TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8789, 10 March 1894, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Despite sundry significant Mr Monson's hints from some of the Book. Home papers that the less he says, about the Ardlamont mystery the better, Mr Monson has written and published a pamphlet upon the death of Lieutenant Hambrougb. His statement as to the way in which the tragedy occurred is as follows :— " Hambrough walked on the right, myself on the left, and Scott behind. When near the end of the covsr I heard a shot from the direction of Hambrough, and called out, ' Have you shot anything ?' or words to that effect, as would be natnral ia shooting cover, bat there was no answer. I went towards the direction of the shot and along the sank fence. I almost immediately saw Hambrough. He had evidently fallen off the fence aud was lying at the bottom—about a drop ot four feet—on his left side." Mr Monson further contends that it was so long after the death when the experts for the Crown visited the place that almost all traces of any reliable evidence had been destroyed or rendered useless by the lapse of time. Finally the writer is very severe on the Scottish system of a secret enquiry by the Procurator Fiscal which he holds to be infinitely inferior to the English plan of a public inquest by the coroner. The - part of the book Scott's Diary, which will be read with mo3t interest, however, is what purports to be the diary of the mysterious individual Scott, who vanished in such an inscrutable fashion jast when his friend was most ia need of his evidence at the trial. According to Mr Monson's pamphlet Scott was looking on chuckling at the feeble efforts of the police to find him. On August 7th the diary opens. On August 15th Scott was in London, and he writes:— "Imet one of the Crown witnesses. 1 went into a refreshment bar and had a drink. A lob of Scotland Yard men were having lunch there. Inspector ■ had a driuk with mc. I am always pretty chummy with the Force. They are not bad chap 3 in their way, but it takes a lot of intellectual dynamite to make a hole in a police helmet and let a new idea in." Oa this same day the police in Glasgow arrested an imaginary Scott, the wrong man. Mr Scott has seme sense of humour. He gravely observes: — "As the police were looking for a man ia a jacket and bowler, it was highly improbable that they would arrest a man in a frock coat and a chimney-pot. __ I therefore effected the necessary change in attire, and walked abroad, fairly satisfied that nothing bat an accident or gross carelessness on my part would lead to discovery." According to his own showing, however, i he had one or two narrow escapes. He was drinking in a public-house ia the Strand when a detective came into the bar on tbe pretext of selling evening papers, and endeavoured to hear the conversation. The

officer, it was afterwards ascertained, was looking for the missing man, and actually shadowed one of the party, but not the real Scott. This is interesting as showing the astuteness of Mr Scott, and the comparative obtuseness of the polios. But we fail to see how it helps Mr Monson. Why did not Soott come forward to clear Mr Monsou from the dreadful suspicion under which he lay ? If Mr Monson abandons the theory of accidental death, and means to assart that Scott has very good reasons for keeping out of the way, why does be not help the police to get on Scott's tracks ? These are questions at present vainly waiting a reply.

As a rale, scientists take a Sewer fiendish delight in proving that Gas. things currently supposed to be harmless, if not beneficial, are in reality full of deadly peril. It is a novelty to find one of their number arguing that an agent popularly believed to be so morb iric as sewer gas is really not quite so bad as it is painted. The popular notion regarding sewer gas is that it is laden with the specific bacilli of typhoid, diphtheria aud other deadly diseases. Mr Laws, an eminent chemist, who has been investigating tbe subject on behalf of the London County Council, de-dares that there are actually fewer bacteria in the air of a sewer than are being breathed by the pedestrian overhead. He has carefully examined the most fearful cloaca —among others the King's Scholars' Pond sewer,)stated to be 120 years old— and all the microbes which he found proved to be of tho non-pathogenic type. True, he encountered the bacillus sub t His, the micrococcus criunaidcs and the sarcina aurantica, but all these organisms, notwithstanding their appalling names, are quite harmless. Even narrow, blocked-up drains, it is alleged, only show organisms of vegetable origin, which give rise to the formation of " mouldiness." But let not sanitary authorities rashly conclude that they may I now relax their efforts, and that a foul drain is a source of salubrity rather than otherwise. Even Mr Laws has to admit that there is evidence which it is impossible to ignore, although it is only circumstantial, that Bewer gas is in some way accountable for zymotic disease. All he argues is that the bacteria which one would expect to find in tho gas are not there. Then there must be some other method of producing the disease. It is suggested, for example, that minute quantities of some peculiar organic poison are present whioh in conj auction with other gases given off .from decomposing sewage lower the general vitality of tho system, and thus leave it a prey to typhoid and diphtheria. The result, of oourae, is exactly the same, and, bacteria or no bacteria, we shall do well to strive to keep sewer gas out of our houses and out of our systems.

Now that there seems a Jabez reasonable probability of in Mr Jabez Balfour being Argentina, brought before au English Court of law, curiosity is rife as to his mode of life ia the Argentine Republic. We know that he acquired au interest in a brewery, and vague reports have reached England about his living in " Sultanic luxury " — whatever that may mean. It is very doubtful whether those are well founded. Mr Balfour seems to only have had a few thousand dollars in his possession when arrested, although how much he had sunk in the brewery we have no means of knowing. A private letter from a resident in the Argeutine, printed in the Newcastle Chronicle, throws a good deal of light on tho ex-M.P.'s position, aud is by no means devoid of humour. The writer says :— " I don't know Mr Balfour to speak to, bub I have seen him several times. The tales about his having a number of policemen protecting him or of his living like a prince are nob true. He seems to live like an ordinary man and not sumptuously. To all appearance, no one notices him. He may have friends near who would stop him from being maltreated, bub that is all the protection he will have, if he has that. Indeed, no one caros about him. All they know is thab he is ' wanted' for some alleged offence iv England. A good many of the Argentiuepeqpleare in the aameplight, being very much wanted by their creditors. They therefore seem to have a sneaking regard for the man who has outwitted his creditors and beaten the police. He seems to be on good terms with himaejf, there being a settled smile on his face on every occasion thnt I have seen him. He is a squat, podgy, well-fed mail, rathet^knock-kneed, and wit-iron-grey hair. I.hear he is very plausible and given to religion, as most fellows of his stamp are. I know no details about the Liberator Society, or the other concerns that Balfour had to do with, but if he and his cronies. can come up to the gang of native scoundrels that have robbed foreign creditors and ruined this grand country, they are very clever indeed. Balfour does 'not seem to fear being arrested and moves about freely. Some say he wants to begin business in this country. If he does he will require to be sharp enough to make money." We hardly know which to admire most, the mattbr-qf-fact way in whioh the writer sums up Mr Balfour, or the equally trenchant manner in which he deals with his Argentine compatriots. Mr Balfour evidently knew where to find congenial company. It seems almost a pity that He should be torn away from it so Boon.