TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8665, 14 December 1893, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Tns "English law is very The Indian indulgent to quacks. For Oculists. aome months a band of strolling Hindoos went about England, fleecing hosts of poor people of heavy fees; committing the most barbarofcs atrocities under the name of operations, and now it has been solemnly decided that the law cannot interfere with them. The worthies.in queatioo, Heero Shah, Khair Deen, Shahah Bedeen-and Kream Bocesh, were indicted at tbe Old Bailey for unlawfully conspiring together to defraud divers persona who went to them for the purposo of being treated for diseases of tho eye. Tne prisoners, went to work to play upon the credulity of the publio with the usual lavish distribution' of handbills and high-sounding testimonials. Their favourite forms of " operation " consisted in poking a dirty hook into the eye and tearing or snipping pieces of the transparent skin of tbe eyeball. In the case of a little boy who suffered from incurable congenital blindness tbe operation performed upon him by Heere Shah was that of inserting a,piece of string through the eye and sawing away with a blunt penknife the skin of tho eyeball. The boy nearly succumbed to this horrid torture, and even the "operator" confessed that he was quite unnerved. The mildest mode of treatment adopted was to blow snuff into the I eye. It was conclusively shown, aa might. be imagined, that the Indian

"ooulists " were densely ignorant of every. thing relating to the eye, and a number of leading London ophthalmic surgeons gave evidence that the so-called operations were not only useless, but dangerous and brutal. The Judgo, however, direoted ths jury that before oonvicting tlio aooueecl ths jury muat he satisfied not only that thoy had mado false representations, but that they know tho representations were faUe, On this point tho case broko down. Thu methods praotisod by tho accused may represent tho most advanced mode of treatment known among the nativo practitioners in ludia, and thoy may have honestly bolievcd that they were treating their patients quite fi.cimditm artem. They weraableto pnint to the fact that some o. their patients, strange as it may seem, d*. clarod thomselves to ba benefited by the hook-poking and snuff-blinding prooeiaes, and gavo testimonials to thia effect j although tho value of these documents wm somewhat discounted by tho fact that the writer ol one of them stated that he gave the accused a testimonial because he had no money to pay their fees. Tlie jury, after a good deal of consideration, found the prisouera not guilty, adding, however, tho following rider :—•' The jury deeply tloplors that there exists at tho pre.ont time no crimiual law to prevent persons with auoli gross ignorance as tho defendants f.otnpraa. tisiug medical surgery." In this expression of regret most people will cordially agree. Meanwhile the Indian oculists may con* gratulate themselves on a very lucky escape. An* interesting discovery Dm Antiquity boon made in Kjypt which of ought to maUc chess players Chess. feol mot- proud of their favourite pastimo than ever. On the pyramid field of S.ikkara a wall paintiug has been brought to light which represents a high olllcial aa playing chess with a partner at the time when King Teta, of tho sixth dynasty, waa on Ilia throno of Egypt. Professor lirugsch makes this about 3300 8.C., so that, hero wo havo dodo* mentary evidence, bo to spoak, that chew was played in the laud of Mi/.raiui some, thiug like 5200 years ago! Thia qultf knocks on the head all t'.io generally received theories on the autiquity of th* game, which is usually stated to have been invented by tho ancient inhabitants ol India, introduced into Persia in the sixth oeutury, and thenoo into Europe through the instrumentality of tho Crusades. The discovery at Sakkara throws back its origin to a remoter past, and makoa it ivlinpi. certain that its inception ia for ever lost in the hazes of prehistoric timos. It is to be hoped that chosa players will not be toh much puffed up by this fuct. After all, pretty much the same thing might be salt* of cat's cradta. * Littlto Tonga, not to ha The Crisis behind larger civilised kiug* in dome, has just been indulging Tonga. iv the luxury of a ParUatnsn* tury crisis. Tho Information at our disposal leads us to tho belie, that ib was about time a ohaugo of some kind was made. Such, at. least, was thb opinion In Tonga itsolf, both among European and nativo residents. • Tho lato Prime Minister was a man of considerable intelligence, well educated —he \va. ono of the craoty pupils of the Wealeyan College, — bu» with no strength of will or decision of character. The consequence waa that he allowod things to drift, until government in Tonga became a form, and little else. The natives blamod him for letting the measles into the place, instead of , k'eepiug them out by a rigid ayatem of quarantine, aa has been done Bucoeaafully so far in Fiji. The by-laws and rog'tlat'ous introduced by Mr Shirley Baker for hooping the capital in a sanitary condition have been allowed to y fall into ncgloct, and pigs wore to bo seen grubbing en the lawn of tho King's falaee, once kept as trim as a bowling green. Soma sympathy will be felt for Mr Campbell, who. Is dosoribetl in the tolegraln as Collector of Customs, bub who was really Poetuiastor General, Health Officer, and a dozen other things b6»id«S -—a regular Pooh Bah in fact. HoWM generally spoken ot as a .well "lean* ing aud conscientious official. Air Whitcombe, the new Secretary to the Premier, is well known iv NewZealaud, having formerly been Commissioner of Crown fands in '£•»• nake..Ho was engaged as tutor to the young Prince who now occupies tho throne, and was some time ago promised a Government"' appointment, which, for somo reason ot other, was delayed. We hope that long* —which is, lv mauy roapeofcs, an interesting little kingdom—will now advance m 4 prosper. Tub Southern Cross, a MrSeddon's leading religious public*. "Bad tion. pubUsiiol in Vie-Pre-eminence." toria, is horrified at ths methods pursnod by Mr Seddon during election times, Wo have had accasion to expose a good many ofthe P«* m.er'squestionable proceedings, and ths particular instance complained of by U» Souths™. Cross is about ou a par with thj rest. It appears that somo limo ago M»«J»J from a daily paper an article in refcrt»oo to women's sulfrage, pointing out "how , terribly all the candidates who are old, bald, and say bandy .legged wilt bo handle ~ capped against candidates who are young, have good teeth, end part thoir hair in tfe* middle." The Southern Cross carefully explained that this waa a quotation from an' other paper, aud ao far from agreeing with this line of argument has itself always taken up theqnestion of women's suffmge in **™ Q ™ and sympathetic manner. Tie Ron. ®* Seddon, in his apeech at Feilding otto** thia extract to show, aa ho aaid, '* *» no* low au estimation clergymen held women. He produced a copy of the Southern Cwj» remarking that ho always carm* »» authoriti-s with him, referred to » , as " a religious evangelical paper, and the» seriously read Its quotations aa Jt« om deliberately-erpreaaed opinion, referring w it over and over again in the course ol P» speech ! Tho Southern Cross, justly Inttlg nant, saya that "Mr Soddou doa.rv.s »*M a bad pre-eminence for dishonest nisUw* of controversy." Mr Seddon liinwfl M» doubt laughs at the idea of anybody eh}** ing to his misrepresenting a »*™Wr This must indeed bo a trißing offence in W I eyes of a man charged with distorting tw ! death-bed wishes of his departed chief.