TOPICS OF THIS DAY.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 8187, 1 June 1892, Page 4

TOPICS OF THIS DAY.

Tea-New Zealand wars Bear-Admiral are fast becoming anMayno. cient hislory, and one

' by one Jhe veterans \ who took part in .them c are dropping off.; Eear-Admiral Mayne, M.P. for * Pembroke ' and Haverford" west, who died on Saturday after 'the Mansion House banquet, mas at one time closely associated with New Zealand and took an important .part in the operations of 1863-4. Ho was then in command of H.M.S. Eclipse, and wa3 attached to the Naval Brigade and! Waikato flotilla. On ,one occasion, when ; a stiff conflict took place between rebel and friendly Natives , between ; Maketu and Matata on the East Coast, the Eclip33 stood off the shore and covered the operations of the friendlies with her guns. Again, at Waiapu, East Cape, the Eclipse covered the Colonial forces, attacking a pa by shelling from the sea. , Captain Mayue also did gallant Service ashore with the Naval Brigade, both in the Waikato and at the &ate Pa, Tauranga, and was specially mentioned in the despatches, also receiving a medal. He was severely wounded in one of the engagements, and was invalided Home in consequence. .' Bear-Admiral May he wa3 in his fifty-aevenfch year. He ; entered the Eoyal Navy in 1848, became Captain* in 1864, and retired' with' the rank of Bear-Admiral in 1379. It may be added*-fchat he was a eon of' the,late Sir'Bichard Mayne, K.C.B.;' th 4 well known/ Chief: Commissioner of Police, and.a nephew of the late Captain Mayne who at one time held the post of Ser-; geant'at-Arms of tha House of Eepre-: Beatativee. ■•"■■-.:,;<■■' -■■' r-;. • ../' :

' ' foil', our part, we should JHpw. Women hardly have ventured to Propose. assert that women ever

Co propose, but our eratwhile sober-aided contemporary, the Spectator, which seems to be getting not oaly very-faring fon* positively skittish, assumes the fact as if it were one about which there could be no dispute, and known to all the world. The day of formal and courtly proposals is over, onr contemporary would hare us believe. Manners have changed, and with onr free and: easy speech and customs the -task of bringing a enitor to a clear explanation, is not a yery difficult one. The Spectator, indeed, is given to understand that so expert do young women become at this art that they sometimes collect as many as a dozen proposals lor their hand in the course of one London season—an amusement which, is extremely unfair to their more serious sisters, in that it serves to throw discredit on their sex, and to make the men more wary in the case of those who ace really in earnest. Different lovers, of coursa, reqaire I different treatment. For instance, our i contemporary cites the diffident lover, the lazy lover, the selfish lover, and the, flighty lover. After mentioning that the: diffident lover is often the most troublesome, for the wor&3 have almost te bo pat into his month before he will pronounce them, our contemporary goes on -togive the following practical hints :—

•'Tho selfish man, who Icars to commit himielf, and studiously avoids an avowal which will cause Mm to lose irrevocably the comforts of hie single life, as also a email section of that flighty youth whose fickle , fancy bas a habit of waaderittg elsewhere at the very moment that it seenx3 most fixed, can be best brought to book by the means of jealousy. When the opportunity for proposal occurs, and each a man stilt hesitates or seems disposed to let him. have sudden and unexpected caase for jealous anger, and bis own selfishness will prove anally to the woman and a traitor to himself. The unselfish man whom' idleness or wavering purposes prevents from declaring his feeiinga, is best spurred to action by an access of. pifey. It is

terrible to a woman to be the first to decloxe herself, and for that reason ehe wouid probably prefer to deal with the selfish man, where hei intention can ba best concealed; bat even in the case of the other, though the intention of her appeal to hie pity may be clear enough to herself, it need not necessarily bo bo clear to him.' Nor is there any necessity for words. 1 pave of swimming eyes, or a break ia tbe voice, may bo quita sufficient to etir the latent and sileafc love of the other into active exoression,

Colonial young ladies, of course, will lift np their bands in horror at such goiuga ou ia the wicked world of London. And yet there is something to be said in behalf of the plan referred to by the Spectator. tho first place, the " spiriting " is domj co gently that to his dying day the man probably believes that he was the pro. poser, after all, and that tho lady only gave a' timid consent. In any case, we may take it for granted that the man is " willinV even as Mc Barkis w»3 oa a similar auspicious occasion, and , , this being so, he ought to be grateful for having , his way made smooth iv what is always a verj trying and delicate piece of business. "And why t " as our contemporary pocliaeutly asks, "should a girl be condemned to watcb. her lo»er drift away while she re« mains silent and inactive P" However let it ba distinctly understood that we do not expect colonial girls to be otherwise than ahocked at this dreadful way of treating such a subjeot. Wβ are merely looking at it from the poiut of view o! their English sisters.

A ToccHiNa and «*• A Modern Tale mantic story was ire« of a Cloak. centlj told by Sir Edwia Arnold in reference fc» the death of Mr Lion,.. Tennyson, son <jf the Poet Laureate. He owed his untimely fate, according to Sir Edwin, to tho sea. sitiveness of Lord' Dufferin to a Muscovite pleasantry. At a review at Delhi, a Russian aide-de-camp sneered somewhnt at tho readiuess with which the English officers put on thoir rain cloaks when a rain storm burst over the troopa. Lord Dufferin, hearing the remark, promptly dropped his rain cloak to the ground. Hta example was followed, | perforce, by all his staff, and Mr Lionel Tannysoa, being drenched to the skin, got the ooid from which he never recovered. la reply to this Colonel F. N. Hamilton, who was present as one of Lord Dufferin's aides-de-camp3 at tho review in question, states:—First, that Lord Bufferin wore a plain frock coat on the occasion, and never put on a cloak of any sort or description from the beginning to the end of the day, Secondly, neither did Lord Dnffcrin's stafi nor the Commander-in-Chief'e staff wear any cloaks oh the occasion. Thirdly, that Mr Lionel Tennyson was not at the titan Lord Dnfferin's guest, nor did he accompany him to the fluid, nor did he form part of his staff, nor did he wear uaifona, consequently he was at liberty to protect himself from tho weather in \Thatavoe manner might have been requisite. Iα fact, the bottom is completely knocked out of the whole romantic story, whioU is shown to be a pure myth from beginning , to end. Possibly enough the sfcory of Sir Walter Ealeigh and Ms cloak reata oa jssaj as slender a foundation-