News, Views and Opinions.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 242, 11 October 1902, Page 1 (Supplement)

News, Views and Opinions.

The national character has been often enough aspersed in the last few years, but manj' of the soft aspersions have been less serious than the apologies. The last of the apologists maintains that the English people cannot possibly be hypocrites because there is not enough artistic sense in any one of them "to keep up hypocrisy for five minutes." But with the superior knowledge born of experience, he maintains that the really cardinal sin of the Englishman is cleanliness. The argument is that man first wore socks to save his feet from dirt, then boots to save his socks, then goloshes to save his boots, and presumably* stilts came after goloshes; and that all the while he has been getting farther and farther away from nature. We all know of the old definition of dirt as "matter in the wrong place," but it is going a long sten farther in philosophy to say th.it a child who is olaying in the sand and becomes sandy hr.s reached the apex of cleanliness, or to deny that a man can be in touch with nature because he defends his head with a hat, and his, or her, hat with an umbrella. One is quite ready to admit that the -stars are not "heaps of mire," and that earth is not necessarily dirtier than soap, but one may still retain a little sympathy for the miller who "wore a white hat" for no other reason than to keep his head warm. After all, we must have clothes, and in cities it is not easy to have too many baths, for it is beyond the reach even of a philosopher to aver that smuts and cleanliness have any connection. They constitute an environment to which even Darwin would not wish us to adapt ourselves. !

Lord Cadogan's name will not alone pass into history as having been LordLieutenant of Ireland, but also as having made some important changes in the etiquette observed at Dublin Castle. He has abolished the Kiss of Fealty. It was customary hitherto when debutantes were presented to His Excellency for him to kiss them. It was an imoortant function at all the drawing rooms. There was no escaping it. The ladies were all marshalled into line, and one by one they were obliged to go through the "ordeal" as they called it. It is a remarkable coincidence that since the Kiss of Fealty was abolished there has been a falling-off in the number of presentations. There is a story told that the present Lord Crewe, when he asked Mr Gladstone what his duties as Lord-Lieutenant would be, was told: "Oh, make yourself agreeable, and kiss the girls at the Drawing-rooms, that's all!"

The "restless" Vicar of Gorleston, as the "Westminster Gazette" dubs the Rev. Forbes Phillips, can hardly be congratulated on his proposal that in each parish the church should "run" a theatre. Mr Phillips' experiences or tentative efforts in that direction have not been very edifying, and by a great many of the Church's sincerest well-wishers have been regretted as a deplorable mistake. The assistance of actors and actresses in churches is not disapproved because of an exaggerated regard for the sanctity of the church fabrics; in fact, there are genuinely religious people who hold that there is no reason why churches should not be used for secular purposes now, as they were before the time of Archbishop Laud. But the question of what is the best mode of carrying on the religious work of the churches is quite another matter, and probably most observers would say that a church which requires bolstering up by stage plays or mystery mummeries ■h not in a very good way. If Mr Phillips really does hold that the clergy are apt to "overdo the religious side of life," he oug-ht to be reminded that there is also the possibility of underestimating that side of life and bringing it into contempt.

The medical profession is popularly supposed to. be sadly overcrowded, but if we are to believe the "British Medical Journal," which ought to be an authority on the subject, it cannot be in such a bad way after all. It is true, we are told, that only a few doctors "become what a business tman would call moderately rich"; but, on the other hand, any "average healthy man" who enters the profession is certain of "a practically assured livelihood," this being further defined as "an income of, say, £400 or £500 a y_ar." If this be so, the doctor's calling, so far as the average man is concerned, will compare Tery favourably in point of income ■with the other professions, and doctors, as a class, have less to complain of than is generally supposed. Certainly they are better off than their brethren in some Continental countries. A writer in the "Neve Freie Presse" not long ago declared "that the majority of doctors in Berlin made less than £120 a year, and that in Austria, as well as in Germany, the overcrowding of the profession and the enormous increase in medical clubs had brought doctors as a body to the verge of poverty. If British practitioners have fewer magnificent prizes to aspire to than men at the Bar, in the Church, or in the Services, they are certainly far better off, both relatively and actually, than their unhappy German or Austrian confreres.

Among the many stories told of Mr Balfour's golfing, the following is not perhaps so well known as some: There used to be a famous old worthy on the golf links at North Berwick, who invariably caddied for the present Prime Minister. One day, when playing in a foursome, Mr Balfour was followed round the links by a small knot of people. Among the spectators was an individual with what was afterwards described as "an irritating cackle of a cough." He always coughed at a critical moment, and contrived to do it just as Mr Balfour was about to take a long critical put. The old caddie, who had Wnn the cough patiently enough up till now, put out his hand and stopped the player. Then, turning round 'to the little group of onlookers, aske<l, with a great excess of politeness. "Can any of you gentlemen oblige *his man wi' a jujube?"

_-__ -■-~.-... ~ ■ , ~...j I ..i iL j ■. | ,..iii.^^-[|__B g _________Z_M Mß A Cork correspondent states that there died about two years ago at Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., a man named John Sullivan, who had formerly belonged to Cork, and left an estate valued at ~£IOO,OOO. Considerable litigation followed his death. A c aim was filed for probate on an alleged mcomoleted will of deceased I hy a irench woman named Marie Car-I ran, to whom he bequeathed his es- '■ tate. About 20 other claimant I arose, amongst them Hannah Callag-; han a woman of 65, who sold fruit m the streets of Cork, and Edward I Corcoran, a tradesman resident in Dublin. Last November an inquiry was conducted by the Hon. Daniel Sweeney, United States Consul at Queenstown, and voluminous evidence was taken. The Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Washington has now issued its decree, which %vas read last month by the Cork solicitor acting for the claimants. The alleged will is set aside, and Hannah Callaghan and Edward Corcoran are declared entitled to the property in equal shares. Ir is a wonderful turn of fortune for both, particularly the old woman, who has lived a long life of poverty, and now 1 acquires considerable wealth.

Occult journals in Germany are now drawing attention to the fact that the disaster at Martinique - was plainly foretold as far back as 1899 by Mme. de Terrieux, one of the best known clairvoyants in Europe. On the evening of May 10, iv that year, while she was knitting in her parlour, she suddenly closed her eyes and uttered these remarkable words:

—"In a few years a terrible earthquake or explosion will take place, and, if I am not mistaken, it will occur in 1902. Yes, yes. it will .certainly occur in 1902. I see it in a vision, and the stars also tell the same story to me. This earthquake will be so terrible that the submarine cables will be rent asunder and a great city will be wholly destroyed. Moreover, thousands of persons will meet with an awful death. I hear a sound like an explosion. I see a city, and it is red hot. I also see many streets literally covered with corpses, and • 1-r-n offer column of smoke blackening the sky. I feel, too, a violent shock, as though all the earth were quaking, and I see twenty shops in flames. Alas! for the unfortunate dwellers in . that city. May God in his infinite mercy have compassion on the stricken relatives of those who are bound to meet with this awful doom." Mme. de Terrieux then opened her eyes and seemed lost in thought during the remainder of the evening. The prediction, however, had been overheard by a lady in an adjoining room, and it seemed so strange to her that she wrote it down and sent copies of it on the following day to the leading occult journals in Europe.

Arran, which the King visited on his recent yachting tour, some particulars of which are given on this page, is the largest of the islands of the Clyde, and is certainly the most | beautiful and picturesque. The northern half of the island is mountainous; the southern half, on the contrary, consists of a rolling plateau fronted round the coasts with cliffs of romantic beauty. The island, which is the property of Lady Mary Hamilton, has historic and literary associations of considerable interest. Brodick Castle, which was visited by their Majesties, is itself a modern structure, but occupies the site of a fortalice of the time of the Norse invaders and the Lords of the Isles. On the southern coast are a number of caves called King's Caves, in which tradition says Robert Bruce concealed himself, and in which doubtless his encounter with a persevering spider, celebrated In verse, took place. King's Cross Point .derives its name from the fact that "the Bruce" embarked at this spot on the first stage of the victorious expedition which culminated at Bannockbnrn. There are several groups of relics of Druidical origin, while geologists are attracted by a number of moraine heaps. But the ruins of the Convent of St. Bride, which was the retreat of the Lady Isabel of Scott's poem, "The Lord of the Isles," no longer exist, having been removed about half a century ago. On approach from the sea towards Brodick, it opens out a magnificent prospect, Goat Fell, its most commanding (height, towering up from the centre of the island some 2800 ft

towards the sky. Stretching away to the northward is a striking line of peaks above Glen Sannox, rising like gigantic teeth, and clearly outlined against the blue of the heavens. All about this ridge the mountains cluster with rugged picturesqueness nowhere surpassed in Great Britain, except in the sister isle of Skye. Scott has given us a gorgeous picture of the scene, where Lord Ronald and the Royal Bruce steer for Arran's

isle. . Zadkiel and Old Moore are not having it all their own way as prophets of°disaster. M. Kandasami Pillai, of Dindigul, in the province of Madras, can see a3 far through a milestone as either of them. He has an earthquake on hand for a quite early date, which "will pass through India. The shock will extend from Himalayas to Ceylon, and its force will be f, _, and J. At that time the people should be very careful, and they will do well to remain a little way from their houses." Moreover, between now and next May some other parts of the world are likely to have an exceedingly bad time. "No man," we are told, "will do his proper duties. All will be chaos and confusion. Truth will become a rare commodity. Immorality will be rife. There will be q shower of meteors. Hot winds will be blowing constantly. The probable loss of life may be predicted at 75 per cent." It is interesting to recall that Kandasami Pillai foresaw some time ago that between June 21 and 28 of the present year King Edward would "suffer of boils like carbuncles throughout the body," and it is to be 'loped His Majesty's physicians have been made acquainted with the efficacy of "gifts of black bulls" in such cases. Unlike his Western, prototypes, the Madras mystery man admits an occasional mistake. He had, it seems, fixed the date of the King's accession for 1913. "For this mistake." he says, "I can account no better than by saying it was God's' will and my misfortune." A most ingenuous Kandasami. Such an humbleminded and honest prophet certainly deserves an occasional bit of luck, but we hope it may not be necessary for the people of India to "remain a little way from their houses" in the near future.

■gross register, with a displacement of the hardly credible figure of 37,870 tons, and will carry 3350 souls. Scarcely nine years since statistics like these would have Ibeen received with smiles of derision. Many can remember how, in 1893, when the Cevic, of 8,500 tons register, was sent forth by Harland and Wolff, it was considered A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT of the shipbuilder's art. Yet now we find the same firm issuing a leviathan three times the Cevic's size, and ready and willing to lay the keel of another huger still. When will this ambition stop? Certainly not till Harland and Wolff have ceased to exist, which will not be for many a long year to come, judging by theia. vitality at present. (

The Cedric, which entered the sea late in August, is 700 ft long and 75ft in the beam, thus beating even the famous Great Eastern in length (though not in width). The Great Eastern was 692£t long and 83At beam; and it is amusing to recollect that her launching lasted from November 3, 1857, to Jan. 31,1858. Her cost was £732,000, or about £200,000 more than the Cedric. But the Cedric outdistances her (distinguished predecessor in every other particular. The diameter of her funnels is 15ft 9in by 12ft; that of her masts is 3ft These latter are, of course, maxle of steel, and are hollow. Ladders run up inside them, so that in any weather a seaman can comfortably reach their peak. The vessel is composed of no fewer than nine decks, and from keel to

were in their day two of the Belfast shipbuilder-' masterpieces. They were, by the way, the very first passenger boats to be fitted as armed cruisers, and receive, a Government subsidy as Royal Navy Reserves.

What is the reason of this success of Harland and Wolff, unparalleled in the mercantile annals of Great Britain? It is due simply to hard-headed organisation. And what organisation a yard such as this must require! For every single ship's part and accesisory (with the sole exception of electric light fittings and refrigerator machines) is made from beginning to end in the Harland and Wolff workshops. Everything, from the knitting together of three-ton iron shell plates to the delicate joinery and upholstering of cabin furniture, is constructed here. In one enclosure the

riveter (without whose aid the thick hull, of such a vessel as the Cedric could not possibly be fitted together) is another ingenious piece of machinery. It hangs in mid-air from the gigantic sliding "gantries," and neatly

nips together the ends of what may best be described as the nails and tin-tacks of the stupendous fabric As its name indicates, it is operated by water power. An even cleverer contrivance (at least, from the -__initiated spectator's point of view) is worked pneumatically, and in three seconds welds and nicely rounds off each red-hot rivet as it is placed in position by a deft-handed workman. As the visitor passes from one huge workshop to another he realises more and more clearly how many thousands of busy brains must have been at work to make the building- of such a vessel as the Cedric possible. The result may well be called one of the noblest products of human invention.