MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 1932.
COMPTON MACKENZIE
HOLDS
CONVERSATION WITH
EROS.
C.M.-So you are coming back
a
C.M-And you had some wonder- home to Piccadilly, young sir, Areful summers in the nineties. you glad?
Eros.-Wonderful! And 1893 Eros-Well, after all, I can shoot was the best of them.
What my arrows with equal effect any-¡ year for champagne! Perfect
weather from April to October! C.M-WIH you tell me one thing?| C.M. Talking of drink, weren't Do the arrows you shoot nowadays you sorry to see the old Long Bar penetrate as deeply into mortal at the Criterion disappear?
where.
hearts as once upon a time? And Eros.Indeed 1 Was, though do they leave such scars behind from my point of view it had them? It is natural for mortals to particular significance.
no
look back and imagine that London! C.M.-No, it was an essentially WON more romantic when they masculine place, and the drinking themselves were young: but you there was
I remember serious. who are always young may care to that if a young man wished to be give us an authoritative ruling on considered what was called a man this point.
about town he ordered port and brandy. I confess 1 should like to see what kind of a show our cock- tail drinkers of to-day would put up on half a dozen port and brandies.
But forgive me for leading the conversation into paths more inter- esting to one of your fellow-gods than to yourself. To return to your own preserves, do you think that you will feel such an appro printe deity to preside over Pic- cadilly as once you seemed?
Eros.-I'd rather
not commit
myself to an opinion that might
You were put up by public sub- scription
as a memorial to Lord
Shaftesbury, and it was felt by many people that as a testimonial to so pious a nobleman you were rather too appropriate to the site they had chosen for you.
The Power of Time. Do you think your influence will
over
seem to imply a lack of confidence be strong enough to lighten some in my divine power. But I will say of the dingy
appearance of re- frankly that I do not feel so much spectability which is characteristic the centre of London ns I used to of Piccadily-circus to-day? feel. What we used to call the Eros.-I doubt it. Even West End was a much smaller place me, boasting as I do of eternal then than
Piccadilly-circus youth, old Father Time has power. was almost a village green when Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme was first set up in 1893 and I really chose. Yes, that's ali very well, did preside over it.
but the preservation of essentials
now.
I
It used to be the most popular does not really compensate for the trysting place in London, but now destruction of theloved externals. they've started that infernal Still, cannot complain.. The whirligig of buses all round my twenty-one years during which I island I doubt.if any young man presided over Piccadily-circus were will wait for any young woman the culmination of glori- there for an hour or two as I have bus period. I knew often seen them wait.
0
as Boon
да that mad parent of mine In The Old Days.
got busy in 1014 that no But, after all, by 1925, when they thing was ever going to be the took me away, I had already begun same again. Even the Boer War to feel a much less important per-upset things pretty badly. I shall sonage. In old days I know every-be glad to go back, yes; but candid- body's secrets. No doubt theyly I think the proper place for ms were often not
respectable would be the London Museum. I secrets. Still, I used to feel won-jam as much a relic of the past now derfully buoyant on a fine June as Temple Bar or the Maypole in night. And in the old leisurely Piccadilly I got to know my victims so much better. Now I don't sup pose I shall see any face more than
.cnce.
very
C.M. Then you would have some sympathy with me if I were to claim
THE CHINA
LOCAL SHARE MARKET
Quiet on Eve of
Settlement.
FIRM UNDERTONE.
HOW DO YOU READ THE
NEWSPAPER ?
METHODICAL PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT METHODS.
(By James Templeton.)
The official summary issued by
Probably every person has an the Stock Exchange to-day states:
In spite of the fact that it is entirely different method of read- the eve of the Settlement, the sexing a newspaper. Some methodical people start at the front page and sion opened quite steady with a firm undertons, prices being mark-work their way through to the last ed up in a few instances..
But even the methodical folks will Sales
differ.
Banks, $1,420.
Star Ferries, $101.
Lane, Crawfords, (old), $64. Constructions (new), $1.95, China Fires, $590. Hotels (old), $15.20.
Buyers.
Douglases, $24. Venezuelan Goldfields, $2. Hotels (old), $15.15.. Hotels (new), $14. Realties, $11.60. Ewos, Tis. 16. · Singapore Tractions, 3/. Cements (comb.), $19.4. Cements (new), $5.60,
One will read down each column before going to the next, while an- other reads the top half of the page first and then continues on the bot tom half column by column. Some people scan headings and read only those paragraphs which intereat
them.
The Leader Page.
I can read through a whole page of news reporta very quickly by selecting from the headings those paragraphs most likely to interest me. In the ordinary 10-page edi tion of... I have at this stage reached the leader page, which is to me the most interesting.
This takes longer when the pages are increased to 16, for I usually spend a little time over the extra advertisements, admiring their lay- out, and at the same time wonder ing if there are any bargains for me. Personally, I find a good ad- are adroitly avoided by others. Itvertisement very interesting, and I is seldom that you find two people do not consider that advertising who read a newspaper in exactly managers are wrong when they en- the same way.
deavour to attract the male renders of the Press. :
Advertisements attract some and
For myself, start with the front page of then invariably turn to the Stop Press Column and work H. K. Government Loan, $3 per ably formed when I was younger backwards. This habit was prob- cent. premium.
Benguets, $11%. Providents (old), $5.30. Providents (new), $2.45. H.K. Lands, $814. Chinese Estates, $96. Tramways, $22. Canton Ices, $6. Sinceres, $16. Constructions (old), $6.40. Constructions (new), $1.85.
Sellers. Indo-Chinas (Pref.), $45. Indo-Chinas (Def.), $32. Telephones (part paid), $28. Lane, Crawfords (old), $6.35. Kailans, 30/ Raubs, $39.
Malabon Sugars, $38. Entertainments, (old), $16%.
BOYCOTT ECHO.
-་་ 』
Bad Look Out in the North.
GOODS HELD UP.
Shanghai, Jan. 17. About 20 years have elapsed since the so-called Republic of China existed in 1911, when the revolutionary army. marched on and established a Provincial Gov- ernment of the new Republic. The whole Chinese nation then thought that all the corruption which had hitherto been the dominant feature in former Gov- ernments would be abolished, and they were looking forward in
The leader page is the one to which I pay most attention, and 1 the letters to the editor are not for- usually read everything in it. Even
1
and found greater interest in the gotton, although there, again, I re- sporting columns than anywhere serve to myself the right of selec- else. I have continued it because tion. It gives me the opportunity to read the centre pages at. my leisure. Racing news is completely ignored, but football, badminton, ice-hockey, swimming, and, in their season golf and tennis notes receive attention.
Many people, I understand, never read the leaders in their newspaper, and, as a reason for this attitude, they state that there is no news in them. It is for that reason that I always read the lead- er. It is a reflective statement, al considered opinion on some import- ant item of the day's news,
very
And thus I arrive, usually after a pleasant and stimulating journey, at the Women's Page, and although it is not intended for me, I must confess that I often pay more atten- tion to it than perhaps I should.
The Stack Exchange columns are hurriedly scanned, not because of a keen personal interest in the move- ment of shares, but simply becausa. they give some indication of the state of the country's industries Also it is occasionally an aid to conversation, for it sounds extreme ly business-like to be able to re- murk to your friends in an optimis- I read a large number of news- tic tone. "Do you notice that papers and like most people I have| I.C.I.'s are up to-day?" Such a my own peculiar method of reading, question helps to convey the im which I do not commend to anyone.] pression of a sound financial know. But I certainly would urge every- ledge and 'a cosy and prosperous in-one to make a friend of his or her vestment.
particular choice of newspaper.
anticipation to a good and honest. Government and a prosperous nation. However, all these hopes of the people have been dashed to the ground, and the state of the country has gone from bad to worse and there has been con- country has been divided into tinual civil war since then. The several feudal States under self ish warlords who extorted from the people illegal taxes and no freedom or personal rights were ever recognised.
Now a new Government has been established at Nanking,
How Von Spee Was Bluffed
that the peculiar charm of London the Strand.
BRITISH GOVERNOR ONE TOO
had been entirely destroyed during) C.M-What do you think of the MANY FOR GERMAN ADMIRAL. the years after the war. We have present fashions?
streets,
I
A time when the German Admiral Von Spee was bluffed in recalled by the announcement of the golden wedding of Sir Bickham and Lady Sweet-Escott, who now live at Worthing.
Sir Blekham was Governor of Fiji from 1912 to 1918. Towards the end of 1914, when Germanwarships were in the Pacific, he received a message that Von Spee's squadron was heading directly towards Fijl and was only a day's voyage away, He said:
which, however, has no means of revenue and no troops to support it, but still it requires $16,000, 000 for military expenses. $6,000,000 for political disburse ments, $3,000,000 for the Kuomintang officials, making a total of $25,000,000 monthly.
lost that old noise which was Eros.--I've seen so many absurd' unique among the great cities of the fashions--balloon sleeves, hobble world, that deep-toned thunder of skirts... by the way, though, I horse traffic on the wood-paved missed the very, short skirts.
I have seen people turning round We have lost that old smell off to stare at a man wearing a soft London, a combination of stable felt hat in Piccadilly-circus. yard and ship's deck.
We have have even seen people turning round Jost that old colour of London, the to stare at a well-dressed man red and blue and green and yellow smoking a pipe. I have seen the buses, the window boxes with their old green Atlas bus, with the big geraniums and marguerites, their umbrella over the driver's head. blue lobellas and yellow calceolarias. pull up just before the corner of Why, even Piccadilly, if you re Glasshouse. Street. member, used to be full of window I have heard errand boys whilst- boxes ence upon a time.
ling "The Man who broke the Bank We have lost that old shape of at Monte Carlo" as a new song, and London. Surely even you, so how well I remember the people exquisitely poised, must nearly have coming out of the Lyric Theatre over-balanced when they pulled after the first performance of "The down Nash's noble colonnade in Chocolate Soldier," all of them Regent Street. Or had you your-bumming the waltz. self already been removed when the But if I begin to talk about what architectural crime of modern I have been and heard there would Regent Street was committed? be no end to this interview, and, Blaming the "Tube.". after all, perhaps it is usefully Time passes with such monotony chastening to remember what this in our synthetic London of to-day particular representation of myself. Things happened Just as Sir Bick that one loses all appreciation of has not seen. Why, I never even ham had expected, for a letter was chronology.
aw the Argyll Rooms The Eros-I always blamed the Pic Pavilion Theatre had long lain later intercepted from an officer in cadilly Túbe for beginning, the de- heavily upon their ghosts when I one of the Gomaan khips, which cay of Picadilly-circus was put up ever rangal ng the stomach, of China, has also been
C.M.--It seems ridiculous now to
One More Question.
Yangtaze valley, Nanking lost a On account of the floods in the big source of revenue and the people wonder how the new Gov and how it can raise any money ernment is going on to carry on, or a loan on the Shanghai mar ket. It is said that 40 per cent.. of the national revenue of China "I knew that any wireless mes is derived from Shanghai, but sage I sent from Fiji would be in owing to the anti-Japanese boys tercepted by the German ships, and cott which prevented any bual I gave instructions for these words' ness transactions between the to be sent to the cruiser Australia, two countries, there are now at. flagship of the Australian Fleet Shanghai goods and merchandise Thanks for message. Shall expect which cost about $90,000,000 ly you early to-morrow, ging idle, Accordingly, it is ex- "I had not any idea where the pected that a large number of Australia might be, and I learned: Chinese-merchants at Shanghai afterwards that she was 2,000 miles will go bankrupt, before the from Fiji
Chinese New Year, which means It Worked,
of the Chinese themselves. commercial suicide, on the part Under similar circumstances, Hankow which seems to be the
greatly affected by the anti-
Japanese boycott, and, the busi
So the British bulldog was walt ing for us round the corner. How ness conditions of that once 窳 C.M.Just one more question. Kind of them to let us know of the
prosperous going
short time ago the nearest rail young sir. Will you kindly tell me trap in time, and what a ded
think that comparatively such
way station of any kind to Pic whether you are
called fool of a Goverdón to give the show Go
cadilly circus was Charing Cross. "Eeros" in future, i
away. When Von Spee "Wee" In-
Eros. But that old Circus was Eros
but how formed he laughed heartily and we
Bs unlike the Circus of to-day as is one, to des
Tattersall's is unlike Brooklands. uniformity Why It was almost as much of an
undertak
then dor
for
for
CYPRUS TO PAY.
£34,000 For Recent Riots
* Damage?
as reparations for the destruction £34,000 will be levied on Cyprus
caused during the recent riots under a measure promulgated..' ., '
amounts.
Six towns will pay varying Nicosia will pay £14,000 and Paphos 2500 £6,000 will be' apportioned among seventy-three villages.
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