Empire Notes

Imperial Airways, Ltd., the veteran cross-channel firm, did not send forth last week, as scheduled, their Air Cruise Ship which was to have circled the Mediterranean in a "luxury flight" of 35 days (TIME, Dec. 5). Reason: not one man, woman or child had booked a ticket.

During a temporary absence from London, last week, of the Home Secretary, Sir William ("Jix") Joynson-Hicks, his duties were undertaken by Foreign Secretary Sir Austen Chamberlain, famed Nobel Peace Prize winner (TIME, Dec. 20, 1926), who shortly acted to ensure the hanging of two murderers at Cardiff, by refusing an appeal for clemency which had been signed by numerous petitioners and was presented by "Father of the House of Commons" T. P. O'Connor. The plea for the murderers arose both from a widespread conviction of their innocence and from reports that the local prosecutor for the Crown had proceeded with "shameful irregularity" during the trial.

Chairman Reginald M'Kenna of the great Midland Bank, Ltd., onetime Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, stated sensationally in London, last week, that the purchasing power or value of the pound and of all other currencies based on gold is now controlled by the U. S. Federal" Re- serve System, because it is able to control the purchasing power or value of gold itself.

Said Financier M'Kenna with keen logic:

"America is able to control the world price level. ... If the price level out-side of America should rise because of an increase in the supply of gold, America would absorb the surplus gold. If the external price level should fall because of a shortage of gold, America would supply the deficiency. . . . She now holds half of the total monetary gold of the world."

When the Canadian Pacific Empress of France sailed from Manhattan on a World Cruise, last week, she carried 3 1/2 tons of food and clothing for the 127 subjects of King-Emperor George V who inhabit without formal government the desolate Atlantic isles of Tristan da Cunha (1,500 miles South-Southeast of St. Helena), still chiefly populated by raucous, strutting, squabbling penguins.

Significant is the recent report of British Surgeon Commander Rickard who has declared officially that the marriages with-in families which have taken place at Tristan da Cunha of necessity for over a century have had no bad effect upon their qualities, that the characteristics of the people are longevity, good health, and a certain shyness of disposition.

Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, President of the Board of Trade, estimated last week that Great Britain's trade balance for 1927 was favorable in the amount of -L-96,000,-000, as opposed to the unfavorable balance of -L-7,000.000 recorded for 1926, the year of the great General Strike and Coal Strike. The 1927 figure, although encouraging, stands at little more than half the huge favorable balance which Britons considered normal just prior to the War.