TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8745, 17 March 1894, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The Pall Mall Gazette A Journalistic made a great score over Coup. Mr Gladstone's resigna-

tion, which it was the first to announce. It evidently let the* cat out of the bag a little too early to please Mr Gladstoue himself, the result being a curiously involved disclaimer on the part of Mr Gladstone's private secretary. It was to the effect that "the statement that he has definitely decided, or has decided at all, on resigning office, is untrue. For many months past his age and the condition of his Bight and hearing have, in his judgment, made relief from public cares desirable, and his tenure of office has been at any moment liable to interruption from those causes. But he has not said or done anything which could in any degree restrain his own freedom or that of his colleagues with regard to the performance of arduous duties now lying, or likely to lie, before them." Within five or six weeks of the publication of this official statement,. Mr Gladstone's resignation was in the Queen's hands. It is a curious example of the way in which one must read between the lines of official utterances, if one wishes to get at the real truth of the matter. Meanwhile it is amusing to read the comments of some of the Pall Mali's contemporaries. The Times is pretty guarded in what it says. The Gladstonian organ, the Daily News, however, foams at the mouth at what it calls " a contemptible invention." The Daily Telegraph points out that" all the probabilities were clean against the truth of so extraordinary a rumour." The Daily Chronicle declares that "of all unlikely events in domestic politics at this moment the resignation of Mr Gladstone in good health was, without exception, the most unlikely." The Freeman's Journal opined that "it did not need the official contradiction to dispose of the cruel and cowardly canard of the Poll Mall Gazette." That journal, however, calmly maintained the correctness of its information. Mr Gladstone's tenure of office, it said, was limited by months, if not weeks. The correctness of this view was very speedily confirmed, and the Pall Mall made an undoubted point. The young aristocracy of A New England has not altogether Amusement, exhausted its capability for evolving new amusements. In devising subjects for wagers its powers of origination are brilliant in the extreme. A case in point occurred recently at St. Mcritz, a well-known Alpine resort. > Two

young bloods, Lord William Manners and j the Hon. H. Gibson, finding time hang j somewhat heavily on their hauds, agreed, for a bet, to race each other down the vil- j lage " run' ■ mounted on rocking horses in place of ordinary toboggans. Both com petitors were attired in full hunting kit and all the inhabitants turned out to see the sport. The Alpine Post gives quite a graphic account of the contest. In the first course Lord William Manners led as far as a certain angle of the run called Caspar's Corner, but " taking it rather high, Mr Gibson passed cleverly on the inside, which he maintained to the finish," Lord William being summarily dismissed from his fractious steed's back some distance to the bad from the wiuning-post. In the second course Lord William Manners again had the advantage as far as Caspar's Corner, where Mr Gibson again tried to pass him on the inside, but being jockeyed by his opponent, his horse swung rouud and proceeded down the " Run" tail foremost, but leading. The merriment of the spectators at this stage of the proceedings may be more easily imagined than described, nor, we are told, did it abate in the least when Mr Gibson, deliberately dismounting from his steed, seized it unceremoniously by the nose and turned it into the way it should go. Meauwhile, Lord William Manners bad suffered disappointment a second time, for in attempting to take a particularly awkward part of the " Run " called Belvedere Corner, his horse refused to respond to its rider's exertions to get it successfully over the obstacle, and horse aud jockey came down to the ground in one tumultuous somersault together. Mr Gibson managed to reach the winningpost some seconds in advance of his oppo- ( neat. Needless to say all St. Moritz was* carried ol its feet by the enthusiasm of the occasion. It is now anxiously awaiting the next sensation.

"A quiet, innocent-looking The little figure, with timid dark " Diving eyes; the sort of girl one Belle." would expect to scream at a

blackbeetlc." Suoh is the description which a Pall Mall reporter give:> of Miss Annie Luker, who thrills London nightly by diving seventy feet through the air iuto a water tank at the Westminster Aquarium. She made her debut in a striking manner. The feat had been performed by male swimmers at the Aquarium, and was getting a little stale. Suddenly a member of the audience rose and offered to produce a woman who could dive with the best of them. Thereupon Miss Annie Luker was hauled up to the platform, and amid deafening cheers took her perilous plunge through 70 feet of air. The effect was electrical. Pressed by the inquisitive reporter, however, Miss Annie Luker let out some of the secrets of the prison house. She is a professional teacher of swimming, and used to perform with the Beckwiths, also at Captain Boyton's Water Show. " Will you cell mc about that dramatic incident," said the inquisitive reporter, referring to her debut ; was it an unrehearsed effort?—

" Miss Luker glanced with a smile at Mr Sinclair, the athletic mauager of the Aquarium, who was sitting at her side. "'Not quite,' she replied. 'It was something like this—When the Watershow was over I had nothing to occupy mc but my private swimming pupils. Well, one day Mr Sinclair came and asked mc if I would like to try the big dive. He felt certain I could do it. So did I. But my husband—l'm married, you know—wouldn't hear of it for a long time. However, we persuaded him in the end, and one morning, early, Mr Sinclair brought mc here to try it.'

" Weren't ycu inclined to climb down when you got on to the .platform ?" "It was a little terrifying. I had only dived thirty-five feet at the Watershow, and this was twice as high ; but I came down all right. Then, last Thursday, I came to the performance with my husband and a friend. I wanted my husband to get up and make the challenge, but he was too nervous. So my friend did it, and well, you know the rest."

For the rest we learn that Miss Luker does not train to keep herself in condition, and that "the main thing is to keep a cool and steady head." To secure this desideratum "Professor" Fuller, another performer, shaves his head twice a week, which might have the' effect of " keeping his brain cool," although one would think that it would be more likely to hurt when his denuded pate came in contact with the water. Needless to say Miss Luker despises such weak contrivances as these. In other ways this timid, shrinking creature Bhows her superiority to mankind. "How does your husband feel," asked the reporter, " when he sees all that he loves on earth come spinning head first through' the air?" "He never comes to see mc," was the reply. "He couldn't stand it. We live close by, and he waits for mc it home." It is evident that Anno Domini 2000 A.D. is fast approaching.