NARCISSUS TIME. IN LES AVANTS
FREE ON THE
BOSON OF NATURE"?
FAR FROM THE SORDID
COMMERCE OF THE METROPOLIS!"
Fybniy
"ONE FRANG CÁCH
Lew's
PERSON, MSLEU"
HOLIDAY NOTEBOOK
IN SWITZERLAND
KATHLEEN COURLANDER INTRODUCES A NEW
SERIES OF ARTICLES WHICH
WILL TRACE THE EVOLUTION OF
T
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1947.
"GOOD MORNING.
SWISS
MISS
Fact
THE SWISS NYE BEVAN, I PRESUME"
#Constart in All Countries/
Dissatisfaction In Communal Life
By "CANDIDUS"
HAT the cost of living in Hongkong is utterly fantastic is illustrated in a hundred- -and-one ways. It may be argued that the present Inflation is world-wide. but that does not make the burden any lighter for the individual. There are, however, several aspects peculiar to the Colony which all add to the problems of what may be formed the wage-earning class.
One of the first of these is the question of transportation. Very few workers live within easy distance of their work. In other days, ferries, rickshas. trams and buses were available in sufficient number to cater for the entire com- munity.. Fares were molerate. Today, not only have the coats of transportation increased from one hundred to several hundred percent, but, with the exception of rickshas, it is nothing short of a physical feat to gain access to a tram, ferry or bus. People stand for long periods, hoping. that they will sooner or later be able to get near enough to a tram or bus in order to reach their outlying homes after the day's work,
đ
FOR thousands, the very thought of going home for a mid-day men is entirely out of the question; and from the cheaper restaurants to the more protentious establishments the price of a mid-day meal, has no relation whatsoever to the absurd "Price Index" which is so regularly published in the Press.
To repair a pair of shoes costs, on an The average, three times more than prewar. cost of clothing is from four to five times as high. Rents-scandalous! Room rates in hotels and boarding houses have soured to unconscion- able heights. As much is demanded for a cubicle In Wanchai as would have secured a decent-sized room in the City before the war. As muen is demanded for a hotel or boarding house room would be charged for a small suite in any of London's leading hotels. And so it goes on, in one of the most vicious circles ever known.
THE GUILDS
OF THE CITY OF LONDON
as
And week by week, that ridi- culous, and entirely misleading Price Index is published.
the wax fat on people whose work keeps the Colony going.
Dr Wests
Wests TOOTH PASTE
Outlasts natural bristles more than 2 to l
• Cleans teeth 60% better
• Waterproofed....... anti-soggy Sealed in glass
• Guaranteed for a year
Trade Inquiries to L. D, Soymour & Co., Inc. 43 French Bank Bldg., Hongkong
BAUXITE PROSPECTING STARTED IN MALAYA
Prospecting for bauxite -the ore from which alumi». nium is obtained-has begun at Pengarrang Headland on the Johore Bahru side of the Johore Straits, just opposite Changi, following the renewal of permits for Aluminium Laboratories Limited, a subsidiary of the large Canadian company, Aluminium Limited.
Mr H. R. Hose, representative j "This was in the area in which in Singapore of Aluminium La- we had permits to prospect," he said. "They didn't get very far there boratories Limited, told a re however. They built a road and THROUGH the silvered een- Nearly
porter Chat after developing, started stripping but did no mining. A century later the special events as well as participat- The heyday of the City.Com- turies, the famous Com- Drapers entertained 200 diners in- ing each year in the Lord Mayor's pantes existed in the 13th and 14th
mining, shipping and accumula-
"They alro but plers and mined panies have threaded cluding 40 women who sat in a Show, held still cach November centuries, but when the 18th- and
industri No wonder there is dissatis-ting a stock-pile of bauxite at a very small quantity of bauxite at on alienated their way into the history of Meciul dining-room; the guests of when a new Lord Mayor of London 19th centuries, with the
honour and The women were served comes into office. Medieval
faction in almost every Telok Mas, near Malacca, the Tanjong Rutaala, brought significant Lon- revolution,
land." the City of London, symbolical with "brawn and mustard, capon doners expected much on these se changes to Britain, and the rise of phase of communal life-ex-Japanese during the occupation of the wealth and power
Two stock-plies of bauxite ore, one con- boiled, swan roasted, pike, venison casions from the City
Companies Industri
Industrial cities in other parts of cepting, of course, the pro- started exploration in south east
fairly large one at Telok Mas and -centrated in that famous
ronst. jeliles, pastry, and seldom were they disappoint the country began, the function of fiteers, the racketeers, and all Johore. quails, aturecon, salmon, and mustry, the City Companies began to follow the square
unother, smaller one at Tanjong mile of Britain's metropolis,
Rumania, are now under the control Although their functions have so the Livery were provid- adopted a special form of display different trends. With the change
of the Custodian of Property. vd four sirloins of beef "cut and kept it. for centuries the from hand to mechanized manufae changed in the process of time throughout the ox, six sheep and a
Fishmongers,
for example, cory ture, they censed to be Craft Guilds. and many of their fine Halls alt. Forty gallons of cards
structed a large model ship to wel- They devoted themselves to other musicruc
come back Edward I from His Scot purposes for which they were well were destroyed during the air supplied for the meaf and
tish campaigns, while, when the adapted. raids of World War II. they was provided by minstrels.
When on election feast was held young Richard I was crowned, the continue to flourish, participat- the new Master and Wardens were Goldsmiths built a turreted ing in every event that concerns offered garlands" consisting of un from which wine flowed for the City of London. Their open velvet cap with silver badges freshment of the crowd and leaves traditions aro respected, their and much ceremony accompanied of gold were blown upon the King, while an angel descended and pre- henevolence appreciated as they
senied him with a crown. colour the sombre Hapestry of City life with their pageantry. The City Companies, known also as the Livery Guilds of London,
their presentation.
Companies' Plate
were
not obylous. the host. These Companies inci-
It was due to the localisation, of dentally were often called upon to
various London trades in particular entertain distinguished guests
districts. Thus when all the men of Soper's Lane (now Queen Street) met, their meeting place was the rendezvous of grocers: tailors lived in Birchin Lane, busket-makers Pudding Lane and shmongers
Thamox-oldė.
Meeting Places
position in
Castle
The Grocers had an island of spice trees which were seen in Lord
of business
from Aaracter."
Her dress days a matter of great disagree-
in thus came into being in the City of hold a sceptre in one hand, and in Jaylors cr
ne
in
12
Company
common-sense.
Baritone
Wants Slim
Sopranos
cer-
1
Both
Up To Grade
these accumulations were mined from allenated land by the Japanese. The Custodian will have. to walt until all claimants have been dealt with before he can dispose of the mines and stock-plics.
"The Malacca stock-pile," sold Mr. Hess, "is probably up to the grade which the Japanese were shipping to Japan before Japan's entry into the war."
Aluminium Limited, the holding company in Canada, owns about 40 subsidiary companies altogether throughout the world, including Alu- minium Laboratories Limited; and Aluminium Union Limited-the inst being interested in the sale of alu minium in Malaya and the For East and Pacific zone as a whole.
POOR FISH GET FOOLED
I am told that as much as a thousand dollars a month is paid Importance Of Rank for bathing huts. Never was TODAY there are between 70 and there a form of more despicable 80 Companies, self-contained nouveau riche than those who societies
and profes exact "key money" before they sional men, bound by ceremonial will let a room or dwelling. observances and presided over by
an-Those who pay are not entirely Masters and Wardens elected
Members of Britain's blameless; but in many cases, nually.
found Royal Family are T these banquets, there was a Mayors' processions during the 17th
when they agree to be bled
Baritone Robert Merrill hopes their Freemen; the splendid show
of plate-still century, and the Mercers
sovereign on record to belong to
sheer desperation over-rules the fat ladies with beautiful are referred to vaguely in Anglo possessed by most of the Com Charlot"
grew more elaborate
Company was Edward III who was
Control may be voices are gone from opera for- Saxon chronicles. They were panles and loving cups were pass the years passed. I
passed. The central
difficult, but surely something ever. formed from voluntary associations ed round the tables Instead of the figure in this chariot was "a bout a member of the Mercers' Guild.
Merrill, 29, single and curly- element in them was the trade-usual-custom-of taking-wine-with-ful young gentlewoman of good The Companies attach great Im could be done to protect the
education, and portance to rank, often in Bygone public, religious
haired is one of the younger performers at the New York aatin, fringed with gold, ment. By an order, drawn up
reign, VIII's
there are overscas.
coronet un her hair was a golden As their
ers, school building was erected for 700 Metropolitan Opera House.
"Wo hear the fatties may be com- medieval set with emeralds, diamonds
Companies the Mercers, boys. A school for and ma
400 girls was Fishmongers. days strengthened the Companies sapphires, and from her shoulders Grocers, Drapers, sought permanent premises,
neighbourhood ing back," he explained, "now that
the war is over-but we singers co and hung a crimson velvet robe. Sho Goldsmiths
Haberdasherchant opened. also in the
fine schools and both these
are Saltars,
Many famous men tainly don't want it to happen." Cloth flourishing. Vintners and
heroines, especially Unattractive on London a series of beautiful Halls the other a shield with the Mereers
educated at St Paul's workers. The youngest of. the have been where the Companies' finest posses- arms.
School; among
John heavyweights, Merrill said. are 'them are slons were on show. Some of the
inany minor companies is the City Churchill, Duke of Marlborough and pain in the larynx to any singer.
"Other
don't sometimes men Repeatedly the Companies lent of London Solicitors' noblemen's THESE Carly voluntary associn- original premises were
realise this," he said. Their wives Samuel Pepys, the noted diarist,
they tions had a religious background houses, and until World War II the the Government money for various which was granted a Livery on May ancestor of Mr Winston Churchill,
Hall of the Merchant Taylors
Lo was schemes of adventure, and gradual- 24, 1944. Fraternities. Hat of and were known
Buffer. They
think never stop
The only artificial fishing, worm in the series which follows. Barry and in modern times, Field-Marshal take them to the opern, and the older in existener. Bu out of ly from the City Companies, others
Lord Montgomery.
suffer, joo. singers that we poor
manufacturer to members The
attend the U.S. assembled at
teas Peak will deal with these oversees
of Manufac- church, manastery, or hospil, the the total of 35 Halls, during 1940 originated which traded
the Guilds in nine articles; covering, in ́ There are many other famous How do I feel it I am singing a saint of which they adopted as their and 1941, 17 were destroyed and 15 and brought much wenith lo
Cily. Notable among these are the turn, the Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, charitable institutions
to a fatty? I with every note, National Association
|turers' regional meeting in Portland, fund damaged.
also count her wrinkles?" patron, and from a common
Oregon, was Hugh Loud, of Detroit. Throughout the centuries, the Hudson Bay Company which Im- Fishermongers, Goldsmiths, Skin-by the Company. Sir Kichard they paid subsidles to provide altar
on ported furs from Canada, and the ners, Merchant Taylors, Vintners, Gresham, three times Master of the singing alongside such Met nifties as Merrill said he wanted to keep
His product, which "looks like the lights and services for the de- Companies spent much money
pageantry, on stoging
for East India Company,
and Clothmakers.
Company
obtained grants from the ceased.
Lily Pons, Rise Stevens, Patric Mun-real McCoy," he said, "and is better Crown to the City of London for The livery of the Guilds ._still
the four Royal Hospitals-Christ's Fel, Nimi Benzell, Dorothy Kirsten, than the real McCoy has been in- rist Blanche Thebom and Liels Albanese. troduced on the shelves of sporting worn by the Liverymen.or first-
Hospital (the famous blue cont rankers--was influenced by the
"If I had to choose between two gonds stores in America to meet the school), st Thomas's
in Hospital
take needs of fishermen who "like to go Jobes or gowns with hoods worn by
Southwork, Bethlehem and Bride-sopranos," he said, "I would different
the beautiful girl with an excellent fishing, but dislike the early morning monks, Until the Re-
Gresham well. Sir Richard
one with a chase of angleworm hunting,” formation in England those liverles
Also King's merchant or agent in volce over the ugly were parti-coloured in bright hues.
are made of Flande
an office in which he was super-super tone."
Merrill hopes that the Met, when The nightcrawlers red and blue, or red and purple
by: his 50л, Sir Thomas but after that period they became
it starts importing talent again, will red or brown plastic and are pattern- Gresham. If was Sir Thomas try some of the same.
ed-after-the-regional breeds of the more subdued. There was a
ESPITE the fact that the Chapel The Mercers, unlike the other who became Mayor of London four
Gresham who founded London's
United States. They're about five the tinction between those who might and Hall
never been a times. It is recorded Mercers' Cily Gullds. have the. of
"When Rise Stevens plays Royal Exchange and Gresham Cal- King wear the gown and hood, and those
Henry
earthwornis, tiile role in 'Carmen' and I play the inches long and are resilient and hose Company, senior
London's trading Company and did not, even banquet when of
lege. The Royal Exchange was, In who were entitled only to wear the City Guilds in order of precedence, in early days, obtain Dowers from wife, Catherine) praised the great those days, a meeting place for both part of Escamillio," Merrill said, "it"stretchy like regular
were hood. These original hues are re-
burning with were blitzed in on enemy, air raid the Crown, for the supervision of fires which
cedar and
wood. th English and foreign merchants, perfumed tained still by the Guilds as their during World War II, the Mercers persons of any trade in the City of cedar "colours."
wishing to Impress are rejoicing that their collection of London. The Mercers were, as the Mayor
Mercator)
Technical Education threw Mercier
of (from
£00,000 worth clement fine pictures, stored--
safety namo subordinated
bunds on the Bres. to the m- during the war, has been
and
Incidentally Richard Whittington ng from the inception of the Company
A FAMOUS Institution which their fluence of the trade and they be to them. They дте
work City Companies have helped to carne craft
guilds. As they in many of these.
of them, traded in remote underlood much rebuilding paintings as they are many
City creased in wealth and power they able in the accommodation that re- parts of the world. However, trad- in London; he rebuilt the church in found in recent times is the began to organise their trades and mains to them. This collection of ing, as with other City Companies, the parish of St Michael, Paternos and Guilds of London Institute for
and "mysterica" as they were pictures contains a portrait of Sir was not carried on in the City of ter Row, in which he lived and the
from the French Thomas Gresham by Holbein, London.. and formed
Thecally the religious
dig
1.
shows
The Senior Company
By BARRY PEAK
tored implics, a body of merchante."
another by the same orlist, of Sir com-
dis-
genet times.
Sinnding Amid the biltzed
cera' Hall, one senses the enormous Although their loss that has occurred by air
rald
the
to
Lord
famous
that at
*1422.-
the
the
advancement
maintained
Was
Bongo
love
is a pleasure. Just to look at that only they're not gooey," he said. Stevens makes you wish to sing."
Loud :admitted that the artificial But this is not quito the feeling nightcrawler is a mean trick on fish,
elgarette To them, it must be like when Carmen, the sllek
biting
walks out on the stage weigh-Into a wax apple,
around 250 pounds, Cheered When She Foll
has
Tiny Atom Bombs Help Research
"I played "Carmen' onco with a of technical also Newgate Prison, he repaired education. From this. has evolved fatty, Merrill said, "and almost col- I could hardly wait conduits at his own ex- the, Department of Technology, lapsed a hmg. City
Department thia
to come. 1, almost- the for the end pleto
to prevent outside Lionel buckett. An interesting -Dick Whittington: pense and contributed handsomely Through
the stopped singing and cheered. after competition. The Masters of the painting in the collection is that.of
the rebuilding of St Barthoin- Institute is connected with all
Britain she was finally stabbed."
University of Pittsburgh pro- Guilds and their Wards drew up Sir Richard Whittington, here of HERE it is Interesting to note that mew's Hospital, the Guildhall and chief technical schools in
But even if the Met keeps 1ts the ordinances, controlled thet standard the old London tala and one of the the Great Companies of the Mer-
Library of the
glamour girls--instead of getting rid fessors are working with minta- of workmanship, the weges
of greatest City, magnates in Plante- chants of the Staple and the Mar. London. He died in orporation of, and with many of those overseas.
The Guilds of the City of London of them, as sume critics have, aug ture atomic bombs in an effort cs 80 centuries Mercers During the journeymen, the number and treat
chant Adventurers of England were, have been elected either Mayors or are doing a great deal to dasist the gested-Merrill
- ខ
hia to develop now fuels for fet- ment of apprentices, and exercised
advancement of.
and problems. ruing offshoots of the Mercers and the been elected eith
Jearning, of London. Jurisdiction over all domestic
They Mayors
through their efforts three famous "I, personally, will give $1,000," he propelled, aircraft and rockets. pules. Royal Charters, were grant of what was once the historie hier growth of foreign trade and English founded and maintained some
commarcels attributed to them.
Their research, an outgrowth of great work really the
educational Institutions. technical colleges and schools, have said, to any composer writing a suc ed to them, equipping them with -corporate rights.
best-l:nown school been founded. Over £1,000,000 has cessful opern, in which the baritone secret war worle, also may result In damage; on the floor, semi-circular were precursors
camo to an end In Tudor times, they
· Fellowship-
Baritones, it seems, neven fare too new metallic alloys capable of with City and Gulkis of the East India with which they have been connect been spent on those Institutions, the gels; the girl," marks painted in white Indicate the Company and other: famous trading ed is St Paul's, founded by Dr John chief being the
South well in operas. In the words of the standing the high heat generated in NE of their functions was to en- spot where the Freemen of
they're villains, Jet engines, Colet, iast Dean of St Paul's Cathe the Companies of later times.
Kensington College, in
There
also
who never courage social fellowship, and Company sat when
dral before the Reformation. the
fathern, or just good cy3 Master pre-
Directing the hardling of the Uny tion with the Royal associa-bitter Merrill; what were originally simple feasts sented, the
the. Com- of
bombs, which may explody, upon It was by Royal Charter in 1393 father, Sir Henry Colet, was
ence and the
School of seem to get anywhere. developed as time passed, into mag- pany to Mr
do contact with ordinary air, are Dr Churchill.
"Take me," said Merrill, “I Section nificent banquets that were
held
Although Mercers' Company as power to purchase and
history traces the exis- camu a Corporation and received been the first in be styled until the outbreak of World War II. tence o
hold land Mayor,"
and Technology. These and other Kirsten, Alda' with Thebom, nit | Maron.co
Traviata with Albanese. But Sarma of the early accounts of these far back as the reign of Henry 1. In uid or the support of the poor. St Paul's School was opened in educational Institutions give young
Bikewers loned lows before the baring the query time some other, man gets the ments will produce results unlimited
long this. £38 on a notable-banquet wie es gan order of the Intrusted the Company with the Great Fire of London in 1080, the Mercers, with other great City:
direction 1⁄4 of exceddingly important "the Mercers robuilt it, and ire Companies, play the part of "od swans were provided at 38. id. each, af St Thomas of Acon was founded, charities - and in course of time,, maided on that slig until about. 40. fathers of the future... two geese at eightpence, 4b capons and fought for the Faith in the Holy they willed much property to the years ago when the school Was at sixpence, 10 copies at threepence, Land. Later the order was morged Mercers.
transtérrad, to the healthtar. Helgh-. 48 partridges at fourpeace, and 18 In the Order of the Knights Temnd of the most patriotic deeds bourhood of West Kensington. Hero dozen larks at fourpened in addition plara and had headquarters in the Was performed. -by-Sir Richard 10 acres of land were bought from to many other birds, restoring Holy Land and Cyprus,
Wngton, the famous poor boy the revenue of the school and a new
ONE
an
"Lord"
His entothe
Sclence of tho imperial
that, the Fraternity of Mercers be- eminent Mercer, and is said to have, Mines, as the En Sucia' with. Pons, sing Faust' with Gobbard, Stegeman and Dr Leo 8.
of.
NEXT WEEK. The Popperers And
The Grocerse
catches one or two kisses from in peace and war, and certainly fin“.
the leading lady in "Carmen" |portant in the field of synthalle or-
"But just which I'm gotung to ganie chemistry fest base, her complained, -"some- ja avanz obe allps her, the knife.google. *Park of the programme · Isl-being.
So you can judge for yourself, sponsored by the US Navy De- The life of a baritono is generally partment. "A grant" ban" been given cad
Tiho university by the department, v