NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 70, 21 March 1908, Page 9

NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

ifcfV'anust !ook fonvard to r bad "» -ays Air. Chamberlain, on Janua letter to a supporter. every prospect that bad trade follow tte exceptional boom that r "\; c comins through. I believe cop, ",,i r that fiscal reform i= the only ei\ for the state of things that we and. moreover., it is '"tariff reform alone that we can look Lrard fe r closer relation? To ° ur cnl " - I believe that without these relations we shali necessarily sink r.j'-he Eti* Q rale " nv ' jU ~ nation-, and trUst tilat the "PPortunity -iicir now presents itself will not be £t sight of." Tte famous Cullinan <!i:imond the present to King Edward, has .myed at Amsterdam and been safely jgjjed in the strongroom of Messrs. J. Vatier and Co.. of Amsterdam, Paris. £,i" London, the firm entrusted by his ~.; e ;ty with the task of cutting and pjfcbing the precious jewel. Its con-p-nee ros carried out with the greats' ;ecreey. and it is now guarded by ? ,j ce (Jay and night. The work to be CS3E will probably occupy a year. i Jfc. jletcaif. Secretary oi the United Satss Savy. has contracted for a subIjnne of the Lake Typ°. which the in--^Tcrs r claim will be the largest and rciKt vessel of the kind ever built. She rShive a steaming radius of 3000 miles. (i tie rate of sixteen knots, which is two I acess of the contract speed. It is iised that the new vessel will have a capartment forward with a door which, when >he is submerged, 5 sill be possible for those on board to alt oat into the water. In this means of saw vul be provided when other exits m ent off. Warren Hastings calculated (says the lesion "Times") that a- the result of E» Mare of a single crop in Bengal 3 1770, ten millions perished out of fiirty millions. Such an overwhelming EEtaEty. such a protraction of sufferjs. are impossible to-day. The comaiatire facility with which the people rreoTCT from their misfortunes is one GtSe most remarkable features nf modem India: but it is due in the main to fe jeaerOTis care with which they are Mped to retrieve their fallen fortunes. Successive Famine Commissions have, at . hsc succeeded in formulating a series s recognised principles of famine re£s silica have now reached a reasonable KjjiEe of finality. A famine campaign kbdia i= novr conducted on lines which c;tie oatcome of accumulated experieee. Its operations are automatic: its ins are ready: every man knows what bias to do, and how to do it. Ifflidon =a-iv it- first "iiansometer" on Jefaiary I. The Federation of Cab Proprietors hoped to place 700 taximeter teed hansoms on the streets on that tar, and by the end of February they mneipated that the number would be (babied. The introduction of the •"hansemeteri." however, is likely, as has been already" indicated, to be accompanied by friction feOTeen masters and men. The London Cabmen's Tnion. maintain that tie terms oSered to drivers are not • gsot/ enough.' The masters suggest -30 ■pr cess on ciiangs up to lti/ and 40 ;i cent on takings over tliat amount. Sjuea demand 33 1-3 per cent on casts under 16/ and 40"per cent on sir wirings over that sum. The union ha delivered their ultimatum to the ssdCoiL and now- await a reply. '-\Ve sB Bold a meeting in a day or two," ffil a union official, "and then decide Ktt course we shall take. Whether *t Sail strike depends on what happa at tie meeting.' , "fe there any serious risk of the deer oi st«el skyscrapers through the asoaon of their material?"' asks the !aim "Times,'' which goes on to point X tkt -the leading American MetalNsts and engineers are agreed that !2 proper use of concrete, cement, and psis an adequate preservative against e> aich danger. When the old" Chiag> Post Office was taken down, after jNhig for 25 years, its wrought-iron sas were found to be in perfect conpffl- A similar report was made of «Palace of Industry, in Paris, which of iron in 1562. and demolished a ISCO. It is also worth noting, as pated oat a few years ago by M"r. H. i- Hcwe. the. Professor of Metallurgy a tie Columbia University, that we «* object-lessons of the" ability of psttwal iron to last for many centur--6 Iron was used in the construction E tie obelisks, and there may be seen c-iay. apparently as strong' as ever, «son damps which held together the' fat stone blocks in the Parthenon at. %i of the most dramatic incidents ' of Atlantic voyagers took hs daring the recent passage of the -Sard liner Panrionia from the Mediterjfanr say aX -r y or k correspondent, g≤ , VHSeI was ploughing its way Wlljgi a severe stonn'when the ship's |||ft Mr. J. F. Orr. reported to the that a Scottish stoker named "p who was suffering from appendim a critical condition, and p H the man's life were to be saved |« immediate operation would be neces/F-_ The captain at once gave the or-r-Mr the ship to be stopped, and ' J '~ ailoa? °i oil '""ere hurled over*3 in the effort to keep the vessel -■~ pitching m the heavy seas that J~5 naming. While every effort was ~~ to kppp the ship steady the surJ" ,3 ." 3, carrying out the operation in Hpfc Iwr below. The operation was ' HgfcJ- but when it was over the -■■V-.s practically collapsed, so great 81 Ma th e strain on his nerves." Ewreaie methods of "raising the J™' not included in the "Tim»s" ar- «£= oa charity. For audacity and grim the conduct of the porters 'in a _.-am great market must claim (say= Hβ l inhs Standard") a foremost U " ~ well known among those and un!,%Td the wares of the '•« suddenly disappears. His fellows the morning. sad-vUaged and t ror»"n ßpon - tlle men 1 " tl1 mone ?"- "jjjL. 0 : = dead, sir."' they say. iISS" just cottectio- a bit of mone'v tl I " ,nn , a decent funeral." It would WL hOf the immutable laws of ifSg , dosel ? to m qu i re j EtO the day there may be a slidit fiL °'-, porters - °n the following Mt7 all be back in th *ir places. "We" -^r actiTe is certain to be the ~ Ulloa: thought you were fesd S tnp _contributors to his funeral »te nf i nst died to the boys tare L n n °" is the answ «. There , mor , e rssnrrecticns in this ! **£* aU the lest of the world j

j-ne j-onoon a tar" says a mysterious robbery of a bag containing a thousand j sovereigns from the head office of a - London bank, as long ago as New Year's Eve, was publicly made known on Sat- | urday for the first time. The bag was ; placed in the strong-room, but the following morning could not be found. The j locks had not been tampered with. A j reward of £100 is offered for the discov- ! cry of the thief. Like many other great musicians. ; "isaye. who has just had a famous "Strad"' stolen from him, has had to endure many hardships in the cause of his art. and in these days of prosperity he i> fond of telling his pupils of his : struggles. "Ah,"' he says, "at your age ; I practised in a garret, and went out I only when too hungry to go on playing." I Times have changed, however, and for one American tour of fifty concerts he j received the enormous sum of £20.000. I With so princely an income at his disi posal there is little wonder that Ysaye ! has a unique and fabulously expensive I collection of violins, the gathering of i which has been one of his hobbies. The instrument which has been stolen cost Ysaye £2400. but it is valued by cxi perts at £6000 or £7000. Another hobby of the violinist* is that of cycling. j while the "gentle eratV of Izaak Walton also exercises a spell over him. : Mr. Harry Harks, M.P.. tells the foli lowing story in the London "•'Financial News"":—ln my early days in London an American of the most pronounced western type called upon mc to tell mc about the extraordinary richness of property in Colorado which he had for sale. It was in the afternoon, and my visitor had evidently lunched not wisely, but too well. When he had talked mc into a state of nerves, and himself only a little less than half-sober, I asked "him what the quartz yielded in gold. He replied: "I can't quite remember: but it's either five ounces to the ton or five tons to the ounce. I'm not sure which!" Like Mr. Roosevelt. Mr. Bryan (the Democratic candidate for the Presidency! is a firm believer in the strenuous life, and besides being successful as a politician, he managed to attain distinction in many other ways. He is one of the best known journalists in America, and was formerly editor of the "Omaha World." As a lecturer he is enormously popular, hi:- average earnings in this capacity being nearly £10.000 a year. He ii<ij travelled all over the world, and has been received in audience by the Pope and the Czar. The year before last he came to London to attend the Interparliamentary Congress, and during his stay he had an interview with the King at, Buckingham Palace, when he discussed with his Majesty the question oi international peace. A Scottish tourist, wandering about Paris, found himself in a strange neighbourhood, and he failed, through ignorance of the language, to get aavone to guide him homeward. men a happy thought struck him. By dint of signs he concluded a bargain with a fruit hawker for a basketful of gooseberries, and to the amazement of everybody, he went about shouting "Fine Scotch grossets! A penny a pun!" This went on lor a while, till a fellow-countryman rushed forward, and seizing him by the shoulder, asked: "Man, d'ye think y'ere in the streets of Glesea. that ye gang about, like a madman crying grossets?" "Eeh." he replied, with relief. "ye"re just the man I was looking for. D'ye ken tlf way to the Blanc Hotel 1" To enable Messrs. Harland and Wolff, of Belfast, to proceed with the construction of the steamships Europe and Gigantic, of 4."-.000 and 48,000 tons gross" re- ! gister. there has been constructed in Belfast Harbour a floating crane capable ;of raising weights exceeding 200 tons. I mounted on an immense pontoon. It is in the form of a huge bell-shaped tower supporting in turn an adjustable jib capi able of lifting any load with which it may have to deal to a considerable height above water level, and a' long outreaches beyond the sides of the pontoon. A special feature of interest is that the whole of the crane will revolve on the pontoon, making a complete circle, and will thus have an unsually large range. Lz is intended to moor the crane alongside the big ships for lifting heavy boilers, engines, and other big pieces of machinery on board after launching and during completion. It is entirely electrically driven, and is the largest of its kind in existence. Mrs. Hodgson Pratt (widow of the late well-known humanitarian and advocate of peace i sends to "Light" the following statement: —"You may be interested to hear of a thing which happened to mc in Brittany last summer. I had. to sign seme railway transfers before the nearest British Consul, who was at Brest. I locked up the papers and rail-way stocks in a Breton cupboard a≤ high as the ceiling and very solid. I kept the key in my pocket. When my cousin and I were ready to start, I took out the key. and it would not open its own cupboard. The servants came in turn and tried in vain. "V\ c had to miss our train to Quimper. which was our first stage to Brest. Now our village locksmith was very rough and ready, so the next morning I said I would try the key myself once more, before he perhaps ruined" my lock. The key fitted perfectly, and we went. But. imagine, we found at the station, great placards posted up telling of the awful wreck of the Brest train the day before; and it was the train in which we should have been but for the obstinacy of the key. We saw the carriages all fallen into the river, and the dead and dying were in the hospital at Quimper. We feel this to be a preservation wrought from the next I ■world that is so near."' Mrs. Hodgson Pratt's cousin. Mi-- Lilian Cooke. endorses what "Light" calls "This sugg-es- | tive little story."

The fate r.f Crosby Hall is no longer in the balance. The efforts made to save it have ended in failure, and the work of demolishing it has already begun. To save the building from destruction £120.000 was required, and of this amount some £5(>.00O had been raised by public subscription. The site was acquired early last year from Sir Horatio Davies by the Chartered Bank of India. Australia, and China, who will now put into operation their plan of erecting new bank premises. Erected in 14U6 for Sir John Crosby, the buildins passed into the hands of Richard Duke of Gloucester, and in the council chamber of the hall the crown was offered to Richard in 1483. In Elizabeth's day the hall was the scene of great hospitality, its owner being Sir John Spencer, who entertained the Queen there on occasions. It became a Nonconformist meeting-place in 1672. and was devoted to religious services until 1769. After being used as a literary and scien- i tific institute it was Snallv turned into [ a restaurant. In 1523 the" freehold was i purchased for £207 18/4 The principal! apartment of the building was the ban-quet'mg-haU, which was regarded as a work of great skill and bsauty,