TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8714, 9 February 1894, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Thkbb is at.length a chance of French the French and English getting

and to understand each other. English They have taken to meetiog

at each other on the football Football, field. Recently a match was

played between an Oxford team and a fifteen representing the Racing Club of France. Some of our readers will be shocked to leain toac it took place on a Sunday. It was played at Becon-lee-Bruy£res, a. suburb of Paris, Oxford .winning by two goals and a try to nothing. The Daily News report of the match states that ft was played throughout with the utmost spirit, and the Frenchmen met the repeated attacks of their mom scientific opponents with great pluck and perseverance. They were nearly all smavlJer men than their opponents, but were welt set, and as on the previous occasion, when the Bosslyn Park Club mef.tha Stade Frangaw, proved themselves extremely active and wiry. The chief fault by in losing their heads at the critical moment, and their passing was decidedly wild. Moreover, nearly every member of the team played selfishly. These, however, are faults which no doabt they will grow bat of in time when they acquire a more thorough knowledge of the spirit aad principles of the game. Meanwhile we are glad to tee that the match was played throughout in the most friendly and cordial spirit. When time was called the French team gave three hearty cheers for

the visitors, which the latter as cordially retnrned. The game excited intense enthusiasm, every good point made by either team eliciting rounds of applause. The Englishmen were subsequently entertained to dinner by the members of the French Racing Club, and all went merrily as a marriage belL

Wβ quoted some Cycling Records, words of warning the

other day from Sir I Benjamin Ward Richardson on the folly and danger of attempting to break cycling records. It is perhaps only fair to give what is said on the other side, by a gentleman who has done a good deal of this perilous sort of work, with conspicuous success. Mr Frank Shorland, who ia accorded the premier position among long distance riders, was interviewed the other I day by a representative of the Bt. James's Budget. It was Mr Shorland who covered 426 miles within twenty-four hours—an average of just upon eighteen miles an hour I throughout. So far, he declares, he has not experienced the slightest harm from such efforts. "Do these terribly long rides entail much physical exhaustion 'I " asked the interviewer. "No," replied Mr Shorland, "I never feel any unpleasant effects from them, or perhaps I shouldn't be so fond of trying them. As it is, I can safely say that I am aa fresh in the last hour as at the end of the first six." Pressed as to whether .he had any fear that it was likely to do him any harm in the future, he said :— " I can only say that I should stop at once if I felt I was overdoing it. I wouldn't ride to a finish for anybody or anything if I thought I was injuring myself. And as to any future effects—well, I there ia nothing to fear on that score ; or I should have felt something of them already." This is all very satisfactory so far as it goes, and we hops that Mr Shorland will be as fortunate in his future experiences as he - apparently has been in the past. It must be borne in mind, however, that all men are nob constituted alike. A feat which Mr Shorland can perform with impunity might have disastrous effects on a manjwhoae heart or lungs were a little weak. Even Mr Shorland may possibly overdo it one of the3e days. No doubt Corbis and Keith Falconer at the zenith of their fame felt as free from misgiving as the present long distance champion. Yet both, as Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson pointed out, died from heart disease. For average riders, especially those who are not physically very robust;, the warning issued by the eminent physician is one that should not be lightly laid aside.

Tub reports of the A Lady Labour Lady Commissioners on Commissioner's women's work, which Report. have been presented to

the English are business-like documents, and undoubtedly contain some valuable information. A capital paper, for example, ia contributed by Miss May E. Abraham on the conditions of labour in the textile trades of Yorkshire, the cotton industry of Lancashire and Cheshire, and the silk, cloth, carpet, and shoddy trades. There are still many reforms needed in

some of tbe English factories where women are employed. More ventilation is required, especially where rags are handled. New hands often suffer from " shoddy fever," and Miss Abraham had a touch of it after visiliog a room where French rags were being sorted. The " gassing " process in silk mills is very injurious to healtfc, and except in the mills of Messrs Clayton, Margatroyd and Co., of Halifax, where ventilation is effected by means of fans, women employed ab this work look unhealthy—some extremely so. Imperfect sanitary accommodation is complained of, and in Mies Abraham's opinion is responsible for a good deal of the immorality which takes place in factories. Great difference of opinion, ifc appears, exists among workers as to the advisability of restricting by law the employment of married women in milta, although all classes agree as to the undesirable effect of the absence of the mother upon the home. The prejudice against mill work for married women is strongest in the Huddersfield district, and some of the employers have rules under which it is prohibited or gradually discontinued., Four employers spoke in favour of its prohibition. There is still a good deal of difference between the wages paid to male and female workers respectively. The case is cited of the largest Halifax carpet mill, where bath women and men are employed upon the same work. Ib is true that the women neod assistance in the heavier parts of this work, bat their average wage per week is only 13i 9J, while chat oi tbe men is 21s Bd. Again, where wool combing in Bradford mills ia done by the women in the day and by men at night the average wage earned by women is 12s and by men 183. In another Halifax mill, as the result of a strike by the Brussels carpet men at 35s a week, women at 20s have been substituted for them. In one branch only, that of the cloth mills of Leeds, Huddersfield and Bradford, do men and women engaged on the same loomwork receive the same pay, and here it is suggested the men's wages have come down to tbe level of the women's, rather than vice versa. Miss Abraham and her colleagues may nob be able to do much to alter the disparity in wages. We have no doubt, however, that their labours will be productive of a great deal of good in causing more attention to be paid to the sanitary conditions under whioh Vomen's work in the Old Country is carried