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Hokitika Guardian, 21 June 1923, Page 2

Tub Soviet Government determined, according to a circumstantial account published some months- ago by the New York '“World” from its Moscow correspondent, to sell or pledge the Russian Crown jewels, and prepared a fully illustrated catalogue of them with which to tempt the purchaser. This is not the first rumour of the jewels coming on the market. M. Tvrassin was credited not long ago with seeking to dispose of some of them. But the main collection is apparently still intact., and it is believed that the only consideration that would be likely to deter the Soviet. Government from parting with them would be the present adverse state of the market. There is not much money available at the moment, even among the people who might ordinarily be expected to make a bid for a crown designed for Catherine 11, or for the emeraldsprinkled breast-plates which that lady affected. The value of the collection is put at something over £1,000,000. Catherine’s crown itself is a constellation, for, it has a 265-c-arat diamond at its centre surrounded by Brazilian rubies. True it is not quite so magnificently uncomfortable as the

British Crown, which weighs about two and ii-lialf pounds and has over 2000 diamonds in it, including portions ol the famous Cullman stone; hut as crowns go it is a not unworthy product. The pick of the Russian regalia, however, will probably be the Orloff diamond. There is no mention whether the amazing emerald ten inches long which the Tsars used to have is still extant or not. But the 180-carat Orloff stone which studs the Russian sceptre lias a world reputation and a lurid history. The negro labourer who first found it was murdered by his fellows, and the stages ill its history from the time when it was a Brahmin idol’s eye to its acquisition by the Romanoffs would make a sensational screen stoiv. If it goes now to swell the coffers of the Russian Revolution it will follow the historical course of another great diamond, the Pitt- or Regent stone. The Indian slave who found ami escaped with the Regent in 1701 from India was thrown overboard by a sea captain to whom he confided his secret, l’itt bought the stone for £20.090, made £15,000 off the ehippings and dust that came of cutting and polishing it. and sold it to Louis NY. of France for £135,000. It was stolen and hidden in a ditch in the French Revolution and recovered and pledged to the Dutch by Napoleon to finance his Marengo campaign. Now it lies as peacefully in the Louvre as does the main piece of the Cullinaii in the Tower of London.

Uoi.onmi. Sin Ciiahi.ks F. Ci.osk, Direc-tor-General of Ordnance Survey for II years, speaking recently at Manchester on the work' of his Department said it was always looked upon as available, with all its resources, for a great war, and it had always keen kept on ft military footing. When war broke out maps of North-eastern France and Belgium, which had been printed at tli». Survey, were ready. The maps of France were based on the well-known 1 to 80,000 French map of the General Staff—a very poor map indeed, but the maps of Belgium were excellent, and we owed Belgium a great deal for its help in the matter. We got. their original plates and drawings immediately the war broke out. The General Staffs of all the armies ueio mistaken in thinking it was going to he a war of manoeuvre, and when the huge armies became practically immobile the use of large-scale maps was inevitable. The change involved an enormous amount of printing. The work at the front i*ould not have been undertaken without the very close alliance. which existed between the smveyer and the airman, a development that was a little unseen at the beginning. The oiginisation which went out to Frame in 1914 consisted of a Genera! Staff officer, an officer at the base, and three N.C.O.’s, and at the end of the war Maps G.11.Q. had 250 officers and -1000 other ranks. Even so the work could hardly be coped with. He remembered sending a consignment of maps from Southampton to Havre, where an officer met the conducting officer to “take over." “Are you the man with the maps,” lie asked. “Well give them to mo and I'll put them in my pocket.” That consignment. Sir Charles said, weighed two tons. (Laughter.) They turned out 20.000 maps a day at times of pressure, and the total number of maps ptinted for military purpsoos was 32 millions. It was necessary to replace some of the men oT military age by women, who did the work admirably. One of the women wrote to say she was not able to come any longer, as she had been unexpectedly married that morning. (Laughter.) (In the western front they had several titles on the maps—tlio name of a town and a number in the corner, by which the map was generally known. Some primitive tribes did not. limit themselves to such bald statements in their maps. In the Sudan campaign of 1885 a. map was captured bearing the inscription: “This is the fort of the infidels, the enemies of God, the liars, God curse them!” The Survey was trying to get away from the old official colours, and perhaps they had gone a. little too far on the pictorial side, but, personally, he would like to make the outside attractive, because it. helped to sell them.