TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7780, 6 February 1891, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Ta_ story of a wicked Baron who ht been caught cheating at cards whils is company with the Prince of Wales &_„ who has since fled the country, will ha read with interest when the detalla _» made public. It ia not the first thus* nobleman of high rank has found himssli in a similarly unfortunate position. Yean ago tremendous excitement was caused hi England by a charge of habitually ing at cards being brought against Lord. 4, Eos, Senior Baron of England, a pop,_ M man, very wealthy, and, it is said, veri liberal in his ordinary transactions. Tai whole case was of the most extraordinary character. Lord de Eos' waa a very fi o a whist player, and ought to have been abla to hold his own without seeking to obtain any unfair advantage. Not content with this, he resorted to a trick whioh was bound to be discovered sooner or later by such practised players as those he wag {* the habit of meeting. It consisted operation of reversing the cut, teoaaie_Q_» known as saucer la coupe. That is to t_» after the cards had been cub to Lotdcs Ros as dealer, he would contrive to replug the last card, which ought to have goes among the other cards, into ty* original position at the bottom ot fchfc pack. And for the more effective carrying out of this little piece of legar-dfr main, his Lordship, it is said, used to fiuttl certain of the court cards so that he coalj distinguish them, aud secure the presetwg of one of them at the bottom of the $fctj, when he presented it to his adversary t) be cut. Discovery and exposure at longft fell npon him, but not without warning, An anonymous letter was sent to him by I friend, advising him to desist from pUj. A paragraph in a newspaper hinttj broadly that his Lordship was more tou lucky with tbe cards. Still the infatuate} nobleman went on to his doom. A tam> ber of gentlemen determined to probe iba matter to the bottom, and made the chargs - in a manner whioh oould not be overlookei Lord de Ros took proceedings against oai of them, Mr Cuintning, for slander. Tha case was tried before Lord De-man in tat Queen's Benoh and caused the most ia. tense interest. Witnesses against Los} de Bos deposed that when about to de*J he was seized with a cough which did not trouble him at other times, aud it waa suggested that the object was to distract attention. One of them deposed thaths did not remember an instance of hSi lordship dealing without turning up | king or an ace. The cards with which hs played were found to be marked, appar rently with the thumbnail. On the othei side an eminent surgeon waa called with the view of endeavoring to show thi Lord de Eos had some J&yiiot) defect connected with the utsi which would make it impossible for him to manipulate the cards' in tS» way described. The jury did not fctfeal much importance to this, however, sal found a prompt verdict for the defendant, Sergeant Ballanrine, to whom wo art indebted for the facts of this remarkable case, tells a rather amusing anecdote in connection with it. A young msmber of ,

the Club who had noticed 'Lord.de. Eos performing his trick,, asked an older member.what he ought to do. ff Bet upon him," was the reply, made, of course, «* joke. i; v ;

No hope, unfortunately, appears to *SS entertained that the Eakanoi aadt-oaa on board that steamer will ever be heasd of again. It is a very melancholy The steamer was despatched on the 22a4 December in response to a paw» outcry, to rescue a party 6£ tea psrsotwho were left on the MaoguaKie Maflfiß. and who were supposed to be in-.watttoJ food, It now turns out that the mUslon of mercy was not only unneoess_ry--«io6< thero was abundance of food npont-fl isla_ds~-bub actoally brought abonb tb) death aliko of the rescuers and those whom it waa intended to rescue. We cannot recall any similar instance of suoh a strange and inscrutable fatality. In && case of the Timaru wrecks the r&na&m lost their lives, bub the shipwrecked pr* sons escaped j here, however, both resoaew and rescued have perished. The 'person* left on the islands consisted of seven mm two lads, and a woman, in tho employ <* Mr Hatch, of InvercargiU, their work oca* siafcing of getting supplies of penguin «v and sea-elephant oil. The story which 1»« to the despatch of the Kakanui was that theparty had only six months' provUtonl. and that these would last till September. If this had been true, three months worn have elapsed since the time when » was presumed the stock of would have given out, and the «ito*tw» seemed sufficiently serious. It now torn* out that the party had plenty of rice, flotg and biscuits, and tbat even if these a*» been all consumed, the penguins and pa* gains' eggs %ould have kept them fros starvation. Soon after the Kakanui -W sailed, it appears that some opinion wW expressed locally that she wastoosmaUfor such work. Shemade,however,an_auanaUy good trip to the islands, and accordingto the Otago Daily Times she waa considered • very serviceable little vessel. The X-kHttt was built at Danedin in 1879, an i^ a screw steamer of 83 tons grots and ffl to** net. Her dimensions were the following* —Length, 97ft Sin; breadth of be* B ** 14ft 6in i depth of hold, 7ft Sin- ** engines were of 22 horse-power. Best, her commander, had thirty ***** experience on. the New Zealand coast, aa« Captain Erkhoff, who went with her & pilot and mate, had a good the Mac quarrie Islands t be was, ia captain of the Awaroa when she too- tfcs 111-fated party of ten down to the island* The gale which the Kakanui experiencea after leaving the fltocquarries waa evidently one of terrific violence, such as might vsa tax the stoutest vessel aad tho meet skilfttl seamanship. It is estimated tb» when she encountered its force the steaoset waa about off the Auckland Islands. JHW* were searched by Captain Fairc-ild witfeeai avail, and the Hinemoa has now $*» ordered to explore the Campbell which lie further to the south-east to «« if haply any traces of the missing Bl ®* ,a f * may there be found. After passing w»® there is nothing bat a raging *«&r waters until Caps Horn is reached, we fear all hope mdst be abandoned iff" Campbell Islands yield no tiding*.