THE WORLD'S PRESS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 155, 6 August 1914, Page 6

THE WORLD'S PRESS.

TURN OF THE CARD. ' '""if " In 1870 secret negotiations' weje well advanced for joint French and Austrian . action against Prussia, but, Bismarck v subtly engineered a quarrel before the plans could be perfected. Unready as she was, Austria would probably have entered the field had the early battles of the war gone'the other way* But, the French armies being caught and crushed,' virtually" in the course of formation, France lost all hope of'aid from either Italy or Austria. At this date the engagements of allies to. each other ' have long been frained in writing, signed, and sealed, plans have been elaborated, for defensive and offensive campaigns, and there is much less temptation to wait for the turn of a card to see who will participate in the grim game.—'' Australasian.-'';''. THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE. There is nothing hi the world, quite like the sense of delighted repose which the vivid greens of the English countryside give to the tired- eye. Let the man who doubts it shut himself up for a few weeks among, the grey rocks of Norway, or the stony, yellow fields of Northern France, and'let lvim then come back suddenly on a bright summer ; morning to the lancTof great trees with their thousand shiinmering leaves and the green fields where the cattle graze placidly and the little sparkling brooks run singing in the sunshine; and unless . he be wholly stockish and deaf to the .'- appeal of natural beauty, he will, feel r something of what these men are feeling.—"Daily News." WOMEN AND BOXING. In London women are rigorously excluded from the National Sporting' Club which is the headquarters of English boxing. Yet, as everyone knows, there are many of the sex who never miss a big fight at any place in London to which they can gain admission. They would doubtless argue that modern boxing is not a brutalising sport, but a matter of skill and quickness, so that a great encounter may actually be decided, and frequently is decided, without any blood-letting. There is a great deal of truth and reason in this plea, but of course these ideal conditions cannot always be reckoned upon, and a hard-fought battle sometimes becomes a spectacle which the average man would prefer his womankind not to "witness. —■ ' < Daily Mail." THE MUSICIANS' UNION. The Musicians' Union has giA*en its committee power to fix a minimum for the number of orchestral performers in ' any place of entertainment. This is not going far enough. The union should fix the programme, put a time limit on the performance, and tlecide whether the entrancing soprano shall sing one, two, or three encore numbers, or none at -all. It should select the * ' opera, cantata, or other music-medium, -*• and overlook the caste as tentatively arranged by managers who know nothing at all about these things. Then there would be real direction, in which the piiblie would have the greater confidence because, as the entrance fee to the union has been fixed at twenty guineas, very few people but musicians will be able to join and power will necessarily ' be centred among the rightly elect.— "Daily Telegraph."