TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9432, 2 June 1896, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Untjuce some other towns in A this colony, Christchurch has Generous not had a very large experiBequest, ence of bequests from her ■well-to-do citizens. Wβ do not forget, of course, that the town and district have profited by the public-spirited generosity of some of the early settlers and their descendants, for to such a spirit we owe the Cathedral spire, the Convalescent Home, the statuary and many of the pictures in the Museum, and the new ward of the Hospital, besides smaller legacies for educational purposes. Bub nevertheless we are justified, we think, in making bur opeaiug assertion, and it ig therefore with che more pleasure that we are enabled to record the most generous legacy left for the benefit of the people of Christchurch and the surrounding district by the late Mr James Gammack. In referring on Saturday to the deceased gentleman we mentioned his wide reading and large fund of information on current affairs. His conversation gave ample evidence of hie t&stes in this direotioo, and his will gives further proof of hia desire to help in the cause of education, and to foster in others that love of books which was one of Ins own most marked characteristics. By the terms of his will, after makiug due provision for his widow, and providing sundry other legacies, he vests £200 a year in the North Canterbury Board of Education for the purpose of foundiug four scholarships, to be called the Gammack scholarships, in conneotiou with Canterbury College. The residue, a very handsome sum, falls to the Board of Governors oi Canterbury College for the circulating department of the Public Library. Ultimately practically the whole of the estate, except the fund for the scholarships and £100 a year for trustees, will full to the Library as an endowment. This will, we are informed, amount to scarcely less than ;82b,00Q. Such generosity needs little comment on our part. The Board of Governors are to be congratulated upon coming into such a fortune, which at the same time carries heavy responsibilities with it, and the public—the reading public—to whom, even as it is, the Library represents so much that makes life worth living, will have reason to bless the kindly wisdom that dictated such a bequest. One incident in connection with Mr GtuTivnack must be menlioued. Hia will provides legacies of £100 each to the Wesleyan, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic Churches nearest to his home. Mr Gammack could look beyond the differences of sect, and see in each church a centre foxpromoting a common good. Wh&t a different world it would be if all cherished ■such broadmiuded views.

Speaking before a meetAα Auctioneer ing of the Auctioneers' ' on Institute of Great Auctions. Britain on the subjects of the use and abuse of auctions, a Mr J. F. Field gave some interesting particulars about the auctioneers' business, which he contended was no longer a trade but a profession, well estsemed by the public. Mr Field' 3 delvings into ancient history as to the origin of sales by auction in England, and the growth of their popularity, wete probably of great interest to his hearers, bub are less so to the general public. The latter, however, will heartily agree with him in his ■ remarks as to the terms in which auctioneers should permit themselves to describe the properties they had for sale. There was, he said, plenty of scope for literary and artistic finish without offending the canons of truth. It might be a matter of opinion whether a mansion was handsome or stately or the reverse, a villa delightful and picturesque or vulgar, a suburban residence attractive or repellant, but the statement that "jerry-built** , houses are "thoroughly substantial," that properties distant a mile or so from a railway are close to a station, and similar assertions were absolutely, beyond " misdescription," aud came dangerously hear lying. Such practices' might bring about the rescission of a contraot, and would at least bring into disrepute any auctioneer wh* indulged in such so-called flights of fancy. Speaking of the law in regard to auctions, Mr Field said until the hammer had fallen any bid could be retracted, notwithstanding, he believed, a condition to the contrary. In referring to curious auctions, the speaker had' a wide choice of subjects, especially with regard to sales in London, where so much that is rare and valuable gravitates in course of time. Only last year, it seems, a West-end firm o! auctioneers sold " the upper part of a female mummy," and the records of the Auction Mart cited the sale of an estate in Iceland iv 1872, a church at Sydenham in the same year, freehold pews at Worthing in the year 1876. floating balhs in the Thames in 1885, the eubaoil of a portion of the City road in 1891, an island in the West Indies in 1874, one million aorea of land in British Honduras in the same'year, and a Spanish' Railway (which realieed £25.600) ; whilst only recently an island off the coast of Sicily, boasting, amongat other advantages, of % volcano expected to be in active operation within a reasonable period, was offered for sale. Volcanoes were not in active demand that day, however, and there was no tale. In the newspaper which commented upon this wae announced the sale of relics of LotuV XIV., such as his handkerchief, vest, and other apparel, all of which realised extremely high prices.,, There would be much that was interesting,, as well ac much tbat was pathetic or humorous, in the chronicles of almost any popular auction room. Prob ably some day some indefatigable " bookmaker " will give us a book upon the sub. ject and then we shall wonder why it was never written before.

A Paris newep&per, The the Gavlois, about Repartition as friendly disposed of Europe toward* Bagland as and Africa. the bulk of French journals, has come oat with a propoeal for the re-divieioa of Europe among the principal Continenta] Powers. According to the correspondent of the Daily New*, who kindly warns England of what may happen, it states that the German Chancellor is prepared to accept a plan of Prince Lob&noff which has been pro* posed to M. Hanotaux, the French statesman. At a Congress to be called to decide upon the repartition of Europe, "Germany is to take the Netherlands, and France Belgium, and of course Egypt, to enable Russia equitably to take Syria, and flreat Britain to be driven out of Afrio*. The oompenea-

tion to which Austria of Italy might be entitled has not been meutioued. Perhaps the one would' be treated as a satellite of Germany and the other of France." Prince Hobeulohe, the German Chancellor, \3 desoribed as the friend of everybody but Eogland. His wife has huge estates in Russia, he is a particular friend of the Emperor of Austria and of the Pope, and as he has important proprietary interests in France, he may bo credited with, ab all events, an underhand regard for that country. But several things would have to happen before the dream of the Chancellor or his Russian confrere came true. Germany would either have to surrender Alsace and Loraiue, or France would have to give up her claim to those provinces neither event being in the least likely to occur. And there is also the question to be considered ot what Kngland would be doing all the time. The schemers seem to have overlooked that point, yet it is one which would have to be seriously considered sooner or later iv the process of rearranging the maps of Europe and Africa.