LONDON GOSSIP.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 273, 16 November 1895, Page 4 (Supplement)

LONDON GOSSIP.

,'JROM OUR LONDON' CORKESFOSDEKT.) Lonbox, September 25. O3CAB AOAINT. The firab chapter of ' the atonement oi Oscar Wilde' was written ab the Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday, when the unhappy convicb'3 soiicibor Announced that, partly by a subscription raised. amongßt friends, and partly by roji-albies obbained from hi 3 books and plays, tha creditors would be paid in full. The iallen apostlo waa brought fco Carey-streeti from Her Majesty's Prison ab Warodsworbh to undergo hia public examination, butt this tortare had to be posbponed. Thoso who p,aw him war© much shocked, The cringing, cowed, ' whipped dog ' manner, which comes from degrading associations and poor food, was painfully conspicuous. Ho humbly implored fcho warders nob to lefr anyone get & glimpse of him, and when (wearing JmndcutFa) he was smuggled into J;ho prison <van he bung his head,looking neither to the •"fcighb or left. Nevertheless, I incline to predict the world ha 3 not hoard the last of "VVildV>. '-Though pale and thin, the man ia i quite \ veil, and this drastic discipline should ' prove hls intellectual salvation. Who will dare fco kiay that the coniu3 which, doapite groaanest' and sensuality, managed to make itaelf felts in the days of his shameless prosperity, ta iy not shine forth presently ] lambenb at."* purified? The very magni--5 tnde of the v^-sk of achieving rehabilitation 'ia nob unlikei.' 7 to lend tho effort attraction f' an fchis wayward bub brilliant man'a mind. i The Chronic? Dews of Agriculture. 5 The Duke of Devonshire's much-discuseed '; speech to British farmora and agri- ' iculfiaralista givetf mild voice to a ieeltng widely prevalent amongab jnon whose vision and common *onse have nob beon destroyed by political I fciaa. This is that Me chronic groans and srrviprGfltiible grumbtes of bhe disbresaad agriculturalists are imJch louder than they ■'3iave any right to be, and thab many of their troubles—when inquired into dispassionately—prove fine to personal shiffv lessneas, and ara perfectly remediable. A ■writer in one of the September magazines dilates on thai subjecb, ahovv- i Ing by means of figures, prices, ©be, thab the larmar of to-day is nob really worse off— when he cares to work —than his predecessor in the flourishing forties. Bab whab business would pay well conducted af rer tha manner bhab the grand old Tory farmer conducts bia. Two or 'three dimes a week ho leaves the farm and ;his labourers to take cars of themselves, I •whilst he goes to market. This sometimes axieans business, but ib always signifies a 2s 6d ordinary ab the best hotel, and three or ioiir goe3 of whisky, nob to mention a •symposium in the smoking room with outcries.against the Government of the day iornot taxing Australian meab and New Zealand butter. The facb is the fanner is thoroughly unpractical and unbusinesslike. "When times are bad, 'tis his idea the ■Government can and ought to mend them. If, like the Duke of Devonshire, a Minister won't make impossible promises, and will tell unpleasant truths, they jusb burn an<i Tend him. Well, you ask, what did His Grace say ? I can't quote the speech or even mako oxtracks. Ib would take too much space, bnfc the-following, briefly summed up, are the plain truths he propounded :—Tho Government has no power, and will not be so foolish,as to attempt to upset the necessary process of economical lavv?, Landowners cannot afford to let their land, with all the bnrdens attached to it, without receiving a fair rent. If fair renb is nob forthcoming they musb sell bheir property, p? 80 much of it as they do nob choose to farm for themselves, and the other farmers onuat look after bheir own interests wnder new landlords. Most of the land roighb, and should, be worked far more profitably than ib is now, and that ia ft. businecß for individual enterprise—not for the Government—to attend to. Farmers who want fco bhrive muso do it by their own energy, and by cultivating their own land. So with the labourers. By all means lob them get a3 conch wages as they can earn, but they must nob look for higher •wages thon their employers ara able to pay them and they const make proper use of th6so wages if they wish to prosper. State •pensions are a good thing to aim ab, and a day may come whon every working man, in the factory a« well a* in the field, will every week seb apart out of his earnings such a sum that! the State, taking charge of it, can pub into a pension which will provide for his maintenance in siekneea or old age. Bub thab time is not yet. If; must be waited for, and prepared for by «low steps. Meanwhile let all, whether landownors, or farmer?, or Jftbouror*. take to'them the grand old truth that Providence only helps thoso who help theraBefve.9.' That is tho way msn of my thinking read bhe President of the Council's flpofich, and we thank him for ib, though j friends are disappointed and foes angry. I Majjia or Wickedness ? The verdict io the Coombes case baa excited much discasaion, the general feeling aeetning to be thab mad or sane ib would have benefited bho community to hang tho miserable youn^ matricide. Mr Justice Kennedy did not concetti his belief thab the boy was mentally sound in the ordinary Bepse of bhe term. His Lordship simply thoughb Robert Coouibea innately bad, cruel and without a scintilla of natural affection. The prison doctor and medical experts on the other hand pronounce him a well marked case of homicidal mania, declare he was bound to kill someone soon, and predict he will follow tho usual course of such ca*es and die raving mad in a few years. The prison doctor indeed considered Coombes grew palpably worse whilst awaiting trial, and waa nob flatterer) by His Lordshjp'.s insinuation that the clever young blackguard lin/1 hoaxed him. Naturally, one would prefer to believe the doctors' rather thnn tho Judge's dictum. The * paily Chronicle,' however, does neither. Tbero is no reliance to be placed in the edfitor of timti journa'a views of things. Otto nor than nub owing to tho vanity which at ail hazards strains after originality, ho comoe out with incredibly silly utterance*!. In this case,for instance,we are a«ked 'Is i 1; a fit onclina: that Robert Coottihes p.iiould s;o to Brofrdmoor because ha vi,,vi f.-xr:itable and road Penny [Dreadful*.' This shows bhe extenb to winch a certciki school of moralists have the Penny Dreadful Bee in their bom)eta. Why (as Gooryo X, Sims points rjijD loreib'-y et.ough) Penny Dreadfuls don't; deal with titafc stamp of crime. From time immemorial the villainest villain that ever vill&ined through five acts has been good to his mother. There was a popular play some years ago ao the Eustond in which, just aa one villain waa aboub to murder Urn other, tho intended victim exclaimod, ' Stay !' ' Why ?' asked the aesasmii. ' Bocauso yon had a mother once !' Instantly the dagger dropped from the murdorer'n hand, und the tears oi pemtenco Dowed tiovin tho rufiian'e cheeks. In one of the London music-halls, where the gallery is packed nightly wifcli a seething mob of boys and girls of the co3termonger and factory-band class, there is one sonj; which nover fails io arouse a storm ol whistles ond cheerp, and thab Bontr is, 'A Boy's Best Friend is his Mother.' There if Bnotliar song which is also highly populai with Iho irallery boys, and bhab is tho eonc of tho coHterrnonger who etopß at the gate: of heaven and informs St. Peter thab ' i ,mother ain't a-goin' in—why, this blok< Btops outside.' To coonecb tho crime o Robert Coombeg with tho perusal of penm eenration in abgucd. It would bo quite a logical to denounce cricket ac a demoralta ing paatimc becaute these wicked boy

spent the first day after the murder at Lord's. Tue Pkrils of Peary. Lieutenanb Peary, bha Arctic explorer) has, we leorn from Newfoundland, returned to civilisation and ' borne comforts,' after a most trying experience in tone winbergripped lands beyond Independence Bay. The story of hia travela, privation*, hopes, and fear?, may excite the mind of readers to admiration of the explorer, but, the tale finished, Reason will whisper, ' Whore is the good of ib ?' The history of Arctic exploration is an almost unbroken sequence of ' splendid disasters.' It seems as though whatever care, money, and forethought is lavished on these trips toward tho Pole, the results will ever be meagre, and entirely inadequate to the desperate riska to lifeand limb which they entail, puttingasido the financial question. The commercial value of further exploration in the far north, may be confidently pub down as 0, and if, as is sometimes insisted upon, fcha solution of certain obscure scientific pro- ' bleins is to be found in those dreary wastes iof snow, the question may well be put. Will the world be one penny tho better for their solution ? Science can count it" victims in the Arctic regions by the score, bub has the sum total of human happiness been added to by one small fraction by those deaoha. Lieutenant Paary failed to achieve anything, though he had pav*d the way to succass in a previous s>e.inon with cache* of provisions. These wcrn with one exceptI*)', obliterated by a hwy fall of enow, and tha losa entailed ?re*h prßoamMnn of store* for the journey. Bu* thttS invaluable Arctic foorl, " pern .°oup,' conld tint be replaced ; raw deer's mo/xft was i.bo r«*n'<y available substitute for ;..<emmiCiia:, nnd coal oil took the place of alcohol. Tb:n party, consisting of Peary, Mr Hugh Lee, an.-] .a coloured servant (Matthew II enson). sfilfs Bowrien Lodge on April la*i! (oiEinoua dale) in compnny rrir.h six j Ec kimos and 63 dogs. For Chi first ■ hundred miles all went; wel'. One cache was*, discovered, and out of it the explorers mai !e up their deficiency in tinned bigcuira. Six ronrchea more brougbb them to the vicinity of a pemmican cache, huh find ib they could nob. Ab this poinb the JSsk imoa turned their faces homeward, taking twenty of the dog* with rhei q. The whites, with their servant, pushed an and ab the end of tha second wee k had negotiated 200 miles, and had reached an altitude of 7.000 feeb above tho goa. Violenh wind? were here experienced, aid tbe temperature ranged from SGdeg to 4f jdesr below Zero. In spite of bha weather P. sary and hia companions tarried nob on th eir journej', and ab the end of tha third week had place five score miles more to thi ur bobal. Difficulties gathered in the fourth week. Several of the dogs died fro m privation and overwork, nnd the loa is on tho sledges had to be lightened con siderably. Bub even the reduction of thei'x provisions did nob cauao tha expiWers to pause or think of turning back:, and at the month's end their journey's long th had reached 422 miles. They were now 2,000 feefc above the sea, and found a grea j difficulty in breathing*. They al.no bled from the nose, and their dog*' utrength waa iredo ced by one-half. Raw meat frozen solid wan the sole food for men and beasts, and the latter were succumbing every clay. When tte fifth hundred rail© wna half ac coraplisried one of the nledgea broke down and cou-'ld not; b8 repaired, and soon after the SofcaJ of the doga was reduced to eleven. These eunaciated creatures were almost ui»eI'ess, an.d the explorers had to pull the s tedgea themselves. Finally, tho dogs and provisions wore left in a camp in charge of Mr Lee, and Peary and the faithful black pushed on for tho sea board, which was distant ono day's march. They took a small sledge and tour days' rations. Peary hoped to fall in with some mask oxen, but instead encountered a blinding snowstorm, battling wish which utterly exhausted both men. Finally, they rha.nagod to get back to Mr Lee, end the question of return became the absorbing topic. They had only 1001b of walrus llosh )ett, and after conning the situation carefully, decided to push on and take their chanco of finding musk oxen. They were reduced to spare rations of walrns fle«h, for the doga needed tho meat. At lass, tho losged-for oxen were met with, and ton kiiJed. Thus provisioned, the party managed to roach tho shore of Independence Bay, completely worn out. Only ono gallon £>f oil waa loft to thorn, and finding further progress impossible, Penry docidnd to retreat. The Jasb slodgo v/ns broken down, bu\b » small ono was riggod up from a pair of rakina, and upon this the Mi days' rations of ox flesh and raw venison wero stowed. After groat difficulties and privations they aft la3t reached Rowden Lod'eo on Juno 25th, having made 25 marches. The last morsol ol: food was distributed ab the beginning of ihe last lap, 21 milo* from tha lodge. Only one dog survived tho return journey, and the men were all utterly broken down. They wore grievously iil when tho steamer Kifo took them off on July 31»t, bat recovered slowly under careful treatment). Such is tho story of tho latest Arefcic exploration. Like many of irs predecessors, it achieved absolutely ' nothing, but luckily tho cost waa limited to ' money and dogs. Future explorers will do wall to mark their provision cashes with a long polo, so that the heaviest snowfall cannot entirely obliterate their whoreabouts. An Insurance Romance. Ib all came aboub through his having read Joseph Habton's 'John Neodham's Double.' He was in financial difficulties, so deposited hia clothes by tbe sad eea wavoß and skipped to California, whero tho busy little beo made his fortune. Meanwhile, the clothes and somebo'ly else's corpse had been picked up and duly identified as his, and buriod by the sorrowing relatives, whose sorrow, however, was chastened by tho discovery that an insurance policy covered the inconsiderable cost of the burial, and loffe a not inconsiderable balance. Thon he came back, and, being possessed of Con*BidGrr.blo wealth, found no one desirous ot disputing his identity. This is tho gisb of a story emanating from one of the big Liverpool insurance offices. Tho Company issued a policy upon tho life of a mercantile clock belonging to the 'good old town ' for a moderate sum, and the premiums were duly paid. About a yoar ago the clerk's clothes were found on the Leaiome shore, near Liverpool, under conditions which pointed to another bathing fatality. Subsequently a body waa picked up near tbe spot. Ite condition was such thab only a cursory examination could be made, bub tho relatives of tho missing man, including hie mofchor, agreed to accept the corpse as that of their lost ono, and duly interred the remains. They also drew his club—l mean hia insuranco money. Last week tho officials of the Company received a bad chock, for one morning, tho reputed twelvemonths' corpse walked gaily into tho office and made a ' clean breast ' of the matter. Ho had found himself propped for money and to escape importunate creditors, had porpotrated the time-honoured disappearing trick, leaving his clothes to afford tho regulation clue for the; police. Tho other body was simply a fortunate coincidence. From Liverpool he had shipped to California, and travelled thence to Colorado, where becoming connected with a prosporoug bee and poultry farm, he became passably rich. He determined to return Home, to clear up his affairs, and did so, much to the surprise of his creditors. Having wiped the slate clean ho searched for his mother, but she had left Liverpool, and her present whereabouts are unknown. Evidently there ia a disappearing taint in the family. " """ " " Roll up to Young'a, Sbprtland-abreat, for Bycroft'tj broken bwcuite (Advt.)