TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8488, 20 May 1893, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

A recent cable message,

More which has been allowed to Annexation, pass with very scant atten-

tion, is of considerable importance if true. It is to the effect that the British authorities have deposed Mir Khudadad, Khan of Khelat. This, it is added, virtually means the annexation by Great Britain of Beloochistan, which is now occupied by a strong force of British soldiery. Thus does the " Expansion of England " go on. Onr Indian Empire, it is pointed out, now covers twice the area that it did when her Majesty ascended the throne. This latest little slice that has been added to it has an area of about 130,000 square miles, and is inhabited by a population of about 500,000. England has for some years been gradually acquiring a preponderating influence in the country; the Quetta and Boln ndistricts have actually been administered by British officials nominally on the Khan's behalf. Through this region strategical railways known as the Bolan and Sind-Pishin railways have been constructed by the Indian Gk£ vernment who have also erected great fortifications at Quetta. The annexation is of the greatest importance in view of the reserved not to say unfriendly attitude lately taken up towards Great Britain by the Ameer of Afghanistan. With Beloochistan in our possession it is possible to continue this strategical railway to the Persian Gulf, which some military critics say will give as onr scientific frontier at last, affording what ia rfeally the correct mode of resisting Russia,

Whest we referred the other Killing day to the exciting adven-

the teres of a lady journalist who Crinoline, attracted to herself somnch

1 unpleasant attention by wearin* » srineline in the street* of London, we

uugaJlantly concluded that she mnst have been prompted by a desire for notoriety. We did her an injustice. In reality, she offered herself up as a sacrifico to save her sex. Her object was, if possible, to kill the crinoline. Woman, lovely woman, she said, should never be put in a hen coop again if she could help it. And she came to the conclusion that the best way to avert this dread calamity was todon the" hencoop "herself for a brief space, just to show them how unlovely it really was. There was also an ulterior design of fiu*nishi»g "copy" for the Westminster Gaxette. Accordingly she went to a fashionable dressmaker, and after a good deal of trouble got fitted with a crinoline built on the real original pattern. Tho rest of the costume consisted of a brown cloth skirt, gathered in the folds all round, but untrimmed, an old-fashioned pelerine of the same material, a pretty shot silk blouso bodice, and a smart French bat Her troubles commenced when she started out on her journey in a four-wheeler. Tho crinoline completely filled the cab, and had to be held down tightly to prevent contact with the roof. The narrative of her experiences continues :—

" The curiosity and ill-mannered laughter of the street boys was the first sign of the extraordinary change in fashion. I was only wearing to-day what everybody used to wear twenty years ago, but the gamins insisted on escorting mc half-way along the Embankment. I sailed along trying to look unconcerned under difficulties. * Let's see what's inside it,' said one urchin more impudent than the rest. * When are yer going up ?' called out a cabby. * Slap, bang! here it is again !' said another, slapping his thigh—'the same old thing, and no mistake.' Even superior persons in cabs and carriages behaved like street boys, and looked out of tho windows to stare. The only people on whom we made little or no impression were the women. They seemed to accept the crinoline as a matter of course —indeed, I have since been informed by friends who passed mc en route that the glances of some Of the ladies were unmistakably tempered with envy. One lady was heard to remark to her companion in a tone of tho deepest conviction, 'There, it's come. What did I tell you !' An incident, which served effectually to show the inconvenience of the crinoline, occurred at tho end of New Bond street. I had to steer my crinoline under some scaffolding and past some tubs on the pavement—a very difficult performance at that hour of the day. I required tho room of three people, and was only allowed that of one. Every crossing was a sore trial, and tho polite public gave way to unconcealed merriment every time I skipped across the road. Presently we went into a jeweller's shop midway between Hyde Park Comer and Piccadilly Circus. It was a small shop, and my crinoline took up all tho shop floor. The principal seemed struck dumb with astonishmeut. How our mothers managed their shopping I canuot imagine. Were the shops larger ?"

The adventure was concluded by riding home in a 'bus. The passengers were free, not to say rude, in their comments and the conductor made "a sarcastic but civil demand " for double fare, which was complied with. We trust that this lady's martyrlike self-sacrifice for the sake of her sisters will not be thrown away. They cannot say they have not been sufficiently warned, aad it will be from sheer feminine perversity if they persist in going in for the crinoline after the efforts which have been made to save them from this crowning act of folly.

Melbourne, in spite of Turning the the depression, is not all Tables on Baokcloth and ashes. It the Critics, rejoices in the possession

of a remarkably amusing University Professor in the person of Mr | Marshall Hall, who fills the chair of musio. This gentleman belongs to the extreme idealistic school of musicians, and it ia currently reported will talk for an' hour in a tongue no one but an archangel can understand on the moral and aesthetic value of a j single chord in a Beethoven sonata or a { Baoh fugue. The new spapers were disposed to treat his lectures rather in the light of a joke at first, and to regard the Professor as a musical "crank." They altered their tone after he had shown what he could do as a musical conductor. They then admitted frankly enough that some of his theoretical views on musio might be a little transcendental, not to say 'farfetched, but he was a roan who thoroughly knew his work, and in . conducting a great musical performance Melbourne had not previously seen his equal. Despite this amende, the Professor seems never to have quite' forgiven his critics, and in a lecture which he delivered on "Newspaper Criticism on Art, \ has had his revenge. His treatment of the subject was original and, judging from a report in the Argus, more than once verged on the profane. The first critic he represented as Satan taking the Almighty to task for the inferiority of workmanship shown in the composition of Adam. " The Lord was contemplating His work, not without come satisfaction," pursued the lecturer, " when Satan exclaimed, ' Why, this is wretched, the drawing is bad, and there is no model*, ling at all." The Almighty then thanks " Mr Satan " for his candid and hopeful criticism, and invites suggestions for the improvement of His work, but the critic, having explained that his home is in chaos, that he never does any creative work, and that he has two columns to fill before going to bed, takes his departure to Hades, which, in the lecturer's opinion, is the proper place for all newspaper critics. The Professor holds that just criticism on a new work is well-nigh impossible unless the critic can enter into and understand the artist's emotions. The critio, therefore, should go to the creator of the work and induce him to talk' about it. Apparently it is altogether a fallacy to imagine that a work of art ought to a large extent to tell its own story, but we are quite free to admit that this principle does not apply to -the learned Professor's lectures •on music. If his views- are carried out, he believes that in some mysterious way we should get rid of people who " having no deep feelings themselves, and, being prejudiced against classical music, are eager to make art help their own servile ends." ." Inthis way," he continued, ** we should get rid of all the writers of royalty ballads, drawing-room pieces, and even church hymns, the eentiment of which is generally degrading, untruthful, and therefore grossly immoral." Professor Marshall Hall, in the course of some further remarks, complained that "all men of superlative talent have been scoffed at." We must therefore speak respectfully of his lecture lest we, too, be set down as sitting in the seat of the scorner. Professor Marshall Hall has had some experience of newspaper work, bnt complains that editors are hard to please, " They always wanted something slashing and amusing," he said, " something that would make the people laugh." We should have thought that Professor Hall would have met their requirements to a tee.

Sir Matthiw Davuh, in a The Crash statement which he made the in other day, gave a * striking Victoria, account of the way in which his. financial house of cards tumbled about bis ears ;— '

" With reference. to my own financial position (he said), I would state that it has been my custom every three months to Erepare, through my accountant, a private alance-sheet, giving the estimate of my assets and liabilities. This balance-sheet was for my private information only, and not for any business purpose. The quarterly balance-sheet for 31st December, 1891, was prepared within a week of the time when the last balance-sheet of the Mercantile

Bank was prepared, and my assets tLTI set down as £468,80515s lOd; my |S« are put down as £40,262 17s Id, jfH mc to be then worth the sum of £fljsfs 18s 9d. A similar statement niadeiO months after for tho quarter 'endbo-vl March, 1892, shows mc to be worth 1 £78,331 Is 6d, while a similar prepared wheu I was in England ■£$ half-year endod 30th June, 1892, ,li? 1 to be worth only £1,963 3s lid ? k * statements show tho tremendous f a j{ *N took place six months after tho he„i„J3 February, 1892, or thereabouts, f JJJU that continued shrinkage in calls by liquidators have transferred *_ above -mail credit bulanco into a ul liability." *4 Sir Matthew's is probably only ono 0 f _J dreds of cases in which people whohn»J_j themselves rolling in wealth auddonljy found out they were in reality only a ,y removed from beggary. Between lapse of the land boom and the recent fcJ suspensions there must bo almost a _j plebe botdeversement of society in MelboiTj