OUR LONDON LETTER.

Shannon News, 17 March 1925, Page 4

OUR LONDON LETTER.

the COLOGNE DECISION. (From Our Own Correspondent). (All Rights Reserved). . LONDON, January 15. Tire decision of the Ambassadors’ Conference in Paris that the Cologne area will not be evacuated by the Allies on January 10 th inakes the position somewhat complicated as far as Britain is concerned. The reason put forward by the Conference is that Germany has not faithfully carried out her undertakings with regard to disarmament, which the Germans, of course, deny. But certainly one reason which has had great weight with the British Government, is the fact that while the French remain in the, Ruhr it would be unwise for us to evacuate Cologne, as the French would march in so as to protect their communications. It is hoped that the French will evacuate the Ruhr by next September. Then we can evacuate Cologne. Another Thorny Subject. Mr Churchill will leave for Paris next week for a conference of Finance Ministers of the Allied countries on the allocation of reparation payments. This is another thorny subject on which we do not see at all eye-to-eye with the French. The French Finance Minister has already propounded the view that there should be a pooling of the war expenses and then a / distribution of them in proportion to the wealth of each country, which means, of course, that England would be saddled with much the biggest bill, as indeed she is at present. Penny Postage. Hopes that the New Year might usher in a reversion to penny postage have now disappeared. In matters of this kind the PostmasterGeneral may propose, but it is always the Chancellor of the Exchequer who disposes. Mr Winston Churchill, I am told, is more than sympathetic, but he does not see his way to make immediately the sacrifice of revenuewhich would be involved. There is/ however, an excellent prospect of a reduction in the postal rates when the Chancellor comes to make hia Budget statenient. Apart from its effect on trade generally, it is recognised that cheap postage tends to strengthen relations between the Mother Country and the Dominions. In furtherance of this the Government has already ear-marked an annual sum of £1,060,000 sterling, and wc may expect before long not merely a reduction in postal rates, but a cheapening also of cable communications between England and . the Colonies. A Fine Ship. A very fine ship in every way, and one of the best appointed vessels in the Navy is the Hawkins, which Prince George is to join as a sub-lieutenant early in this year. When completed in 1919, the first of the “Elizbethan” series of commerce-protecting vessels, she was known as the all.electric ship from the number and variety of the uses to which electricity was put in her. Her steam bakery has a capacity of 750 lb. of bread daily, in addition to cakes and buns Other special f-ea. tures in the Hawkins include a seamen’s recreation room on the upper deck forward, extending nearly the whole width of the ship. With the construction of battleships stereotyped by the Washington Treaty, many naval authorities consider that the ocean-going cruisers like the Hawkins and the new “county” class just laid down are the principal ships of the future. Certainly, it is significant that those responsible for the naval train, in of Prince (Jeorge, who hopes to keep to a sea career permanently, should choose a cruiser for him in preference to a battleship. For the past two years his Royal Highness has been taking - the usual courses for sublieutenants, in the Naval schools at Portsmouth and Greenwich. Florence Nightingale’s Romance. A local historian in the tiny hamlet of, Elora Ontario, has unearthed what appears to be one and only love romance of Florence Nightingale. In the village church is a set of communion silver which she is reputed to have (given to a ; certain John Smithurst, missionary and Clerk in Holy Orders. Smithurst, was Florence Nightingale’s cousin, and fell in love with her at Lea Hurst, Derbyshire. Her family, however, disapproved the match, and the young lovers parted, one to become a missionary in the Red River settlement of the Hudson Bay Teritory, and the other to win immortal fame as the “Lady with the Lamp ” Smithurst’s life story is em. bodied in a little book printed many years ago, and entitled “The Rainbow m the North.” Doomed Citadel. How many patriotic Cockneys, ineffably vain of their old city and its ancient traditions, realise that its very citadel is doomed? Of all farflung - London’s suburbs the heart suburb, which beats proudly around the Tower and the very oldest city churches, most defiantly wards off modernity. Yet at this moment of time the housebreakers are busy scrapping its very citadel. That fine summit of the city, where St. Mar-tin’s-le-Grand stood in august majes. ty, is being - cleared. The last vestige of even Victorianism is vanishing. And there, in the centre of London’s boasted “hub,” a great up-to-date skyscraper will challenge the London sky, alongside St. Paul’s dome and the monument’s towering crest. Workmen engaged on this utilitarian vandalism are finding relics, mot only of mediaeval London, when its walls and gates stood against invaders but of those Roman conquerors who lorded it OA r er Cockney aborigines. Two years hence a city skyscraper will begin to endear itself to the local partiality of Londoners.