NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 256, 26 October 1907, Page 9

NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

The statement is often made in the venire's press that there is a distressXwrance in the Motherland of the Jr elements of life outside the United En-dom. Illustrations are of frequent Srence in support of this charge, ior °Xce. backwaters unstirred by the of education are occasionally reSed in the London Police Courts. An example was supplied at Marylebone in *L case of the woman who, bursting •7n tear* explained that her boy was *" «to be murdered- by the =?' E. b It transpired that he was gohis regiment to India. To *eet xrith ignorance oi this kind in these f* i 5 a little surprising, says the SLlv Graphic." One had suppose!, tot such beliefs as that all Frenchmen b-j- 1 entirely upon frogs, that the inhabitants of Australia walk about on their heads, and that every dark-skinned tiTC is necessarily a cannibal, had died 1 er ao-o Apparently it is not so. They can scarcely be entertained by the jMjL generation, but in certain per=oas°of maturer age they appear to die : d In a milder degree, however, they I- prevalent enough among many who hare received the benefits of education. The=e may not believe that India ■nrarms with murderous "blacks." but they possess but the sketchiest notion of Hie' in lands other than their own, and have the profoundest ignorance of conditions in our Colonies and dependencies. Edncation must progress for many more years before this kind of "insularity" is fully removed, admits the paper.

They leave few records unbroken in Tlfeir York. What is said to be the largest rental paid anywhere in the ■world for business premises is that just arranged for by nine companies affiliated -irift the United States Steel Corporation. They have leased for ten years four floors in a new building being 'elected by the Hudson Tunnel Company at the New York terminus of the tunnel under the river, and in the heart of the citrs business activity. They will pay £12.000 a year for each floor, making an ainiiial rental of £ 45.000, or for the ten jeais tie total of £480,000.

An American investigator has discovered that there are proportionately more mad cooks than lunatics in any other calling; but he cannot say whether they become cooks because they are on tie verge of madness, or whether their profession is exceptionally perilous to tlie reason. Assuredly America is the home of dietetic crazes. Dr. Langualty has discovered that potatoes are an ideal food, and that a man can do a better day's work on a pound of potatoes than on a pound of beefsteak. Dr. Jianldm White, of Harvard, pins his faith to bread and butter, declaring that 3 slice of bread and butter contains more nutriment than one and a half eggs ■or 20 cups of beei-tea. Dr. Wiley, again, says we may eat meat if we do not cW it—that intelligent animal the dflg bolts nis, meat, hut is careful to bite his biscuit. Perhaps America is not qniie the. place for sane cooks.

Spiritualism is said to have received a set-back in .sew York, in consequence of : the discomfiture of Mrs. Pepper Vanderb3t, one of its leading exponents, in a sensational lawsuit. Airs. Vanderbilt las-a troupe of ghostly familiars with eapionioas names ("Bright Eyes," 'Ming Water," and "Happy Elf" being some oi them), with whose aid she has rad the contents of closed letters and jeiionned other works of marvel. It sesned a perfectly reasonable test, therefore, Diien the cross-examining counsel .knded her a sealed envelope in court, ani invited her to decipher what was inside, after the fashion of her seances. Disembodied talent kss a well-known averboe to tie forensic atmosphere, and, naed, to the sceptical spirit in general. adit is not surprising to learn that the ' spites abandoned their medium in this entical emergency. But lawsuits only cmc now and again, whereas credulity fainshes all the year round, and we 'Mcd not suppose that Mrs. Vanderbilt's jfcmtele Trill be permanently diminished "J an untoward incident of this nature. A Chicago Professor declares that the -unmans are losing their sense of humrarin their strenuous pursuit of wealth, would not be true to say «at tteir best jokes are made by their α-ttest men;.but the salient enaracteriswof American Immour is not its dis;S: on^ om dollars, but rather its dis- ° Ulture - ln England it is tf le ~? nd not ™usual-f O r a man to and yet to bubble over with 5,1 ™* Arnold did so to such an for fl- • " m 3 sometimes rebuked SJte- m - Androw fur - hW™ case in point. But 'Ito™* i 3 otherwise. The hum- £, aamsmg as one finds them, are Eot hS? ■ gS; the men who have W m ° IC^ Ure make it hum wit!. fcKSV lemnit - v of a tof - the role rtf ' f COUrse ' exceptions to CaSe Of Oliver Wendell tie mIV? PP \°* c such ««pKon. But ka * S , u st *ted. There has never tfcrc I^ 6nCan Arnold; has Iw 5- aa Ameri can Andrew «ftne<^ U V c haye the reviewers James oi H^*^* ,1 Professor william *ltt season of «« year «<« of thrir news P a P er! > allot a Mts *4o xriA *? ce t0 the correspondVon a. W generalise about *"* the 7m Women cleTer " than men? % settle I>reSence of mind? Do 158 »r "reatP mbhn g debts with »Sf rW itUde? The ava " «*» if we , H IeSS overw hel™ us to at! m , pted aa oracular rettEre isonef«L ese questions; but troT^ie 3 J^ Ome of «»e burning con- ***■ Tir Seems of being is ° f tbe twentieth *»* rnaS*£ * elf -™*s«°usnes S which leTeI <»f g eS t Ua L to the ¥ *•& S ' and that t" 11 W the T? Bpecial Virtue or Eristics m ? St ordina l-y feminine ? r M {T a paper, ft 1 * the tl\k nf aS just been bitten ? 6 Wl *jSrof fiTT 111 ' ince^ a nt as 18166*I 8166 * tf iut the i brook ' just as t0 - No doubt it h ! fte wa fw r T ° ice >" wrote Byfefcefljr, «si£.WhicL it performs im-

The vicar of Stratford-on-Avon in hie parish magazine is making a feature, says "Truth," of report? of the cases of drunkenness dealt with by the local magistrates. There is apparently a local opinion that the practice of exhibiting the defendants in a parochial pillory as

'• 'horrid examples" is rather uncharitable. Adds the journal we have quoted: —"There is certainly some force in the suggestion that, instead of adding to their punishment, a clergyman would re more fittingly occupied in attempting to reclaim them." Mr J. T. Rao, the secretary of the National Temperanco League of the United Kingdom is inclined to endorse this opinion. "I do not sec." he said to a Press interviewer, "how the publication of their ninies in a parish magazine can have any improving effect on the state of habitual drunkards. And at the same time I do see a very dangerous precedent in the v:c:ir"s action in the can? of a first conviction, that is, perhaps, not likely to b? fc-liowed by another. On the whole, I thjnk I may say tho vicar's method is not a wise one."

A kind-hearted lady has been the victim of rather a curious but unpleasant experience, due. she believes, to mistaken gratitude on the part of a fox-terrier, of which she is very fond. The dog had the misfortune to have one of his fore paws run over by a dray in the street, and, of course, this necessitated a great deal of attention, and the lady very carefully bandaged the injured limb every day until it was quite healed. As a natural consequence the dog's fondness for his mistress seems to have increased with his gratitude. It appears that the' dog found in the dust-Din a very antiquated ham-bone, whicn he seems to have smuggled into the house, and in the morning carried the bone upstairs to his mistress (still asleep) and carefully deposited it on her pillow immediately in front of her face. The lady remarked that she did not think she could have slept long after this, as the stench from the bone was sufficient to knock one down. Still the dog's grateful recognition of kindness done was none the less touching.

A fresh illustration of canine sagacity comes from Mr. Marcus Stevenson, M.R.C.Y.S., of London. One evening recently, a gentleman took a Japanese collie dog suffering from a painful affection of the ear, to Mr. Stevenson's surgery in Camden-road, Holloway. Mr. Stevenson operated on the animal, which was then taken by its master to its home, over a mile away. On the following evening the dog found its way unaccompanied to the surgery, and as soon as the door was opened jumped up on the operating table and waited until the veterinary surgeon could attend to it. Mr. Stevenson examined its ear, poured in some lotion, and the dog immediately left and went home. Every evening since, the dog has visited the surgery in the same manner and submitted to the same process, which, says Mr. Stevenson, must be painful. The owner has not accompanied the dog since the first evening, and the animal was, at the time this paragraph was communicated tc the English Press by the veterinarian (a fortnight later) itill under treatment. As a rule, when a dog has once been on the operating table, it is only with great difficulty that it can be induced again to approach it.

Three score of young men had the temerity to enter as competitors in a beauty show at Folkestone, organised by one of the Town Councillors. The organiser was told, when he started, that he would fail, as he would not get half a dozen men to compete, because men were not as vain as women. The result completely falsified these prognostications. Types of male beauty from all parts of England were, represented, and Britain's claim to supremacy in manly beauty was not left unchallenged, for a Frenchman, a Swiss, a Hungarian, a Greek, a Turk, a Japanese, and a negro were among the competitors. As it was thought that dress should not enter into the question the competitors had to come forward and look through a frame. Additional interest was lent to the eveni by the announcement that a young woman who competed in the beauty sliow the previous Aveek had offered to marry the first prize-winner. There was a great majority for the first prize-winner, Sergeant Hodgetts, of the Bth Hussars, stationed at the School of Musketry, Hythe. All three prize-winners had curly hair, but the first prize-winner was dark and the others fair. He, was married, so the. sporting offer of the young lady was not accepted.

Here are a few recioes iiom rural England for whooping cough, which has been rnnr; than usually prevalent during <he past winter. This is one given 20 years ago, and warranted a sure cure for infantile trouble: — "Get three field mice, flaw them, draw tin n, and roast one of them, and let the party afflicted eat it. Dry the other ivvo in the oven till they crumble into a powder, and put a little of this powder into what the patient drinks night and morning." One would prefer the affliction to the abominable remedy. In some rural districts the natives still have great faith in mice as medicine. A doctor ordered a mother to put some ice and mice in a bag and tie it on her boy's forehead. Next day, when he asked after his patient, the mother replied, "Oh, Tommy's better, but the mice are dead." What a lively time the suffering boy must have had. Another cure for whooping cough highly recommended was to attach a bit of fat bacon to a string, allow the patient to swallow this dainty morsel, then pull it back .again, "an excellent and economical remedy," which will doubtless delight the hearts of thrifty mothers. "Stone walls do not a prison make," the poet lias cheerily remarked, "nor iron bars a cage'"; but, a.s a general rule, they make a tolerably sufficient, and even realistic substitute therefor. Most rules, however, have their exceptions, and that would seem to be the. case with the prison at Cologne. That edifice has, no doubt, plentj' of stone walls and iron bars; but the existence led by the prisoners behind Them would seem to be more like that of a comfortable and convivial residential club than a prison. It appears that, whenever a well-dressed convict is incarcerated, the warders approach him or his relatives with a view to the material amelioration of his lot —for their good as well as his own. "Where money is forthcoming, food and luxuries can be obtained from outside, prisoners can visit each others' cells, and can spend convivial evenings at cards (including copious liquid refreshment) with the warders. This pleasing state of things might have gone on indefinitely, if the Governor had not detected a prisoner solemnly patrolling the prison in the uniform of a warder who was sleeping off the effects of liquor in the prisoner's cell. We never thought a German prison could be half so nice a place to live in. ■