TOPICS of the DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 197, 18 August 1906, Page 9

TOPICS of the DAY.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) 7 LONDON, July 6. THE APOTHEOSIS OP SPORT.' A stranger landing in England during' the present week might well be excused for imagining that sport is the main business of life in this country. is still sitting, it is true, and one hears,vague rumours of an Education Bill round which one of the greatest political struggles of modern years is raging, but the weather is too hot for politics, and only bishops and Dr. Cliffords pay much attention to what goes on- at Westminster in this brief but brilliant week of '•'flaming June." The Royal Regatta at Henley, the international lawn tennis at Wimbledon, the Oxford and Cambridge cricket match, at Lords, the rifle-shooting at Bisley, "Tom" Hayward's centuries at the Oval—these are tlie weighty and momentous -matters which have claimed the attention and the attendance of the public during the week. Even the patriotic gentlemen of the extreme Radical party who, in the capacity of friends of eveiy country but their own, have tried to pillory their countrymen in Egypt and Natal as brutes, blackguards, and- murderers must have been disappointed this weelc to find their outbursts fall so singularly flat. The suffragettes, too, have had a dull week, despite the fact that four more of them have gone to gaol as martyrs in the cause' of woman's franchise. The main business in this, of all weeks in the year, is sport. . '•Royal Henley" has claimed its thousands during its four crowded days of glorious life. Thereishot---i*glknoWof in the colonies even remotely 'resembling England's grerat annual river-pageant l -— nothing with which it can Well be. com-, pared; For colour, for gaiety, for luxury and sheer joy of life it stands .-unique amongst water carnivalsy'and this j year's Henley, carried out in gorgeous j weather, has lacked - none of the bril- i liance for which the pageant .is world- ; famous. It might be described as- a"' study in muslin and chiffons, with interludes of racing. Still, the races were worth watching, and the presence of a | number of colonial oarsmen added greatIly to the interest in the eyes of the many visitors from overseas.. Another sporting function was the tennis tournament at Wimbledon,. where the inviri ciblo H. L. Doherty defended successfully his title of All England lawn tennis champion. A F. Wilding, New Zealand's only representative, suffered defeat in the semi-finals of this competition, but with Miss Douglass he won the mixed: doubles championship from last year's holder, the little Califomian girl, Miss May Sutton. As for the doughty deed 3 of Hayward and Co. upon the cricket field, are they not already . written in the chronicles of every lover of the grand old game?

"OUR GLORIOUS CLIMATE." London in the dog-days is a little too hot,to be pleasant, except on the outskirts of the metropolis, but rural England at this time of year is very beauti ful and altogether a charming place to live iii. Under a blazing mid-summer sun its park-like. appearance is restful and refreshing,to the eye, and the long cool twilight brings with it a rare sense of quiet, .unchanging peace. In these : brief halcyon months of summer one forgets the fogs and leaden skies of winter, and feels inclined to back the climate of old England against the world. Perhaps that is why the "Strand Maga•zine" has chosen this season of the year for a paean of triumph over tbe glories of the English climate, and why the distinguished chorus of contributors- are so emphatic in their praise. His. Mar

jesty the King is quoted as saying at Homburg, "I did not leave England to estape irom the", weather, but for quite other reasonsi^Taken"-'as. a whole, the English climate is the best in vthe. world. That it is certainly 'healthful,' the general physique! of our Englisb people shows." -The' Prince of Wales, in the course of a speech in India, made a similar" remark. '"I think," observed the Prince, fthat the English climate has been unjustly maligned. So far from being 'abominable', I think it ■ is one of the best, if not the best, all-round climate in the world." Lord Brassey shares the view on the subject expressed by ChaTlfjs ll.j -who said: "There is no country where a man can be abroad, so many months"of the year or,so many hours of the day as in England." Sir Harry Johnston says: "All things conthe average climate of the southern half of England is the best arid the healthiest in the world," Sir Harry, „ of course, "has experienced as many cli- x mates as most people, and this fact 'gives his opinion peculiar weight. "Sir Gilbert Parker, who has also been a traveller, holds a similar opinion. "I think," he says, that there.is no country, in the world whose climate,: take: it day, by day all the year round, is as healthyas that of England." Sir William desVoeuxy an v ex-Cbloniat Governor, and High Commissioner of, the Western Pacific, holds that the English climate, so far from being the worst, is, if not the best j at least on© . of the best in the world." Lord Moritaigu, of Beaulieu, vasserts that."our climate, taken as a whole, is the most pleasant in the world." Mr: Harry de Windt believes it "compares favourably with that of any other country." A famous soldier, Major-General A. H. O'GradyHaly, takes quite another view. "While,'' he says, "I am prepared to admit that it is jiist possible there may' be some portion of the globe afflicted with a. worse climate than that of the /United Kingdom,., I doubt it very much." But the Major-Generaly on this.occasion" at all events- is in a decided minority. SMOKERS' SCRIPT.

Everybody has heard of "smokers--throat," and "smokers' heart"; the powers of observation attributed to SberloclcHolmes are not required to detect the cigarette-smoker's'fingers'; and some people allege that they can distinguish a smoker's eye. Mr Saunders, ah exschoolmaster, who was examined by the Lords'. Committee on .Juvenile Smoking the other day, alleged that he could detect smokers by their handwriting. Ninety per cent of the children under nine had normal hearts, Mr Saunders said, but-from the age of nine, to four- • teen a steady; deterioration took place among boys. Between twelve and four-' teen years of,age 30 per cent had irregular' circulation, whereas the percentaga among girls was only 8 per cent. He attributed this to smoking by boys. He could detect. smokers from v their handwriting, which ,*was of a loose, flabby, illknit, kind. Handwriting was a cinematograph of the heart. ■'. --■,"■ The Vjpnjiif. is generally the father ot the man in handwriting as in other things, so this rule should apply also to ' adults.. But it doesn't. One knows per-• sonally many confirmed smokers whose* -.-••' handwriting is neither loose nor flabby, and'dozens of people who. have either.; never, or scarcely ever, even flirted with "My .Lady Nicotine" whose .-. caligraphy, ' remains obstinately iUegible. But, seeing, that juvenile smoking is undoubted- ; ly an unmixed evil/one*does not desire to cast doubts upon the efficacy, of "Mr . ' Saunders' test. Anything, that tends to add terrors to j uveiule. smoking., is to be c6&mfend*?d^ai*i*3?isTtq-?the VSoviet ' Brown minor and his contemporaries-be-ware.; "This exercise is flabbUy written, Brown. I.sh'aU: cane you for The adoption of this rough and ready; - rule of "discipline would certainly act as a deterrent among, youths .prone to- thai 7; insidious cigarette, and at the same time would tend- to make the -pupil more care-' *. ful of his, handwriting. . Therefore in ons way or the other or.iii both, good would ' . 'come-;'. ' ■''.-'■•' """'' '-"-j —"'■-• ■' , A FIGHT: POR'A TITLE.

A great fight is in progress iii - the House of Lords'over the Earldom of >_ Norfolk. There is ho money hor lands at' issue—nothing but an empty title; ■ But the antagonists are in deadly earn--est, and whatever the issue certain,great '.. "lawyers will: reap : a''richvliarvest.of fees. •'•Th. Earldom is at present held by tlie: Duke of Norfolk, and_ it is claimed by a fellow Ronian' Catholic, Baron'Mowbray, Segrave and' Stomton. who has petitioned the Lords to decide that he is en- ' titled'to an older earldom of the same name as that held by the present Duke of Norfolk. . . The petitioner presents himself as * head of the senior branch of the co-heirs to the Earldom of Norfolk, created in the " v reign of Edward IL, by charter in 1312, '• " : arid granted to Thomas of Bortherton.'son of Edward I. by his secOndi.marriage. That earldom went into abeyance pr. thei death, of Lady Anne de Mowbray iv 1478. She'left as: her coheiresses Lady Margaret de Mowbray and Lady.lsabella de Mow'bray. Lady M&?'garet, the; elder sister, is represented' in the present day by the petitioner and'LoriiPetre, wliile the younger sister is represented by the Countess of Berkely. 'The prayer of th© petitioner is that the-abeyance of the earldom might be determined in his fav-* our. His counsel-alleges that,no.length of time bars the right to have.a peerage ; . called out of abeyance. Two principal questions arise.; One'is. whether the law of abeyance applies.to earldoms. -Thatit applies to bar.onies has been firmly established since the early years of the y 17tlT century, and in this respect there is, . Lady Moworay claims, jip distinction between the two ranks. The other .pj_h__ cipal question is. as to the effect of the grantr of the title "Earl of. Norfolk" imadeyby Charles. I. in 1644 to Thomas Howard,onei of. the descendants of the Lady Margaret de Mowloray already, mentioned. That lady, it -might be reniarked incidentally, was married twice, her first union taking place when she was a child, and being with one of the Princes afterward anurdercd;: in the Tower. -'■' It is asserted by -the present. Duke : of '• ' Norfolk that the charter of. Charles 1. -- revived the old Earldom of Norfolk, but ■ Lord Mowbray does not admit that this was the case, and says ;'that the best that can be said for the charter was that it granted an entirely new peerage. If the committee take that;view there will be ";two .Earldoms of. Norfolk, one. ; belonging to the heirs male of Thomas 1 Howard, Seventeenth Lord Segrave, the' ■other descending to the heirs of Thomas* of Brotherton. There is no dispute as to pedigree, for both the holder of the . ;. title and the claimant can trace their - descent clearly back to Thonias Plan--tagenet the first Earl of Norfolk through Duke Henry iof Norfolk whose son, Lord Thomas Howard, was the father of the present Duke'S great-great-great-grandr father and of the great **reat-great-grandfather of Lord Mowbray; the latter being the descendant of Philip Howard, second son of Lord Thomas, and the Duke of Norfolk being a. descendant of their, third Boa. '.•'\-pi •