out, and has a genuine regard for both, established since the days when he used to come here as agent for German wine growers. Not long ago he was the guest of the Londonderrys in Belfast, whore his meeting with our R.A.F. chief of staff led to some questioning by curious AI.P.s. He has also been Air Baldwin’s guest at one of the Prime Minister’s Downing street breakfasts. Der Fuehrer leans on von Ribbentrop wherever An-glo-German relations are concerned, and bis appointment indicates Nazi goodwill towards Britain. He has met everybody, summed up most things, and his favourite recreation in London is a stroll in the Park. COUNTY. Londoners have at this moment distinguished visitors who in tho finest sense are “ county.” These are the sturdy West Yorks, garrisoning our ancient Tower whilst the Guards go forth on manoeuvres, and tho 2nd Somerset Light Infantry, taking over palace sentry duty at the West End. We heard all about the West Yorks last summer, but the Somerset “ Light Bobs ” are new. They come from the famous Colchester depot, as smart as paint in their clean khaki, with shining, well-polished buttons, and they march at the rifleman’s quickstep, 140 to the minute, behind their echoing bugles. Their fighting record as the old Thirteenth, or Prince Albert’s Light Infantry, and now as the 5.L.1., of whom the Duke of York is colonel-m----chief, will stand compare with any county regiment. Jellalabad, held against long odds in the Afghan War of nearly a century ago, is one of their battle honours, and their sergeants, why, not even they know, wear their sashes over the left instead of the right shoulder. MIGHT HAVE BEENS. Expert opinion has hardened since the war in its theory about Gallipoli. There is not much doubt, with a little more intelligent effort, Gallipoli might have been a trump card, and shortened the war fay a year or two. First, we made the huge blunder of delivering our sea and land attacks separately. Next, we called off the naval attack, after putting the Turks on the qui yive against the coming land attack, just when the Turks, by all reliable accounts, had thrown up the sponge and were withdrawing from the forts Later, when the second landing was made, to cut the Turks off from the toe of the Peninsula, our troops were halted when they had only a few hundred gendarmerie in front of them, and a golden chance was thrown away. Now comes Alajor-general Sir Charles Rosenthal, an Australian archi tect, who distinguished himself as_ a soldier in the war, with the assertion that a few Howitzer batteries would have enabled our troops to capture Gallipoli anyhow. A formidable list of might-have-beens, and a gigantic price wo paid for them. LORD ALLENBY’S LIFE. Alajor-general Archibald Wavell. who has already written a good book on Lord Allenby’s Palestine campaign, js now embarking on the official life of his old comniander-iti-cbief. There should be abundance of splendid material for such a volume of biography, and Alajorgeneral Wavell seems the right man to handle it. He 'attained general rank two years ago, when he was the youngest 1 Folding it in our Army. He was chief of the Imperial War College before taking command of _ the 2nd Division at Aldershot. He is, like so many other' distinguished Army men of the moment, a Scot, and his monocle camouflages an intellectual equipment far exceeding the typical Brass Hat’s. But he sets a rather stiff standard of military perfection. His ideal infantryman, for instance, has to combine the virtues—or vices—of a successful poacher, a cat burglar, and a gunman. It is not a bad summary of what is needed in the 8.F.1., but one might perhaps add to the requisites thus outlined the philosophy of a dustman and the verve of a rhinoceros. ALAS, POOR YORICKI Savoyards mourn for Sir Henry Lytton—last link with tho palmiest epoch of Gilbert and Sullivan. After a lingering illness he has died in London, where 69 years ago he was born, and finis is written to a brilliant stage career. He started as a small boy with amateur theatricals in his father’s stable. His stage debut took place over 50 years ago in a Alanchester pantomime, where he held his banner the wrong way round and was sacked after tho first show. His last stage engagement, to take which he emerged from retirement a year ago last Christmas, was in a Birmingham pantomime. His salary for the run of that show was more than he ever .earned in a whole 12 months with the opera company in which he made his name. He started his Savoyard career understudying George Grossmith, and on tour later staggered the stage manager by making tho jester’s death in ‘ Yeomen of tho Guard ’ tragic instead of comic. But Gilbert, brought down to see the innovation, gave it bis blessing. J nat was the turning point in Lvttoii s operatic life.

M.C.C. OF THE BUTTS. The English Twenty Club, of which Colonel Sir Philip Richardson is president, is planning to hold an annual dinner at which the guest of honour is to bo Air Duff Cooper, our Alinister for War. Though the Twenty Club is over half a century old, this, will be positively its first annual gathering of this sort. In this respect it _ must _ surely be unique. Every established institution within the seas that girt Britain from long before Mr Pickwick’s day has celebrated at dinner once a year. The Twenty Club, of which King George was an enthusiastic and active patron, has a membership of about 600, including all the finest rifle shots in the Kingdom, and its role is rather like that of the AI.C.C. in cricket. It picks all our teams for shooting competitions, and its word is law on all that concerns the rifle butts at Bisley or elsewhere. An admirable characteristic is its democratic spirit. Within the Twenty Club the private, if he shoots straight and true, is compeer of the titled Brass Hat. KING GEORGE’S PONY. I hear that arrangements have bad to be made for the transfer from the Royal stables at Windsor of King George’s favourite shooting pony, Jock, following on .King Edward’s decision to remove the celebrated grey horses to Buckingham Palace. It has been decided that the famous white pony, with whom the late King was frequently photographed, will now go to Sandringham and spend the rest of his life there. At Sandringham he will join a number of other equine “ pensioners,” who have given faithful service in the Royal stables, and he will be in charge still of Air French, who has looked after him for many years. No one knows _ exactly what Jock’s age is, but he is said to be a “ very old pony.” Although fond of his late master, Jock has the reputation of being moody when he is away from the company of other horses, and it would therefore have been a hardship for him to remain alone at Windsor. BERLIN REFLECTIONS. It is agreed that the Berlin Olympiad was perfectly organised, beautifully staged, and that the Germans were irreproachable hosts. Our failure to distinguish overselves aroused comment, but the fact is that our athletic tradition dates back to a time when few foreigners went in for sports. Now that they are keen on athletics, and most of them are nationalising these activities, their far better climate and more serious training are bound to beat our casual methods. Ours was fhe only team who did not take their trainer to Berlin. The Americans would as soon have parted with their tooth brushes. Unless we copy Continental methods we must rest content with a back seat at Olympiads. But the question is how far, by making it a'serious business, sport might cease to be a popular hobby. The real desideratum is not a few super-athletes, but the biggest possible proportion of sporting enthusiasts. POPULAR ATTITUDE. But, though our sporting habits are probably still spread over a larger proportion of the total population, than in other countries, we must realise .that people like the Germans and Czechoslovakians, with their fine system of physical training in all schools, are bound to build up a far superior national physique. If we had the grounding, plus our sporting enthusiasm, we should do well. What is still lacking in most foreign peoples is the popular sporting attitude. The affair of the Peruvian footballers illustrates this. In South America they put' barbed wire round the Soccer grounds to keep the crowds from the players. One criticism of the Olympiads is that women’s sports ought never to have been included,- and that the contests should ho restricted to recognised track and fields events, plus boxing, swimming, and rowing. Soccer football is quite an anachronism, and ought to be. dropped. We are unlikely to send another team. CORINTHIAN. The most famous hotelkeeper in Great Britain, Sir Harry_ Preston, the Brighton sportsman, has died at the age of 76. His fame no doubt partly depended on his freely dispensed hospitality, particularly to Fleet street _ people, but was backed by a certain originality of character. Sir Harry was once described by the late Lord Dewar as the companion of princes, the counsellor of pugilists, and the bosom friend of bishops. One is not so sure about the princes or the bishops, but there is no question about the prize fighters. This eighteenth-century sporting Corinthian strayed into the twentieth century, fancied himself a bit as a boxer in his younger days, knew all the fancy, and entertained them, rode every morning on the Downs, and bred bull terriers. It seems appropriate, and a fitting finale, that a former amateur middleweight boxing champion gave his blood to Sir Harry for a transfusion operation just before he died. His knighthood throe years ago gave intense plea r

sure.to many sturdy, owners of cauli* flower ears.

CRICKET CRITICISM. One suspects that a vast amount of misinformed criticism, much of it deriving from Fleet street, is being heaped on our English cricket selectors and the M.C.C. There was harsh ■ criticism beforehand because neither of the two Notts bowling cracks were chosen for our Australian team. Wfleii Bowes was selected and Larwood still left out, the attacks on the M.C.C. authorities became more spirited than ever.. But, whatever the personal relations between Larwood and the, M.C.C., : there are points worth considering. Admittedly Larwood has. - been howling better, though not quite so fast, as ever. He is perhaps better because he is not so fast, and can give more play to his artistry apart from speed. But Larwood’s foot, badly split at the big toe, and quite apart from his. new rib injury, has not been tested much during this wet summer on 'hard ground. There is a fear in some quarters that the Australian conditions, with cast-iron grounds, might bring back his trouble in a week. • ;