TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9305, 4 January 1896, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

All that mortal man can A Coroner's do to relieve the gloom Self-Sacrifice, naturally attaching to an

inquest is done by Dr. Youl, City Coroner of Melbourne. Ho has a land of anecdote which is as inoxhaustible as it is varied, and he is rarely at a loss for an interesting or droll story wherewith to illustrate a case in point. He is naturally the joy of the reportors, as his habit of indulging in reminiscences seldom fails to provide some good "copy." But Dr. Youl is more than a coroner with a genius for telling btoriea, he is—we have it on his own authority—a man of stern self-sacrifice. The Melbourne public were, however, unaware of this until the other day when the Doctor was holding an inquest on the death of a sailor on the Elingamite. We learn from the Age that after the evidence had been taken and the jury were considering their verdict, Dr. Youl turned to the captain of the vessel and remarked, " I don't get so many of your people as I used to do, captain." •* No ?" queried Captain Bull. " No," answered the Coroner, in a tone in which some detected a tinge of sadness, "No; dead mariners are much fewer than they used to be." Captain Bull and the seafaring men present looked interested. " And it is all my doing," said Dr. Youl, though we are told he said it in no boastful strain, with no glow of pride upon his cheek. "I will tell you how it was. In the old days sailors drifting home drank frequently got between the ship's side and the wharf. A day or two .afterwards they were found drifting down stream to mc. Sometimes these men were expected to walk up a steep unguarded plank, a plank which it wonld puzzle' a sober man to negotiate even in broad daylight, and as often - as not their bunks were empty ia the morning." At this stage the seamen present hitohed their chairs up closer and looked sympathetic and still more interested. "I insisted," continued the Coroner, " that in justice to sailors a net should be placed under all gangways, and extended for some distance on either side. Many a poor fellow has been caught in these nets and saved from a watery grave." Dr. Youl had by this time gained the attention of all, and the jurymen ceased' their deliberations to listen to the tale. " Yes; the nets did it. It was a splendid notion. And, do you know, it was against my own interests, too, for in those days—nearly twenty years ago —I was paid as much as £2 2s for every inquest that I held. The net stopped the men, and it .spoilt my fees." Captain Bull added his ovidence as to the value of the

nets by relating how two men of U steamer had been saved from drowning tur'nto 1 0 4 turning to the jury, said, •• Why, m \Umen, not long ago two sailors were f ou _!. lying asleep in one of these nets. They h J tumbled off the gangway a,d into the nil over night while under the i, IUIJCDOe "J liquor, and when f.mnd in the morning held each other in a fond embrace. Thcy We . sound asleep, aud looked like babioa in 1 cot." Hard looking babioa, we should say and a remarkable cot, but lot that nj,' The main point is that Dr. Youl has _ 0 twenty years been losing money by hj 8 Jf sacrificing suggestion. The vorv least tha' seamen who visit Melbourne can do no » they know the sweet little cherub wlio has kept watch for the lift, of po nr Jack, _, to make him a handsome presentation.

1 an,• . . A cm - ISTB ' church A Cyclists' parade and Church Parade. Sunday was j, e ij j Q : Melbourne on tho Sun. day before Christmas, aud was so auceoMful that it is hoped to make is au "annual affair , The parade was held at rjlirist Church* South Yarra, and the object, was to ivd UOB as many cyclists as possible to take part i n it and to contribute liberally towards a, collection to establish v cyclists' bed at the Melbourne Hospital. 'Considering the enormous number of cyclists now \ a Mel. bourne the turn out cf rnmo 350 or 400 riders was smaller than had been anticipated, but to compensate for this the route from Princes Bridge to the church was thronged by thousands upon thousands of on , lookers, who were, no doubt, partly attracted by the announcement that ladies would take part in the parade. There were, we are told, about thirty ladies at the head of the procession, some in rational dress, some in orthodox skirts, and others in a mixture of the two styles. They were led by a triplet machine and one or two tandems, and after them came the male cyclists in fours. The arrangements for keeping the route were inefficient, and the procession was a good deal disturbed by vehicles rushing on alongside, or by the occasional sudden incursion into the ranks of a tramcar. However, all got safely to the churoh, where special seating arrangements had been made for tho visitors, the rest of tho building being paoked. The cyclists, having dis. mounted and stacked their machines, formed into processional order and marched into the church, headed by the choir, to the singing of " Onward, Christian Soldiers.'" A special service, with prayers com' posed for the occasion, had been arranged by Canon Tucker, aud the irreverent reporter mentions that tho responses " May tho crookod ways be made straight, And the rough places smooth" wero uttered with fervour by cyclists who had had experience of country roads. In his sermon Cauon Tucker referred to the apathy of the church in ignoriug tho industries, arts and amusemontsof tho people iv the past, aud said he was glad it was begiuuiug to rceoguise the value of consecrating these things. A good many people thought it shocking to welcome cyclists into a church, but tho Church in England and America was taking a broader and nobler view of these things, and he personally hoped there would be many more parades of that character. It is satisfactory to learn that the collection on behalf of the. Hospital was liberally responded to. The idea is ono which may perhaps commend itself to some of tho churches in Canterbury, whore cyclists are probably more numerous than iv Melbourne.

This i 3 the apt title con* The City ferreil on Johannesburg by of the liev. Buiford Hooke, Great Desire. fjeciotary. of the Colonial Missionary Society, who lately returned to Loudon after a Bouth African tour. Ai the goldou city of the Transvaal has been attracting world-wide attention for many mouths aa the centre of the mining boom which has been agitating the London and European markets, and has within the past few days assumed gravet importance as the stronghold of the "Ult* lander " difficulty, our readers may be in* terested to learn some particulars of Mr Hooko's experiences and views. Ten yean ago Johannesburg was represented-by a few tumble-down huts inhabited by uncivilised natives; to-day it is a maguifioeut city with 100,000 inhabitants, of whom 60,000 are Europeans, Englishmen being

the preponderating element. It has wide streets, splendid public build-

iugs, shops in some cases as fine as eau be Been in London. Trams run through all the streets, the eleotrio light is everywhere, and the city possesses all but one of the luxuries of municipal civilisation. The one exception, and it is a notablt aud unfortunate oue, is a system of drain* age. . Situated nearly 6000 ft; above the sea, except for the drawlmok of great) heat in summer and fearful sand storms Johannesburg has all the natural qualities whioh go to make a city healthy; but these are,

nullified by the wholesale neglect of eanita* tion, and' typhoid fever claims many victims.

A3 to the important Work, Wages, question of employment! and aud the rato of wages.

Other Details. Mr Hooke said that any*

body who went to Johannesburg should have sufficient money to be able to wait while searching for work. He also attached very great value to references and letters of introduction, as so many worthless fellows have gone to the Transvaal that people are now aus piciouß if a candidate for employment pre* sents himself without, reliable written references. There is a great demand, Mr Hooke said, for mechanics, as bo much building is going on, bub the clerk market is a long way below par. Women receive very good wages, and there are openings for them in schools and many other occupations. Domestics are well paid, especially in the mining centres, where thoy may get from £40 to £60 a year. People should not,' however, added Mr Hooke, be led away by reports that high wages are paid m Johannesburg, such as that mechanics receive £1 a day. The cost of living is so very much greater there that in the long run the cost is almost equalised. For iustance, a house that in the suburbs of London would be let for £50 will fetch in Johannesburg £120 a year. Copper is unknown, and a penny is a curiosity, silver coins being the smallest in circulation. For any penny Engliih paper one has to pay 3d. Amusements are even better patronised than iv the colonies. A circus that visited Johannesburg reoently took £500 the first night, although three other Companies were playing iv the t own at the time, and were turning away money. At a race meeting £5000 was given in prizes, and five times that amount is said to hive been handled by the bookmakers. The natives, said Mr Hooke, were in some rcapeota well treated, but in others badly. " They are not even' allowed, for instance, to walk on the pavement of the streets, but must go in

the roadway. For some time this law was a dead letter, but recently it has been revived, and on one night, a week before I arrived, a hundred black * boys' were ' run in' aud whipped for the crime (?) of walking on the pavemedt." The native "boys" (ill natives are called boys, however old they may he), it seems, do not particularly mind an Englishman sometimes cuffing.them, because the Englishman does not cuff

'-j. without cause ; so they conclndo " * ne of our countrymen turns ou them * heD thev to* 6 dono 80melhi "S wron *- But ** dislike the Boeis. who are regarded by *'* , cruel and tyrannical, a reputation * be . m * lho goers have earned all over the Iransv»a'-