SPECTABILIA
I HAVE received from the Scottish National Memorial to David Livingstone a booklet telling of the efforts to purchase the house and surrounding grounds at Blantyre, near Glasgow, where Livingstone spent his early years. Admirers of Livingstone in all parts of the world are invited to provide the sum of 112,000 to prevent the demolition of the house. There were few men in the nineteenth century whose life-work was more inspiring than that of Livingstone.
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This is not merely an.appeal from Scotland to Scotsmen ; it is an appeal to all who hold, dear the things that Living- stone stood for when he opened up the Dark continent and helped to root out the slave traffic. The house at Blantyre and the adjoining wooded park and river bank where Livingstone played as a boy are within a few miles of half the population of Scotland. And if the appeal is to succeed, as every reader of the Spectator must desire, it will become one of the chief shrines of the English- speaking world. Two of the best-known shrines of great men in Scotland are the home of Robert Burns at Alloway which attracts over 50,000 visitors yearly, and that of Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford 1, isited by 15,000. When the house of Blantyre has been reconditioned it should attract even larger numbers by reason of its situation. Those desiring to help should send their contributions to James MacGregor Hart, Esq., Honorary Treasurer, 142 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow. Cheques should be made payable to the account of the Scottish National Memorial to David Livingstone, and crossed, "The Clydesdale Bank, St. Vincent Place."
On Tuesday a large meeting of school teachers from the London area was held at the Imperial Institute, South Kensington, which was arranged by Sir William Furse to popularize the Institute as a factor in educating both young people and the general public in the history and geography of the Empire. Certainly in the past there was room fly the introduction of up-to-date methods at the Imperial Institute. I must confess to only having visited it twice during the past twenty years and there was only a mere handful of sightseers wandering through its vast halls. If a visitor from Mars had suddenly dropped down among its exhibits he would have returned to his fellow-Martians with the belief that London cared nothing about the Empire.
* * The new galleries at the Imperial Institute seek to keep alive that enthusiasm for Imperial matters which was awakened by Wembley, and I hope that many thousands of Londoners and overseas visitors will go there. But the Imperial Institute is more than a gallery of Empire exhibits ; it has done much to develop the Empire's mineral resources. It is also stimulating interest in Empire development generally. Its Silk Committee spent some time investigating the silk industry of Cyprus ; Great Britain had hitherto been almost entirely dependent upon foreign countries for her supplies of raw silk. After technical trials the Committee found that the Cyprus cocoons yielded an excellent silk, and it became evident , that the establishment in Cyprus of a modern silk reeling -factory, to reel the cocoons into thread on the spot would be of great benefit to the island. As a result a fully equipped factory was opened by the Governor, Sir Malcolm Stevenson, on Empire Day this year.
Many causes have combined to make the Imperial Conference which will assemble on October 19th of exceptional interest. Two of the Premiers, Mr. Bruce from Australia, and Mr. Mackenzie King from Canada, are old friends, but it is the personality of General Hertzog which will arouse most interest. In making his speeches in London the South African Premier will have to remem- ber his back-veld supporters in the Transvaal and in the Free State. It will be instructive therefore to hear what he has got to say to us about South Africa's place in the British Commonwealth. Will he knuckle under to the extremists, or, like his great predecessor, General Botha, will he have a wide enough vision to realize that South Africa's best interests lie Within the ambit of the Britannic alliance ? The presence of Mr. Mackenzie King, fresh from his triumph at the Canadian polls, will be most welcome. The Temperance Party in Ulster is renewing its Cam- paign on behalf of Local Option. A nieasure of temper. ance reform has already been passed by the Ulster Parliament ; Sunday closing is in force, a deputation from the Temperance movement in Ulster recently visited the United States, and according to the Belfast correspondent of the Times, it has returned with glowing accounts of the beneficial effects of Prohibition on the prosperity of that country. There is little likelihood, I believe, of Ulster rescinding its decision as regards Sunday closing.
* I wonder which county in England has the most beautiful old churches. Surely southern Kent would be hard to beat. Strange to say, despite the large number of motorists and visitors to this part of England, very few of them find their way to some of the most interesting villages and the oversea visitor is a rara avis in such places. To any lover of the beautiful, with a few days to spare, I would recommend a motoring tour through Thanet, East Kent, through Romney Marshes to the Sussex border, armed with Mr. Walter Jerrold's Highways and Byways in Kent (Macmillan). * * Here are three of the smallest churches in England. They are Barfreston, a rare specimen of Norman architee- ture, about ten miles from Sandwich ; Paddlesworth, another Norman building which is perched up six hundred feet above the sea only a few miles from Folkestone and is approached by such narrow winding lanes that one might fancy oneself in Devonshire ; and then perhaps Most quaint of all is the diminutive church of St. Thomas a Becket at Fairfield in a lonely part of the marsh country, four miles from Appledore. Fairfield church, which was well restored by the Ecclesiastical Commis- sioners twelve years ago, is reached by a grassy " sheep- cropped " dyke across the marshes. Services are held here only in the summer months because in the winter the church is often surrounded by water.
In this part of England the interesting churches are dotted over the landscape with a liberal hand. Too often American and other oversea travellers visit only the cathedral cities and some of the best-known tourist centres, such as Stratford-on-Avon, Warwick, Chester, and Exeter. But if they would see ancient England they would leave the main roads with their endless pro- cession of cars and wander about the narrow lanes and unfrequented villages. In no country in the world Will they find more beauty and enjoyment.
A letter to the Times tells of the praiseworthy attempt to dedicate to the nation the old home of the Pepys family at Brampton, which adjoins Hinehingbrooke, Lord Sandwich's house near Huntingdon. A memorial of Samuel Pepys is needed. Apparently the small sum of £400 is still required to restore the house. There must be himdreds of readers of the Spectator in the United States and the Dominions, admirers of Samuel Pepys, Who -Would like to lend a hand in the tiCsk of restoring his old home and Of making it a shrine for the English-speaking peoples. Those willing to help are asked to send their contributions to the Hon. Treasurer, Mr. G. T. Whitelen 14 Porchester Terrace, London, W. 2.
There will be a picturesque gathering in South Africa, at Queenstown in Cape Province on Dingaans Pa) (December 16th), when the largest gathering of natil-ei ever held will come together to protest against the pro' posed exclusion of the Union Jack from the national flag. -I wonder what General Hertzog will say on this subject