U is interesting to see, by the way, that the French Parliament is again being importuned to give women the vote; this, as the result of the recent congress of the Women's Suffrage National Union. The Duchesse de la Rochefoucauld presided at the congress, as she must have been doing. for 30 years past. Neither her, nor the Union's, arguments have ever moved a diehard Senate, from its antagonism to women's votes, and it oes not appear that success is more Ukely now. But with some know: ledge of France, I believe that the real cause of the women's failure is the women themselves. French-women know exactly how to get what they want in the things that matter, and polities do not appeal to them In either category.
Belisha Once Again Mr, Here-Belisha has naturally raised loud cries from the motoring associations by announcing that he will "give favourable consideration", to applications from local authorities for leave to ban the use of motor-horns altogether. The argument is, of course, that if motorists are. forbidden to hoot, they will drive with extra-special care—the horn, being a weapon both of offence and. defence, to blast pedestrians out of the way and to justify the running-down of them if they refuse to be blasted. The standard example is. that of Helsingfors, where, since the use of motor horns was forbidden. in 1990, the number of accidents has been halved. But the horn may always be used in Helsingfors in 2 cal emergency.
That Helpless Feeling Any driver, whose horn has suddenly gone out of action, knows the awful feeling of helplessness hat ensues, and how very, very carefully, one drives to the nearest garage. On the other hand, the "most careful driver is equally helpless if a pedestrian suddenly gets off the pavement without looking round; ¢0 there are certainly times when use of the horn as justifiable as it is necessary. And apropos of this. point barriers along pavements are to be tried this" week at some of London's busiest trame junctions. So what with Belisha beacons, light signals, and palisades to prevent pedestrians from committing suicide, our streets are rapidly becoming a pretty sight, But the traffic problem is univer sal; even Venice suffers from it. Toe picturesque gondola is being ousted by motor launches, and these churn up the canals, endanger the foundations of buildings and wake the silentest city in the world with hideous hooting. Now the Prefect of Police has forbidden them to ply fon the Grand Canal, with the na-fural result of the uproar that we know so well in England, and more so, The Italian language is singularly rich in serins of objurgation.
Maligned Maidenhead Much sympathy may be felt for Maidenhead in the protest it is make ing against the night-club nuisance. There are said to be scores of them fon the four-mile stretch between Maidenhead and Taplow, and while some of them are " respectable enough, others decidedly are not, and they all lead to noise and disturbance at unearthly hours. Several residents complain that they have had to move house because of night clubs, and 1,300 of them are appealing to Parliament.
Maidenhead thas always had rather an unhappy time. In the early "nineties Jerome K. Jerome wrote in "Three men in a Boat" that Maldenheid is too snobby to. be! pleasant. It is the haunt of tRe river Swell and his overdressed. female Companion. It is the town of showy. hotels, patronized by dudes and ballet And, of course, the motor-car, shooting down the joy-riders from London in half-an-hour or so, has made matters worse. But. Maldenhead is not the only sufferer. Hammer smith, Esher, Kingston, and the approaches to' Farnborough and Camberley (only to mention districts that I know) are thick with night= clubs. New ones seem to spring up every month, they flourish for a brief popularity, are sold, go smash and give place to others. The: peculiar attraction in them is that, unlike a public house, they need not. get a licence to sell drink. Some of, them undoubtedly sell worse! things. "One Yorkshire night-club is stated in a single year to have taken £152 in subscriptions, £10 entrance fees end £8,178 in drinks.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.