1958-04-25 — Page 4

THE CHINA MAIL, FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1958,

THE Chium Mall today gives first airing to a new experiment in Interviewing. Over a well-laden table-top are brought together two people, who could (with reasonable be clamed respectively su saini and sinner. Recording and refereeing tho encounter is. Patricia Lewis, who is pledged to bring out the best of both worlds:

Saints and Sinners

I sinning should ever require formal dress I propose Mr Terry-Thomas

as Number-One Style Setter. With marvellous, un-self-conscious flair I he arrived to sup with my "saint" as if straight from a conference on soul-mates with Mr Downstairs..

bar

of EJ-

the curtains covering the There was rush of cold night wind doorway billowed... and in the gap appeured T.-T. like the embodiment

wardana.

Itis coat was gray with a curly-fur collar. His suit was dark, cuffed at the wrists, and open to show a splendid wasiit of fermenting-plum satin with golden disc, silver watch and smoky topaz hanging from the fob-pocket,

In the He grinned famously. And They sutu between his well-spaced front beloved by Edward VII and a teeth i noticed an ebony of a sudden T.-T. went right off when be found cigarette holder entwined with Edwardians gold and diamonds like Eden's there was a not-so-gemutlich serpent.

Craught breezing up his stove- ulpes.

was

LONDON

DRAMAS

the

The storm in the

pepper pot

THE PLAN MEANT A QUICK FORTUNE AND NOTHING COULD STOP IT-EXCEPT

THE REMARKABLE DISCOVERY THAT TRADERS IN THE EAST HAD PEPPER

UP THEIR SLEEVES

by ALEXANDER THOMSON

The nominal world crop was

the

was February 8, 1984 The second member of the -London in the frat luncheon party was • dumpy pramite of spring.. At the little man, Mr Garabed Blahit- gian, a successful City merchant Adelphi Theatre in the with a mansion in Park Lane. Strand, Gertrude Lawrence The others were a company appearing In the director, and a Mr Walker, who Nymph Errant. Jack

was a produce broker.

Mr Walker suggested that o Buchanan Immaculate as handsome proft could be made ever in top hat, white tie in dealing in pepper, and tails, was in Mr Whit- Prices were low, he explained. Increasing who've rol only tington at the Hippodrome; Consumplica was corner famous men...

careers but their Chelsea was bottom of the every year, and the market price could be doubled without rusted their whole lives because they drank | League; and a radio firm affecting the retail price. and didn't

how know

to. was demonstrating an elec- He believed that a purchase were all very tric Naturally, they

eye "which will bring or 3,000 tons worth £252,000

This company had acquired Bank. Another was Sir Hugo would procure complete control rmolinnal types, Mind you,

12,000 tons, Yel suppiles were another concern, Willioms Henry Cunilife he whispertd, "most comedian talking pictures into

Owen,

tobacco of the market and allow the

still coming in from the East, and Co., through which they millionaire. are manic depressives until home."

buyers to realise a big proft

had been operating,

When the creditors of James However,

menu was they've had a couple."

the While Londoners crowded the before, next season's crop In fact they his

continued

Bul the Jures and Shaks- and Shakspeare met the Official brought and T.-T. ivised Mr

his steak streets, buses and shops a group came in.

come in until stocks in Landon peare prospectus did not say a Receiver in April 1935, he re- Thler to try the turtle soup- T.-T. returned to SUIT.

of men sat at lunch discussing It all looked so simple. How rose to more than 18,000 tons,

ferred to both men. And Mr Tayler while Mr Tayler thoughtfully

werd about pepper. onc of The most

So the me...wila shurry.

dramatic could it possibly fail? him the digested his duck.

Clearly, something had gone The shares were offered with- No evidence had been found, would get

gambles evet.

with gamble that produced the drama wrong #longak T-T.

gamble in out the public being told that he said, that Mr McKenna was rack but would he sig bls

"Of course," he said after a The homely pepper pot was of the pepper pot was launched. pipper. But, what could it be they were to be tied up to n interestal in pepper, daughter's autograph beok any-

minute, "inedically speaking their target. They planned to Quietly Mr Bishirgich began Gradually, the truth sank in.

company already committed to connected with the company. way?

drink's a depressant:...o drug 'corner" world supplies of white buying pepper for the group at These big men, operating from a gamble à pepper.

A MONSTER It goes

straight to the brain, pepper, and double their money around 9d, a lb.

Landon, were being outwitted by

The gamble came unstuck

But it was true that he had stilling self-crilicisin. scifun year,

native traders thousands of Desperately, Mr Howeson tried underwritten 10,000 of its But instead respect, and....

They bought their 3,000 tone they lost

niles away.

to prevent further supplies of shares, and, according to Mr £1,000,000. Three of them, all Bul to their surprise fresh sup-

The rise in the price of pepper pepper being shipped from

the Howesan, Aghast. The comedian pushed highly regarded in the City, Plies quickly arrived from

was bringing out from odd East-but falled. aside his pinte.

ended up in gaol.

East.

nooks and crannies supplies that And the Lurd Chief Justice They continued to buy. Their nobody knew existed. suld the excuses they

to 6,000 affered pile of pepper grew

So instead of cornering the ions. were no more than those of an

The shortage they had pepper market, the buyers were anticipated still did not orise. themselves being cornered.

There was always more And more pepper arriving to replace the quantities they took off the market.

He pegged his coal, and I saw, with a start, a blxt-cod carnation spurting from buttonhole.

"Jolly good show!" he "You're ahead of

have a Campari with twist of range-peel. barmen!"

Signed

the pledge

I

it was MUST explain that

only myself who was abrid of Mr Thomas, for my other Rev. Robert was the Ruest Гаудет, 62-year-old, Teelotul Fecretary of the Band of Hope Union-the gentleman who, last summer, got four peers and 39 M.Ps to sign a pledge to abstrin from alcohol.

"I say!" exclaimed Terry- Thomas, eyeing Mr Tayler quiet, self-patterned stiver tie. "Don't you wear a dog-collar?"

While TT was covering a yellow page with red ink Mr Tyler said it was a pity every- body thought abstainers were priggish because really they were just like ordinary people.

"I've lived too, you know," he WES up with the said

shermen in Newfoundland once. and it took three months to get doctor. my broken leg to n Those boys were tough they red to make moonshine out of boat-polish,"

"Boot-polish!" echoed T-T,

myself wine man "I'm terribly fond of it."

Mr Tayler smiled patiently. Those

"Not for business-people think you must be stupid about com.

inercial metiers." T-T. tried a

new tack. Well, are you a comedians

Sabbatarlan? Because I've want-

ed to get to grips with one ever since I spent Edinburgh.'

Sunday in

us was

Mr Tayler ordered an orange Juice and cok a deep breath.

But, Mr Thomas, there must be rules-otherwise our Sunday is in danger of becoming a Continental Sunday, and then what happens to the children?-

"Mr Taylor! Are you serious? When you see e non relaxed

and laughing his head off do you really think he's depressed?"

"Well, if he isn't at first he will be later."

"But, if you deprive this man of his drink, Just who are you burtleg? Net yourself, because

you don't like it"

even drink "I know, i enn't beer. Yel when I think it could be my boy or a million like him I'm convinced there's evil In alcohol,"

Terry-Thomas shook his head, alled the top off a cigar and worked it into a second, stubbier wiwly the

cue holder, for the premier cru. - Pulling

T.-T.

the URLE ordered

excellent '40

caught, he chuckled. Burgundy. Mr Tyler ordered a mouth-watering Pussyfoot"

tobacco

"I say! Wouldn't we loye a "Now, sir." cried T.-T. "You lot of jokes If it weren't for old w what the Bible says demon drink? Did you hear the (Timothy-V-verse-23,-1-think) ere about the drunk

1s the way the Continental use

A

"Our other reason against Drink no longer water, but staggered up to a house, knocked thy on the dour, and asked if I was *The Alcoholics Anonymous! owner said: Yes, do you want to Jola?

No, I want to resign!

Sunday crecles unnecessary stomach's sake”?" work fer people who should be taking their day-of-rest

who

for Hitle wine

"My stomach's all right as it

In

The

"MS Tayiqr, I'm in show " espard Mr Tayler, raising business, and in my profession his fruit-spliced tumbler you're lucky if you get one free salute. Sunday In ien."

"But that doesn't help the children."

"Oh! Come now. Kids of 12

and 13 don't drink......

T-T pressed on regardless. "What about when Solomon-

the hundred-and-fourth Psalm.

flice-boy who took halt-a-crown

out of a till because he had

good tip for the Grand National.

THE PLOTTERS

The most spectacular of them was Mr John Howeson, a tail,

handsome man of 50 who was

one of the leaders in the world's

in-mining industry,

He was a man of distinction.

com He was a director of 19 panics, cud chairman of 12. They had a total share capital of £35 million.

the

By this tire they were beavily committed.

To turn

back would mean big losses. If

this

to

They had heavy commitments to meet, and not enough spare cash with which to mert them. Their drama was beginning to look like a tragedy.

Until now, their actions had

been perfectly straightforward.

But here they took a step In the wrong direction. They

He and Bishirgian then sough! help from bankers, brokers and shippers-bul also without auc-

cess

or was

Issue the proposed had been discussed with him,

Sir Hugo Cunliffe-Owen had underwritten 20,000 shares, But he was emphatic that his only Interest was as an ordinary in- Finally, February. 1935, vektor, and that he had no idea just a year ofter the

pepper the company was Involved in gamble had started, a petition was presented for the winding up of the James and Shakspeare firm because it could not meet ith debts,

Now the drama was nearing they pressed un, they might still

its climax as Londe looked on. make the hoped-for killing.

And even bigger names began So they decided to push aheid, floated a company named James to te mentioned and by September had contracts and Shakspeare, and issued unc was Mr outstanding for the purchase of a prospectus offering £400,000 McKenna, a former Chancellor 11,840 tons of pepper worth worth of its Preference and of the Exchequer, and at that

Ordinary shores for sale.

time chairmen of the Midland

£ 1,055,000.

HOW

TO

A LOVE

And the drunk satHAT makes a good Wlove letter, Behind the

I recall)talks of the wine that last laugh

"Don't they though! Guts of maketh-gid-the-hosilalanguten

Setting his glass down beside 14 dress up as 18 and go into

badly the duck a l'orange, Mr Tayler pubs and misbehave 4)

leke Them looked Indulgent. the police

heye lo home. Convictions for drunker- ness among young people have increased by nearly 200 per cent since 1940.

"How is it. Terry, that you quote all this when you're so suspicious of men who toxis?"

quelc

SAINT

words in the love letters of Lana Turner

опе

сать

WRITE

LETTER

A TIMELY LESSON

almest see the film cameras BY DONALD GOMERY

turning.

Sinner And laughed....and went on about his visit to Bahrelathe and laughing through Terry's stories Arabs were amazed to Brd I'm naturally ambidextrous" and

Not suspicious, Mr Tayler. Mr 11/

sceptical Remember my name is Thomas!"

In the silence that followed, it seemed it

motnet good organise sume food.

The atmosphere WE moved

upstairs and Terry-Thomas saki how much he liked eating where we were because it had such "gemutlich" atmosphere.

* Opulently cory,

A

The Rev. Robert

Tayler

Taylor's tales about the Band of Hope's founder, a Mrs- Carille, from Dubin-"who didn't sign the pledge until she was past 70."

om

SO on.

Many

such

Miss Turner

on

Music......

Reginald

will

pupper,

The Official Receiver called the pepper gamble a Franked- stein monster which hod den voured those who launched it.

He told the creditors of James and Shakspeare: "The respon- albility for the misleading nature the prospectus 13 under serious consideration."

of

And so the final act of the great pepper drama wus

-pre-

sented at the Central Criminal

Court.

The trial lasted nine days, while London looked on in fascinated astonishment that such important people could get so mixed up.

Bishirglan was found guilty of publishing a misleading pro- WAK found spectus. Howesen guilty of alding and abetting hlm.

The sentences were 12 months! 'Imprisonment -in-the-second- division. They

did their time in Wormwood Scrubs, where they quickly earned the coveted posi tions -of-"leaders;"-

And from another "sample" Soon John Howeson, who a love letter "AS you

little time before had been guess. I'm writing this in my chairman of a dozen important lunch hour and old Smithy is companies, was elected chair- pcering over his spres, in a man of the prison leaders. frightfully curious way, but

RELEASED trying hard not to let me know I wonder if he wrote letter like this to Mra 5. a ecuple of hundred years ago? It's hard to believe."

It certainly is.

ERE is sample love letter at an early stage: "I re- member when, we met you ind.cate mentioned that you were "In-

In this capacity he persuaded the governor to grant privileges which others had so far folled to obtain,

After serving their sentences both men act up in business again.

But that last letter-seems-le-

that over-boy may is terested in music and that you have been tuting his letter at

played the piano....I hope that work,

Do people, even today, you will not mind my taking the type love letters? That perhaps

But the most horrible thought of music club...."

Not at all.

liberty of inviting you to join a oli,

Is no literary be left out of the ending." T miss you.

want genius; she has afflle education Hardly you. I ache for you. I

to speak of. Yet the words ring clearly, the phrases are well- both your

woman and I need turned;

even though for the MY MAN! to you.

love stranger there is,

as always, embarrassment in reading coldly be loved by."

the sentences hotly written. And phrases.

But of course no education needed though education How easy for her to recall," hand if need be." conselously or sub-consciously, werds often spoken in make-

In front of me is a selection "But," "he continued, "I have

believe in a score of Alm love of books on cliquette and "How sernes. All that she did not to write a letter." Each with right to put my case for keep- But Terry-Thomas bad.

"How to the add was that firul cliche of the pasting reference to ing young people away from last word. Savouring the Anal Aims: "This is something bigger write a love letter. All with drink. I've a teenage son. And sip of Burgundy, he said: "than both of us."

warnings on the preliminary he might be one of the free- venture to suggest, Mr Tayler,

danger of writing love letters out-of-10 men who, once they

But do at all. take a drink, become drunkards, Statisties prove this happens. I have a responsiblity and if he did make a tool of himself I'd feel terrible,"

"Quite so, Mr Tayler. I per- Bonally

Jaughed good-naturedly.

know

many men....

that if you'd had a glass of this excellent wine you would not be taking such a pessimistic view of drink and drinkers."

Sound argument. But judging from the way I felt the morning after I'm not sure it wasn't Me Tayler who had the last laugh.

Cynicall? Perhaps. others do any better?

No reckless words of passion Film star or typist, young er here, then. Says one book: old, humble or grand, the same The normal rules for begin- phrases come tumbling out. (As ning and ending letters do not people who study the Divorce apply to love letters." But: Court reports know.)

'love' cannot well

"The word

the

to

3

No, it is no good. You simply Later, in another book, love affair (under the heading: connot teach people how

write love letters. Chally letter from a

gentle-

wonderfully foolish talent that man to his fiancee") has reached

everyone in love, Lane or Liza, the

interesting following

Johnny or Bill, possesses. moment:-

"It is pouring with rain this morning so I thought I would just stay Indoors and write you a letter....Have you started rerding the book I gave you? ....is your aunt belter today!"

"I've stuck three days of his 'Good old Bertie!' 'The meatber'i] be katter tomorrow, Bertie."--You Just-witch Bortle If there's aʼcinoma la 'the next town,?!

ICING

and

Bishirglan-whase-original- climb to owning a Park Lem mansion had been on £3 bor- rowed to import caviare, opened modest offices In the City.

war time restrictions limited his opportunities, he died before the war ended.

John Howeson went into the plastics business, with a factory bear Reading. He died in 1931. The drama of their pepper pool faded away as quietly as it had begun,

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