NEWS, VIEWS AND OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 16, 16 July 1910, Page 11

NEWS, VIEWS AND OPINIONS.

(raw; may be called the fbacchometer, . ttemometrical scale of sobriety and Tjnnkemiess, is amusingly described in toe liverpool police report issued by Ur Leonard Dunning, head constable of great city on the Mersey. cannot, of course, pretend to -easure sobriety and drunkenness with, attermameter, but the difficulty may igct be illustrated by comparison with j test which is so made. Take 32deg. v&jji. freezing point as the highest point o f absolute sobriety, what is the flash point at which the law against drunkenlg=s is to come into operation? * "jiffcy years or so ago the 'associations between drunkenness and good fellowgjjjp -which have been handed down by| jaany generations of ibon-vivants and jnnnorists/ fixed, say, 9S.2deg., blood heat, as the point at -which the subject, described in slang, more expressive than correct language, as able to lie down ■jothout holding on,' or to 'see a hole jn a ladder,' was still regarded as sober in tie eye of the law. "Public opinion by itr demands for a Jtjirher standard of public decorum has year by year brought it down till it stands perhaps at GOdeg., and the law itself now stands in the way of its being down further towards 32deg., because in the intermediate state, GOdeg. io 33deg-, interposed by Parliament, in ■rHcSi the subject, though not is nevertheless not to be published as drunk, jet is to be described as under the infinence of drink, not sober and not jtaink.

"But tbongh sobriety and degrees of 'departure ±rom sobriety cannot te jieaeiired with a thermometer we can stiH use this simile fo illustrate the practical difficulties which arise from the £sc£ that they are really measured by jersonal opinion, and that no two people igree about them. "Take a concrete case of a man seen n a -public-louse and said to have departed from sobriety and the different opnioiis of his condition which might be expressed by a number of persons representing varying shades of thought: 1. >£l Ibotal abstainer -with strong Tiew3 npon the wickedness of using al»»lol:—"98.2 deg., beastly drunk." 2. A temperance reformer of less advanced views:,—."6o deg., drunk and incapable." 3. 4 5_ nnd 6, Men in the street:— "55 deg., drunk, but able to taEe care tf Mmself. "50 deg., not sober, but I 'WOuld not tsy that he is drunk." "40 deg., under the influence olf 'drink." "35 deg., slightly under £he influence oi drink." 7. The man who says that licensing legislation is legalised robbery:—"33 ieg., as sober as I am myself at this minute." S. The publican who served him last: -"32 deg., perfectly sober when I served lim." 9. The doctor called in by No. 8:— 'SO deg., showed no sign of drink whatErer when X examined him." 1. The man himself:—"2o deg., painV&jssiser, almost in a state of collapse ioi Ttaii of a drink." "Some of these opinions," adds Mr Draing, "will be opinions honestly forma/ad ietieved, and all would without Imitation be repeated on oath in a court of justice."

Under tie title "How to Boycott," an Irish correspondent of the "Times" describes in that journal the Holycross conspiracy case and the penalties that beM Mr. Charles Neville Clarke for his defiance of the United Irish League. ifr. Clarke had promised to give 200 stras of his unienanted land for sale aid distribution when he had been paid Mr Ms tenanted land already sold. The wague ordered him to sell 600 acres at oaee. Mr. Clarke refused, and he and bsTrife, says the correspondent, "have apt the flag flying for three years now, not only for themselves, but for every anaa in Ireland who wants to call his <aul his own." The League's persecution Kgan by its men drumming Mr. Clarke mt of bed at dead of night; they broke Is Trindows, battered his door sent a a* to lowl before his house, pelted the ewhman's lodge, and "behaved generally afe fiends." J Every shopkeeper in the town of «Mes refused Mr. Clarke's goods, and Warned his cheques at the order of the Hague. Neither could any one of his "W or forty servants get the necessaries of life. Mrs. Clarke opened a shop in the house and sipphed their needs from consignments « goods sent frm Dublin. Mr. Clarke and supported 60 policemen for ™ protection of his property.

Hi Bernard Shaw has been giving his tows on the Kingly office in the columns ™ the "New Age." Needless to say, are unconventional. He says ac«™ag to the "Pall Mall," it is unfair w> any man for a nation to thrust upon ™sucl immeasurable eminence as that *<uoi a King is compelled to suffer. Befgtanself, as he coyly twrfcfcers, eminent, zrTt that the P ublic § et all the fun uc o£ in s eminence, while he only gets 2? W and tear °* "■ Moreover, he >»Ms the Kingly office as a dying surcl. ' , a r nd it; sad< i«ns him to think of tmf ™ T ll7 Wng'ng up her "six strong flat Should have said five ' but let ml, " a decaying trade and an Isn't he droll, our Shaw? aecayuig trade!—and the whole busif* ana please of a huge Empire susKk. i, a sim P le roason tha,t its Z-tl of . Ed ' n ' ar <i VIL, with tire im*le \ a meSS ° f aU the S ood he "was U,J°. d 0 for the peace of Europe, us like an open book. We a~7 c f foldu ld say that the Intellectual to which Mt. Shaw is so brilliBttU ?°?* nbutor > afflicted with a. ist fi A " dccaT " which our humorto be blighting the monarchical

death o! Dr. Koch, one of the i!? , ™** of consumption, recalls an i*4 »* endl "cure :, for the scourge, of oi 2Jj? tenie was the victim. The author H7 am " fell m 5n Paris > and the tion- i ° nee Prescribed weird coneoc%i»v h he tubbed "bouillons raSST* 8 - Krst of a 1 a cock was 4 ailve > ground in a mortar, boiled fei : P°PPy seeds, and strained. Then, fci- ais Wer e not enougli, a male craw'fcladt aaded to tlle stew - fen, r-,° be a male crawfish—a female V« - v to lea -d to complica-tions. r feTnf Wa f the En S lish "malady of con- .' combated in France. It says f Wj ... constitution that he

Custom House stories are always welcome, and here 13 a new one. The hero of it, a Swiss missionary, ■w&s returning to his native Basle from South America, bringing with him some skulls discovered in ancient Patagonian burying-places. At the frontier the authorities insisted on inspecting his trunk. They classified the skulls as "bones of animate," and demanded duty at the rate of a penny a pound. The missionary protested; and it -was presently agreed that as the skulls were for scientific purposes, they must be allowed to enter without payment. The only qiiestion was how to classify them for the purposes of the Swiss Statistical Bureau. This problem was debated at great length; but ultimately the skulls went through as "personal effects already ■worn"!

Whafe coming to GHasga'? A Nonconformist minister in that city toas (»• one reads in " John Bull") secured the services of an aviator to give daily exhibitions of flying, hoping by those means to attract large congregations, and bawbees —which, apparently, his own pTeaching fails to do. Whether the idea is simply to make money, or to demonstrate how to get nearer to heaven, we do not know. Should the enterprising parson himself venture an ascent, we trust that, like the clergyman who climbed the ship's rigging and fell, he will be prepared for the bump.

The world will never lack inventors. Last year alone over 30,000 people wooed fame by applying for patents. Chief among the subjects dealt with were aeroplanes, sour milk, and Toller-skates; whilst even the points of ladies' hatpins did not escape the vigilance of the inventive mind. In motoring, attention was directed to audible and visible warnings of excess speed. Machinery steadily encroaches on hand-work in the boot trade; new fireguards follow the children's charter; new toys were more numerous fch&n ever; and there was quite a glut of devices relating to rol-ler-skates. Women inventors numbered 648, or seventy-six; more than in the previous year. Many of the inventions submitted were useless, for out of 30,603 patents applied for, only 15,065 were granted.

A system of volunteer jury service is a suggestion made by Mr. Cecil Chapman, the magistrate at the Tower Bridge Police Court, London. It will seem even in New Zealand worthy of consideration. "I think it would 'be comparatively easy," said Mr. Chapman to a "Daily Mail" reporter, "to compile without much expense a list of men who have no objection to serve upon special or common juries. This would be much fairer and more sensible tha nthe present system of taking men, often very much against their will. OEhere must, I should think, be a very large number of men who would be even glad to put their names down upon a volunteer jury list. The men composing such juries might have to be paid upon a slightly higher scale than at present, but I cannot see why that should not be done."

A ceremony unknown at other Royal funerals takes place when an Austrian Emperor is buried. On the arrival of the funeral procession at the gates of the Capuchin monastery, where all members lof the Imperial family are interred, a monk steps forward and asks the name of the dead, whereupon a herald proclaims the Emperor's titles in full. The monk replies in solemn tones that no such person is known to the Almig-hty. After a pause the baptismal names alone of the dead monarch are given. The doors of the church are then thrown open, and the cortege is allowed to enter, i

Life in the air will shortly be as luxurious and comfortable as on board a modern liner, "like a grand hotel," as Kipling has it. The passengers' cabin for the "L. Z. V 11.," the first Zeppelin of the German Aerial Company to carry passengers, has just been fitted to the hull of the monster balloon now nearing completion at Friedridishaien, says an occasional correspondent in a London daily. The cabin, winch, was made at Stuttgart, as panelled in mahogany, inlaid with rose-wood and mother-of-pearl. The entire cabin, which is 30ft in length, and from 6ft to Bft in width, is divided off into five smaller cabins, each of these affording seating accommodation for four people. The seats are wicker armchairs, screwed to the floor, but made to revolve. There are also a small ante-room and a lavatory. The windows are very spaciously planned to allow of a good view everywhere, and are fitted with glass, tentatively onh% in the forepart of the cabin. The walls are of thin mahogany, while doors, covered with, sailcloth, lead forward and aft on to .the gondola of the vessel. This is all very nice to read about, but we in New Zealand, and perhaps some others, will worry less about upholstering than when a Zeppelin will be pat out that will not smash itself in telegraph wires a few hours after starting. That, so far as we can judge by cables, seems the inevitable end of every present excursion.

Kington is in Herefordshire, and in Kington is a Primitive Methodist chapel, used on a recent Sunday for the grotesque proceedings of four persons who, we presume, have official connection with the place. Having issued an announcement that they would conduct a debate on the question, "Does tobacco become an idol to many, and does it defile the temple of the Holy Ghost, so that the Spirit of God is grieved and will not dwell in us ?" and that during the proceedings "a quantity of tobacco, pipes, cigarettes, cigars, pouches, etc., would be publicly burned as a protest against this growing evil," they managed to get an audience in the pews. The debate raised, there was a heated discussion with considerable opposition, but the resolution affirming that smoking was unseemly, uncleanly, unnatural, unnecessary, unhealthy, and unpleasant was declared carried. The stock of a redeemed tobacconist was put into the chapel stove and lighted. One Kington youth, sharper than the rest of the audience, thought it was a pity to consign so many cigars to blazes, so he thrust his hand into the stove, rescued IS from the flames, and vanished in the twinkling of an eye. We do not excuse his depredation, of course, but probably he and his friends were sufficiently punished when they commenced to light up the unfragrant weeds. The cigars may have been unsaleable at seven a shilling.

The suggestion that the new Indian coins should show the King crowned recalls that this was done in India during the reign of King ESward. This was the useful nickel anna. Also the 1901 Victorian rupee showed Queen Victoria crowned, and the present suggestion was borne in mind in designing the rupees for the native States, like those of Aliwar, Bikanir, etc., which bear the Maharajah's device upon one side, and the crowned head of Queen Victoria upon the other. All the other TVifKfl.Ti rupees, from the time of King William, show the head, of the Sovereip unadorned