Notes

U. S. Ambassador Harvey, who is about to retire, unveiled a picturesque signpost commemorating the wives of William Penn and John Harvard, given to the villagers of Ringmer in Sussex by Lady Demetriadi, who is a descendant of William Penn's first wife, a daughter of Sir William and Lady Springett of Ringmer. At the unveiling ceremony Mr. Harvey said: " To the motorist it is far more advantageous in a material sense to have a signpost pointing the way even to London than a monument showing that somebody has gone to Heaven." This moved his cheerful audience to laughter.

Subscriptions for the stock issue of -L-8,000,000 ($36,000,000) to finance the recent amalgamation of the Rothermere and Hulton newspapers were oversubscribed $414,000,000.

Ambassador Harvey invited the Duke of York to meet some British journalists at the Marlborough Club. This was said to be the first time a Royal Prince had ever been asked to eat dinner with guests exclusively journalists.

Among those present: Charles P. Scott, director of the Manchester Guardian; Henry Wickham Steed, former editor of the London Times; Sir Arthur Willert, former Washington correspondent of the London Times; Sir Philip Gibbs; T. P. O'Connor; John L. Balderston, of The New York World; L. R. Holmes, The New York Times; Joseph Grigg, The New York Herald, Arthur S. Draper, New York Tribune; Hal O'Flaherty, Chicago Daily Tribune; John Steele, Chicago Daily News; W. H. Milgate, Detroit News; Robert M. Collins, The Associated Press; Lloyd Allen, United Press; Frazier Hunt, International News Service; Sidney Thatcher, Philadelphia Public Ledger; J. P. Collins, Boston Evening Transcript.

Ex-Premier Herbert H. Asquith, at Liverpool to attend a conference of the Liberal Party, was approached by a number of Liberal students from the Liverpool University, who asked him to address them. Mr. Asquith refused. Thereupon the students '"kidnapped" him, and took him to the University. He accepted the situation with good grace; made a witty speech in which he said he was "glad to see such signs of vigorous youth and vigorous adolescence"; was then allowed to depart.

The latest political anomaly was seen as the opening of a bye-election in the Warwick and Leamington division. There were three candidates: Labor, the Countess of Warwick; Liberal, George Nicholls, farm worker; Conservative, Captain Anthony Eden, soon to become related by marriage to the Countess of Warwick. The vacancy occurred by the elevation to a judgeship of Sir Ernest Pollock, K. C.

Lady Astor is beginning to be known as the " nuisance of British politics". Last week the National Unionist Conference passed a resolution asking the Government to proceed immediately with the reform of the House of Lords. During debate Lady Astor voiced her approval of the measure and added that " one of the things the country was 'up against' was that so many members of the House of Lords thought that they had an hereditary right to legislate." Loud cries of " no" from many delegates greeted her speech.

Sir Auckland Geddes, Ambassador to the U. S., now in London, said in answer to inquiries after his health by a correspondent of The New York Times: " My eye trouble, I am glad to say, is very much better. You see how I look. As a matter of fact, I received six months' leave of absence from the Foreign Office." " Then you may be back before Christmas," it was suggested. " Well, I might be," he replied, "but I do want to see my boys when they come home for the Christmas holidays."

Ex-Premier Andrew Bonar Law, who resigned the Premiership last June, was reported to be confined to his bed with serious throat trouble. A bulletin, signed by Sir Thomas Horder, famed cancer specialist, and Dr. Gould May said " the patient was suffering from an exacerbation of his recent feverish chill, necessitating continued confinement in bed."