1920 — Wandsworth Common

"Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser — Friday 2 January 1920 / Neal's acquires 2 new nurseries

Philip Boys

To: Philip Boys philip.boys@btinternet.com;

16/12/21 11:25

Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser — Friday 2 January 1920

IMPORTANT NOTICE. MESSRS. R. NEAL & SON (Established 1820)

the well-known nurserymen and LANDSCAPE GARDENERS, TRINITY ROAD, WANDSWORTH COMMON, BEO TO ANNOUNCE THAT THEY HAVE PURCHASED from Mien M- V. Seale, of Sevcnoaki, the whole of the old-established ST. BOTOLPH'S NURSERY and ST. JOHN'S NURSERY, and will once give them the same attention that has made their Wandsworth Common Nurseries so widely ROSES. FRUIT TREES, SHRUBS, A SPECIALITY. All communications be made to ST. JOHN'S NURSERY. Office Hours; a.m. to 5 p.m.

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001068/19200102/141/0007" target="_blank">Link.]

192012

"East London Observer — Saturday 17 January 1920 / Searchlight and Gun Stations, Wandsworth Common,

Philip Boys

To: Philip Boys philip.boys@btinternet.com;

16/12/21 11:57

Ministry of Munitions. BY DIRECTION OF THE DISPOSAL BOARD. (Huts and Building Materials Section). SALE BY AUCTION 01' Hutanents and Contents, at Bolingbroke Grove and Spencer Park

Searchlight and Gun Stations, Wandsworth Common,

On Friday, January 23rd, at 12 o'clock and 2 o'clock respectively. Including : Stoves, Sheaving, Benches, "Colinda" Range, Farm Boilers, Baths. 1200 ft. Corrugated Iron Fencing, three Canvas Hut Tanta. Catalogue;Oi Itectionesra, Messrs. inn and SON, 72, King Wein. Ranuninniith, W. 6. Tel. 103. NOTE.For pesticidal+ of other 001rn meet property for sale, see "SURPLUS," Price 3d., at all bookstalls, or by quarterly subscription of Si., Pre fres, payable in advance to the ptrector of Publicity, ]limiter of Munitions, Whitehall Moe, lAednno a W. L Ministry of Munitions. BY DIRECTION OF THE DISPOSAL (Hula and Building iateriala Section).

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1920-01-01/1920-01-31?basicsearch=searchlight%20and%20gun%20stations%2c%20wandsworth%20common%2c%20&exactsearch=true&retrievecountrycounts=false&sortorder=dayearly

___

East London Observer — Saturday 17 January 1920

AAR? LON'D AUCTIONS CONTINII: G. R. Ministry of Munitions. BY DIRECTION OF THE DISPOSAL BOARD. (Huts and Building Materials Section). STEPNEY. STREATHAM, WANDSWORTH, FINSBURY, HIGHBURY, FRITH, ABBEY WOOD, BLACKHEATH and OLD CHARLTON . Important Sales of Sectional and Non- Sectional Huts and Contents, Including Ranged, Sinks, Boilers. Baths, Timber, Corrugated Iron Fencing, At the SEARCHLIGHT and GUN STATIONS

As follows : Stepney Ocean, — Thursday, 22nd January, 12 o'clock. Streatham Common, Thursday, 22nd January, 2.30 o'clock. Wandsworth Common, Friday, 23rd January, 12 and 2 o'clock. Finsbury Park, Monday, 26th January. 12 o'clock. Highbury Fields, Monday, 26th January, 2 o'clock. Erith (Northumberland Heath), Tuesday, 27th January. 12 o'clock. Abbey Wood (Bostal Hill). Tuesday, 27th January, -2,30 o'clock. Blackheath, Thursday, 22th January 12 o'clock. Old Charlton, Thursday. 29th January. 12 o'clock. Catalogues may be obtained of the l Auctioneera, Messrs. GREEN and SON, 72, King Street, Hammersmith, W. 6. T.I. 10.3. NOTE.For particulars of other Government property for sale, see "BUR PLUS. — Price 3d.. at all bookstalls, or by quarterly subscription of 25., post free, payable advance to the Director of Publicity, Minister of Munitions. Whitehall Place, London, S.W.I.

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000442/19200117/023/0002" target="_blank">Link.]

Ministry of Munitions. BY DIRECTION OF THE DISPOSAL BOARD. (Huts and Building Materials Section). SALE BY AUCTION 01' Hutanents and Contents, at Bolingbroke Grove and Spencer Park

1rn meet property for sale, see "SURPLUS," Price 3d., at all bookstalls, or by quarterly subscription of Si., Pre fres, payable in advance to the ptrector of Publicity, ]limiter of Munitions, Whitehall Moe, lAednno a W. L Ministry of Munitions.

The proposal to allow Sunday games some of the London parks is not to be discussed at to-morrow's meeting of the London County Council after all. The Chairman and members of the Council have been literally deluged w'th letters and postcards protest, and has been decided to postpone the discussion in order to allow a deputation from the Imperial Sunday Alliance and Sunday Lay Movement to express their views themiatter to the Parks Committee. The deputation will wait upon the Committee on Friday, writes Globe representative. The recommendation of the Parks Committee appeared originally on the agenda before the Council at itheir last meeting before Christmas, but was not discussed, and in the ordinary course it should have been brought up to-morrow, when the Council meet for the first time after the vacation.

The Committee had reported that they had been considering applications for permission to play golf at Hainault Forest and football Hackney Marsh on Sundays. Under Regulation No. 605 games were prohibited Sundays, but the Committee were of opinion that games might reasonably be allowed at some of the parks and open spaces under the control of the Council. In connection with this proposal, the Committee had also considered the question of allowing boating on Sundays at certain parks, in addition to Battersea and Victoria Parks, wherethe practice was in vogue before they were taken over by the Council, an i ir being continued. Boating facilities are also provided at Finsbury, Dulwich, and Southwark Parks.

That games of cricket, football, golf, quoits, and lawn tennis, and other games, and boating allowed on Sundays, subject to the regulations applicable thereto on other days at such parks and open spaces under the control of the Council as may be prescribed.

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001652/19200126/036/0003" target="_blank">Link.]

There appears to be little chance that London will regain the full use its parks and commons for the summer season. A tour round the chief London parks today showed that no progress has yet been made towards evacuating the temporary offices erected there.

In the Embankment Gardens, where thousands of people are accustomed to ait bn summer evenings, the Ministry of Munitions still hold their ground, although their building has a deserted air, and the click of occasional typewriter re-echoes through empty rooms. But there is no sign of putting up the shutters, much less of demolishing the buildings. . In the Victoria Gardens, on the west of Charing Cross, the War Office have completely filled the aforetime public space. This huge block is sacred to, the Director Railways and Movements. The jungle of huts on the Horse Guards Parade is no great hardship to the public, although it remains eyesore; but when we fetor St. James's Park we find most depressing scene of desolation. This little park, which, with its Jake and waterfowl, used to one of the most attractive in London, now handed over to the Passport Office, the Ministry of Shipping, Admiralty annexes, and various other Departments. Only small corner the lake has been left to the waterfowl, many of which must have flown away from London, never to return.

the Passport Office now extends across the bed of the lake. Near the bridge another large building reserved for the canteen of the members the Ministry of Shipping. Hyde Park has fortunately escaped the clutches of the Office of Works; but compensation they have taken heavy toll of Regent's Park. At the south end the Ministry of Munitions have their Stores Depot No. 111. This occupies acres of the Park, and consists of brick-built' sheds, bearing very little appearance of being temporary." On the east side of the park, extending far the entrance to the Zoological Gardens, are the huts of the Pensions Ministry and the Amy Poet Office. Those form small town In themselves and aerionsly curtail the area of Regent's Park open to the public. the Pensions Ministry offices -, 00 employees are boused, and there a good dial of comment among local residents to what they all day long. The London County Council parks and commons have not escaped. Battersea Park is the home of the Army Clothing Department, and much valuable space for playing fields is lost.

The No. 3 London General Hospital is still sitting on land purchased the year before the war by residents of Wandsworth as addi-~ Wandsworth Common. There is no sign of this land being thrown open to the public this summer.

Wimbledon Common is still scarred by of practice trenches and all the ngly accumulation of reception camp. Richmond Park contains airship hangars and many Army huts. Here some progress has been made towards packing up. The hospital near the Star and Garter Gate still exists, but it in a corner of the park and the spot is pleasant one for patients, no one is likely to grnmble. As the summer draws on. the need for the parks will become more strongly felt, and His Majesty's First Commissioner Works, : is responsible for housing all the Government Departments, will find that the London public attaches the same value its parks it did.

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001652/19200207/121/0014"192027

We gladly print Battersea Field Club's protest against the destruction of trees on Clapham common. We fear, however. the ()mien will be unavailing. Nothing short of a ratepayers strike will stop the orgy of destruction in which successive Councils have been indulging for many years.

At Spring Gardens there is a fixed idea that every vestige of natural beauty is wrong and demoralising, and that therefore the common most be hacked and levelled to a prim uniformity.

The peculiar charm of open country is its diversity. its gentle slopes and verdant hollows, the play of light and the stateliness of well grown trees, the picturesqueness of furze clump and bramble bush.

The pride of the County Council is to destroy and to level. Wandsworth Common has suffered terribly and will continue to suffer with Clapham Common until both places are dusty areas sparsely strewn with struggling blades of grass.

In this district the council's greatest achievement is the reduction of the once smiling orchard of "The Farm", Wandsworth Common, to a well-rolled cricket pitch.

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004606/19200326/058/0005" target="_blank">Link.]

Ibeg leave to enclose the following resolution, and to ask the favour of your powerful assistance in our attempt to prevent the destruction of trees on Clapham Common. From thirty to forty specimens are apparently to be cot down, on the plea of providing more space for games. Some of these trees are well-developed, robust specimens, a few might be historic, and were probably looked upon by Wilberforce, Macaulay, Henry Thornton and other celebrities of the neighbourhood.

Already the common has been in part "suburbanised" to a drab uniformity; the removal of these tree will further diminish its natural charm.

The Battersea Field Club, representing, it is believed, a considerable section of puts be opinion in this matter, recently passel the following resolution " this meeting of the Battersea Field Ilearns with dismay of the intention it fell a large number of trees on elephant Common, and, realizing that many of these trees are well-grown, healthy specimens which cannot be replaced within the lifetime of the present generation, and that there exists a widespread feeling against the proposed act of vandalism. respectfully liege the London County Council to re-consider the question with a view to cancelling the order for destruction. ' -

MISS L. B. Mosses, (Hon. Sec.) 64 Stormont-road, Clapham Common. March 23. 1920.

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0004606/19200326/084/0007" target="_blank">Link.]

The Battersea Field Club and Literary and Scientific Society was formed on 10th January 1895 and was a development of the University Extension Society — Battersea Students Association, which had started in 1890. In 1902 the name was changed to the Battersea Field Club and the society was affiliated to the South East Union of Scientific Societies and the Photographic Survey and Record of Surrey. In 1906 it was associated with the British Association and finally disbanded in 1944.

The collection consists of minutes, lists of members and lecturers, press cuttings, notes, programmes and balance sheets.

Since the agitation for Sunday games for the workers was started in the Daily Herald, letters have been re reived from ail quarters supporting the proposal and making suggestion". Here is one whirh comes from Bradford.

Daily Herald — Tuesday 27 July 1920

Public opinion is is greatly increased at the action taken by the Ministry of Health with regard to the portion of Wandsworth Common extension at present occupied by the buildings of the Third London General Hospital, erected during the war.

The war being supposedly over, the Ministry has now written to the London County Council expressing the hope that "there will no insuperable obstacle to the appropriation of the buildings and site for the treatment of disease in the civil population. "

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000681/19200727/037/0002" target="_blank">Link.]

ready for hockey. The Spencer Hockey Club returns next season to its ground Herondale Avenue. Wandsworth Common, which is nly minutes' distance from the it\. , members are wanted, ami special facilities are offered Greater London public school seeking first-class chib. Apphcat ions v* .ij the C\ptdin Recor structed last season after the war. very creditably in spite oi shortage playia* mwnbera.

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001652/19200814/096/0007" target="_blank">Link.]

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results?basicsearch=%2bhockey%20%2b%22wandsworth%20common%22&retrievecountrycounts=false" target="_blank">Link.]

The meteorological department of the London County Council, if such a thing there be, is sadly at fault. Recently it concluded that last winter had begun to reassert itself — the theory of an English summer being no longer tenable — and that outdoor recreations must cease. Accordingly the fences that ringed the dancing enclosures on the commons, and made them select instead of promiscuous, have been removed. The material will be quite good for use next year, seeing that the fences had only just been put up and that the common keepers and their assistants had scarcely recovered from the fatigue caused by erecting them before they were called upon to take them down again.

There is no matter for adverse criticism in this. The staff have been provided with healthful employment and some portion of the rates have been usefully expended. The distressing thing is that as soon as the Council has completed its preparations for winter, the sun has taken to showing itself again, the air has become warm, and the skies translucent.

For the Council it may be said that it was deceived by its own trees. Indeed it shall be said, and we say it, putting it in print to prevent misunderstandings and quiblings. The trees some weeks ago were fully convinced that winter was breaking out again. They changed colour. they IWithout hesitation we commend an ap'shrivelled up their leaves, they suffered their. peal, backed hr the Mayor of Battersea, for bra/plies to be stripped by the lightest of Imoney on behalf of devastated and plague. winds. In particular. the chestnuts shivered Istricken Europe. Working men are es. themselves, bare without waiting for the, specially apepaled to. "It is their coppers boys Ito make the anntal raids for 'maker, . we wnnt, " the agent of the organisers tells At the present moment the chestnut avenues Yet we cannot help reflecting on the meson a bewildering spectacle. Forlorn i irony of facts. The war is over, in fact if brenehes. Alagrees of twigs, checker the Ieat o ffi cially. Peace reigns. not in Warsaw clear blue of the summer sky. The pave — or Dublin and a f e w mor e places, yet we, meat is thickly covered with crisp brown have p. . ce in Battersea. Democracy is safe. which crunch complainingly under Iso r, so secure, that it is fast degenerst: the inelastic tread of leather substitute 1ing into anarchy. We bare peace, but we boots. These leaves are the nowly. faThan, lack the plenty that should accompany it. the stragglers, and camp followers of the ITo " consolidate " and "stabilise " this main host. Those that have gone before — peace and its manifold blessings it has been an innumerable host — lie ground to dust, necessary to devastate half the world. Our which looks more like snuff than anything rulerpromised that before the ink could else, and which might possibly serve as a dry on treaties that Sr. the forerunners.! useful adulterant of that once popular coolnew wars the wilderness and the solitary modity. _ _ place should rejoice and the desert should blossom like the role. Now, the most power; ful Government of the greatest Empire of the universe is appealing to its working men for coppers wherewith to raise a harrier a7rinst the threatened ravages of pestilence, which recognises no party awd is incapable of distinguishing true liberty Pros-umbra. The Mayor of Battersea supports the appeal of the Government. De is a good democrat. We second his appeal., 1, 0

When the languorous heat abates and the. evening aioerts with nn nip, then there in a rustling among the dead leaves, a murmuring, revolt against for nature has not yet learned to keep ita masses quiet by something analogous to unemployment dole. . Boon the fallen foliage in in revolt insensate agitated ni!dly, moaning such pathetic clamour an withered lifelennness in capable of, ilturrying along with!tins anti entitle, whirling fights into the air tin though it would return again to the ancestral branch and twig.

County councillors have noted this. They have waded among the fallen leaves and then they have said "Summer is over. We must let the ratepayers know it. Otherwise they (the ratepayers) will continue to clothe themselves mightly and wander abroad at diusk. The will catch cold, and colds (if

unregulated) develop into something more serious, in which case the death rate will go up and we shall be blamed. We must instruct the people, for to that end were we Isleeted. — Thus the county councillors have reasoned, not unwisely, among themselves. They have not issued a proclamation do. charm; summer to be over. Unfortunately they hare no power to do that, the matter having unaccountably been omitted from the last omnibus bill they presented to Parliament. The Council, however, is doing what it can. It is getting the commons ready for winter. Already the dancers enclosures have been thrown open. Much other work is in progress.

At Wandsworth Common this week men, properly supervised, have dug a number of holes and filled them up again. There is a wise purpose in this. We do not know what it is. We shall know perhaps when we attain to county aldermanship, though it does not follow that every alderman knows.

Of this much, however, we are certain. l The digging of holes or pits and the filling of them or the falling into them is a primitive labour. Therefore it is a healthful one. It exercises the body of the digger and and faller without putting undue strain on the mind. It qualifies for the receipt of the standard rate of wages which in these hard times is a very blessed thing indeed. lo this instance it proclaims to the people that in spite of appearances and of the thermometer, summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, have not ceased.

Among other things noticeable on the face of the commons are a number of geometrical patterns formed with great accuracy. The County Council is an educative body. It has made this plain to the mind of the most indifferent ratepayer. A straight line is a line drawn without deviation between two points. Old Euclid found that out, but be did not demonstrate it as effectively as the County Council has done. Euclid was content to trace his lines with his finger tip in the sand, a sketchy method and one that could not have been absolutely accurate.

The London County Council's straight lines are about 50 yards long. 'They are drawn with whitewash and they improve on Euclid in a very important respect. A line, said Euclid, who knew no better, is length without breadth. The whitewashed lines on the commons in Battersea have a breadth of at least four inches. Circles and triangles are marked out with equal boldness. But far as we can judge, they are mathematically correct. No doubt they serve their purpose, which is to train the eye of the citizen and to teach him to view County Council proceedings in perspective.

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co. uk/viewer/bl/0004606/19200910/039/0005" target="_blank">Link.]

Everybody is concerned about the rates. Not least concerned are those Socialistic administrative bodies who used to chuckle over a high rate as a good thing. " A big rate means that the people are getting a bit of their own back. " we have heard them say. In Battersea Borough Council-room, years yaeor,,; l man: with a red tie got up dethat he hoped to see the time when the rate would be al in the E. lie prophesied that when that glorious time came the %socking classes would not need to work. All that would be necessary would be a little walking exercise for the benefit of the liver. Well, a rate approaching Ms in the is pretty general now; in some districts it has been exceeded.

Wearers of vermillion ties are not particularly jubilant. On the contrary, they seem rather more depressed than people whose taste in neckties is somewhat less pronounced. Another circumstance worth taking note of is that scarlet neckwear is not seen so frequently as it used to be. The men who in pre-war times professed to be pining for a rls. rate are now humbly apologetic. They have rapidly come to see that rating authorities are not free agents. but are in the grip of circumstances. Of it the Socialistic theories could be brought to full fruition high rates and general happiness would be interdependent; the higher rates the greater the happiness. Equally, of course, there must be an intermittent stage. it is this stage that the community is riming through. We are suffering from evolution. The process is not altogether pleasant, though it is extremely interesting to students of sociology, that is to say, to members of Borough Councils. The exasperating thing is that high rates cannot be levied exclusively and exhaustively on the upper and middle classes, on the war profiteer and the persons of moderate income, who still fociliahlt struggle to keep up a respectable appearance. Rent and rates are now matters that have to be taken into account by the people themselves. Even a democratic Borough has no option but to exact more rent from tenants and to require them also to pay their share of the increased rates.

For once the people's organisation, the Triple Alliance. the Council of Action, the Threes and the Little Fours have been caught napping. They should have been guided by the wisdom of Wales, in which case "the standard " would be exempt from rates end tears. which unprofitable disbursements would be a knit charge on the people who look down on Labour and who strive to preserve medieval traditions. There is no evil without its compensating good. Additional rest end exams' rates are in themselves extremely undesirable, hue if they lead to the realisation of that which is implied in the old catchwords "efficiency and economy" the nation as a whole will have cause to congratulate itself. It will have learned to keen in mind the Micawberian pronouncements: — " Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness: annual income twenty pounds. annual expenditure twenty oughd six, result tniaery. "

From Parliament down to the parish Council our representative bodies have spent far mere than they were justified in spending. The phase of extravagance which characterised the industrial world was bound to influence administrative authorities. Mope — was only scrape of paper, easily obtained, therefore lightly got rid of. The Government had only to print enough paper and then everybody amid have everything, including fur coats and motor-cars. Borough Councils set about rebuilding the communal world on a paper basis. They "equalised up." Everybody who asked for increased pay could have it. Every innovation that the "social reformer" had vainly dreamed of could be effected. The cost of living necessarily went up, but that could be met by lumping something on to the wages. In some districts the process of lumping on created an unexpected embarrassment. "Wages take a deal of spending noradars" has been the complaint of the Yorkshire miner's wife. It is not heard so often now. The paper Paradise is proving, to be not a Paradise at all. "The more paper you print the less valuable it is. " There comes a time when all the presses in the country cannot tarn out enough to "equalise the cost of living. " That time may be approaching. At all events the situation is sufficiently serious to alarm the Labour and Socialist parties. Their alarm is primarily due to the discovery of she fact that "reforms" hare to he paid for, and that, owing to recent legislation, some share of the payment has to he drawn from the classes who hitherto have been practically exempt. "It'll come out of the rates, " been a phrase that has implied financial immunity to the majority of people in industrial boroughs. That can be lie no longer. The occupant of two rooms must contribute his quota equally with tenant of a mansion. Wages can be raised, but in that case rates and everything else go Up and the last state is worse than the first. The working man whose attitude to things municipal was one of lofty indifference is beginning to ask where all the money goes to. He may not be satisfied with asking. He may, when the rates go up again, insist on obtaining some definite information. Then it may be found that the Borough Councils and other public bodies can profitably economise, that some of the expensive departments are unnecessary or are overstaffed, that it is costly, cumbersome, and unsatisfactory to attempt to do communally many of the things that should be done by the individual. _ _ aaa The County Council has published a first list of persons who have subscribed 500 and upwards for housing bonds. This first list indicates that moneyed folk in the country and in the remote suburbs are keener on a good thing than Londoners themselves. Battersea, however, shows up remarkably well. The Morgan Crucible Company 016, 0016 heads the borough's investors. Then come Mr. H. Hendra, Manchuria-road. Clapham Common, with 300; Mr. C. J. R. Beauchamp. Cambridge-road, 300: and Mr. J. Ale: seder, Battersea Park-road. 500. Sometimes we hear that 'the trade" are slow to do anything on behalf of the community.

The statement is not borne out by the housing bond list. A good proportion of the subscriptions are from licensed victuallers. It is well to bear in mind that housing bond; pay 6 per cent. and that their value cannot depreciate, because the total invested is repayable after the passing of a v: ected. period of years.

Unemployment is growing, to the embarrassment of the Government, who pro'astir sill not get much sympathy from the Town '; i meeting" which is to be held at Nine nuns ner. t week. The Government are greatly to: dame. It is always safe to assert that. In this ease it is correct, ea acell as safe. Having sown the wind, our rulers and guides must reap the whirlwind, unless they can transfer this very unsatisfactory harvest to others. This week a well-known Battersea firm advertised for a girl clerk. Shoals of letters came in reply. The advertisement also brought= young ladies who mule pemonal application for the recent post. These two facts are in themselves sufficiently depressing, but is IrOISC Iis that of the 120 young ladies who made personal application none was qualified to perform the duties and most or them were not fit for anything else. It is not entirely their fault. Responsibility for their unhappy predicament Teets in Dart with the Government. " The 120 considered themselves competent clerks. They had given satisfaction to the Government. and had been paid from 2 to 3 a week each. Today their commercial value is practically While emplirTeiT by the Government the duties they performed. apart from the making and drinking of tea, were trivial and mechanical. _ _

Checking and numbering, the oonetant repetition of official messages, couched in cast steel official phrases, do aot fit any young porton business life. Having learned nothing, the young Isdieis consider there is nothing to be learned. They want wages at the rates formerly paid by the Government. If they cannot Gum they will make eat with the unemployment dole, the most demoralising bribe ever devised. Business men are condemned as prejudiced bemuse they will not employ exmunition clerks at war-time valuation. 'They are not. Their attitude, we hope, will help to bring about an atanciaghere of industrial anti commercial sanity. No employer, whether it be the Government or the tradesman, can afford pay wages unless honest is rendered in return.

A crowd of several a hundred workless men in the neighbourhood of the Battersea Labour Exchange yesterday was cheerless a sight. particularly as most of the men were exsoldiers. The fact of their being without work is not the worst characteristic. It is that enforced idleness impairs the capacity for effort. We all know that rusty metals are worthless, or nearly so. rt: st in a similar m and when thoroughly rusted are equally useless.

Our unemployed are rapidly rusting; that was evident from the appearance of many of those who composed yesterday's crowd. The remedy is work. not doles. Agitatorraw: mite that. but their ideas with recacl to work are crude; they do not trouble to envisage work in relation to its results. While a man is doing something and is regularly paid wages, the agitator is satleffol.

Work may be useless, or unnecessary, like the building of a bridge over the lake at Wandsworth Common, which is being undertaken because the County Council happen to have a little spare cash.

It may be destructive, like many of the other operations now in progress on the public lands by order of the Council.

Unemployment cannot he removed except by prosbictive and economically remunerative operations. Endeavours in other directions are expedients which may be palliative, but' generally are nothing but camouflaged pauperisation. Weary and dispirited men who listened to the speaker' near St. John's-road yesterday were ready enough to realise this. They did not respond enthusiastically to the suggestion that Borough Councils are the bodies to provide work for the workless. The most Socialistic of Councils dare not attempt to add to the rates a single penny more than circumstances force them. The familiar crude formulas of the street corner will have to be amended. There is a deepening feeling that the highly organised trades have gone too far, have exacted too and — most serious of all — that they have behaved meanly and selfishly towards the exservice

Orators who set themselves to increase the discontent of the unemployed easily ae. comyilisb their task, but not in the manner they intended. Intelligence, keener, and hatter informed than in 1914, has to be faced. Questioners want to know why anyone should of necessity be idle while so much work is crying out for labour. They will not be put off with any fudge about the capitalist. The capitalist is only too anxious to invest his money in operations that will benefit the workers as well as himself. No-one knows better than the that a discontented population makes for stability, and instability is the last thing he desires. Demobilised who find themselves out of work are allowing that they are aware of the principal causes of their plight — restricted output, uneconomical wages, the influx of foreigners, and the non-resumption of overseas trade.

It is mischievous and disruptive to proclaim that affairs can be materially improved by any action on the part of the borough councils. National effort, such as was put forth during the crucial stages of the war, is celled for. Until that effort is in being things will become worse not better. Foolish and criminal talk of "direct action" and the like ought to be repressed, especially when the talkers occupy well paid positions and are apparently overfed every day of their lives.

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004606/19201008/045/0005" target="_blank">Link.]

THE PRINCE'S HOME COMING. BATTERSEA ISCHOOL GUARD OF HONOUR. The arrival of the Prince of Wales was eagerly waited at Battersea on Monday. The }loyal train, timed to reach Victoria at 12A0, was keenly watched for from Wandsworth Common and from the bridges near Clapham Junction.

Hundreds of young people pressed themselves against. the railings by the aide of the line. Progressive cheering started aa soon as the most distent watchers caught sight of the smoke of the engine. None of the boys were more loyally enthusiastic than pupils of Emanuel School, who apparently sat in perfect comfort on the spikes and knife-edge glass which adorn the top of the parapet of the "Freemasons" Railway Bridge at Battersea Rise.

Battersea Grammar School Cadet Battalks was accorded the distinction of supplying the guard of honour at the Ambassadors Court, St. James's Palace. The guard compeaed of N. C. O. 's and cadets. fifty in number. His Royal Highness complimented the commanding officer, Major J. M. Carrell, and exprowei. l his appreciation of the smartness and efficiency of the unit. The following is an extract from the Court Circular: "St. James's Palace. October 11. A guard of honour of the Battersea Grammar School Cadet Corps, under the command of Major J. H. Carroll, was mounted at fit. James's Palace. -

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co. uk/viewer/bl/0004606/19201015/044/0005" target="_blank">Link.]

A fine of 5s was imposed on William Appleton, Park Farm, Finchley, for driving 36 sheep at West Hill after 10 o'clock in the morning. Defendant said it was 10.20 am, when he was stopped on his way to Wandsworth Common. He could not have reached there quicker without overdriving the sheep.

Mr. Boyd, when imposing the fine, said defendant was liable to a penalty al 10s. for each sheep.

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004606/19201105/020/0002" target="_blank">Link.]

South Western Star — Friday 12 November 1920

Residents of the Wandsworth Common district on the other side of the Catsback Bridge are signing a petition to the County Council. That is to say, the majority of them are, and of this majority a good many have already signed. We have signed. At any time we are ready to charge a pen and write a bold signature of protest against action contemplated or projected by the London County Council. The King can do no wrong. The County Council can do no right. Those sentences are articles of faith to be held in perpetuity by all who consider themselves good citizens. Therefore are such citizens in duty bound to sign any petition of protest or expostulation — to sign twice over if they can sufficiently well disguise their handwriting.

We regret that a few of the residents beyond the Catsback Bridge are hesitating. It is in their mind to protest, to make angry expostulation, but they are conscience-bound. Too sensitive are these halting citizens. They entertain the idea that in some psychical way which passes the comprehension of themselves or anybody else they have an obligation of allegiance to Spring Gardens. 'We voted for the Council;" — they say, "and we can't go back on it now." To do so they think would be to negative and nullify the blessings of the ballot from which spring all our ties. We urge such electors and payers of rates to put their scruples in their pockets. The time is rapidly coming when they will have little or nothing else there. Let them every possible occasion petition against the costly mistakes of the County Council.

The petition which is being signed by some, and left unsigned by other residents on the transpontine side of the common, protests against the secret resolve of the Council to convert or pervert the tennis ground into a permanent bear garden and dancing green. It is a monstrous proposal, the petitioners allege, and one that will destroy the amenities of the common. We agree with them, not because we object to dancing greens, or to bear gardens, but became the project is a County Council one. It will cost a lot of money.

It has already resulted in the destruction of much charm. Large areas of furze have been rooted up. Diversities of surface, which are nature's beauties, have been reduced to a monotonous level. The loss of the furze clumps are mostly regret. [[sic] The Council might have left them alone, if only out of regard for the memory of Linnaeus.

It may be that London County Councillors have never heard of Linnaeus. For their information we state that he was the originator of scientific botany. It was his misfortune to be born in Sweden, but to the best of his power he repaired that misfortune by coming over to us. When first he saw Wandsworth and Wimbledon Commons in their glorious wealth of golden-spiked furze he went down on his knees and thanked God he was alive.

As fast as it can the County Council is "converting" London commons into so many desolate wastes of downtrodden grass. It would do the like with majestic Wimbledon if it had the chance.

We shall have great pleasure in signing the petition a second time if anybody will bring it round to us at a reasonable hour, though it is not a petition such as we altogether approve. It is too humble in tone. It begs, instead of insisting. And, worse still, it is chicken-hearted. Most of the petitions that we have signed have the note of determinedness. From the humble appeal of the Wandsworth Commoners this note is altogether lacking.

We have looked in vain for the words "and your petitioners will ever pray, etc." Those words are the effective portion of a petition. They express the resolve of the petitioners to keep ow petitioning and importuning, to give the objectionable public body no rest. And there is more. "&c.," or less vulgarly, "etc.," denotes all that the imagination is capable of conceiving.

At the end of a petition it is equivalent to a threat. "We shall keep on petitioning until we are convinced that stronger measures are necessary, and then we shall resort to 'etc.'

That may even mean that when the next election day comes a body of citizens, enraged, disappointed, despairing, will deliberately spoil their ballot papers. Let the Council beware.

South Western Star — Friday 26 November 1920

This week we had weather enough to fill an almanac. "It may be remembered" — it may also be happily forgotten — that Monday opened with a fog, the like of which has seldom been felt or tasted in daylight. Nothing could be seen but a blank mass of dark grey, seemingly impenetrable. You had to push your way through it, risk the consequences. Fortunately these were not disastrous, thanks to the care taken by everybody and to the restraint of the people who took pains not to walk unperceived into shops and there serve themselves with bargains on credit.

Trains, tram. and bus services were for the most part suspended or held up. The roads were almost empty. At Battersea Rise we heard a voice condoling with a horse — " Jimmy, my boy, we've got out. Goodness knows how we shall ever get back the stable again."

At wide intervals buses went forth — by companies — four 77's at a time, 308 in all. Though the sun struggled out at noon and after a while drove the fog away, the entanglement of traffic continued. At night the 19 buses lost themselves and were not for a season.

From Monday on frost and mist have prevailed. The frost has bitten deep. It has coated the paths and roads with crystally rime so thick that it crunched pleasantly under one's foot and made one think of the joys depicted on the pre-war Christmas cards. Ponds on the commons were coated with ice as early as Sunday morning and as late as Thursday night.

In anticipation of Christmas the County Council have stocked some of these ornamental waters with feathered fowl, ranging from gulls to swans.

The frost was a great surprise to the pheasant-coloured ducks [PB: presumably female mallards]. They stood moping on the ice, their necks drawn down between their shoulders and their sheeny green heads held on one side. The leader of the tribe has for aome dove been pondering over the riddle of the universe and has not solved it. A gull silently derided the profound thinker.

To the swans the ice on Wandsworth Common pond was a personal affront. It prevented them from getting at the policeman who stood by the rails and smiled provokingly. Again and again father swan, swimming across a square yard of open water, tried to act as ice-breaker but each time he pulled up with a thud.

These teams met on Wednesday on Wandsworth Common. Result, Bolingbroke] 2, Army Clothing 0. Brown scored goal ' for the We., followed by Roadie, who kicked a fine drop goal. E. R. Jeeeop, of the Army team, has played now for 31 years, starting at the age of 11, and is not thinking of retiring yet.

On Saturday Bolingbroke met Avondale P.C., but owing to the storm Mr. J. Orton (referee) stopped the game at half-time.

[BNA: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004606/19201203/070/0007" target="_blank">Link.]