TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10132, 3 September 1898, Page 7

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Some few years ago, as a A Valuable Christchurch resident, who Asset. was visiting the Old Country, was travelling by train through Wiltshire, he fell into conversation with a farmer. Talk ran on various lines until the question of the profits of farming was touched upon, whereupon the farmer, who rented a rather poor farm in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, made the astonishing statement that if it were not for a stream which ran through his land he would not be able to make both ends meet*, The income he derived from letting the fishing rights in this stream not only paid the rent of the farm, but sufficed to keep himself and his family. This in itself was an indication of the expenses which English anglers will pay in order, to follow their contemplative recreation. , Further proof is afforded by the statements made by a writer in the latest " Cornhill." These show that, as he says, a decent trout stream or a salmon river is a very Pactolus; if it ran over golden sands it could scarcely be more valuable. So limited is the quantity of trout fishing near London that there is hardly a limit to the prices which wealthy fishermen are content to pay. This year £300 was asked for a reach a mile and a half in length on a trout stream in Kent. For reaches of the Test and Itohen streams, beloved of English anglers, as much as half a crown a yard was paid for the season. So highly prized are' the little Hampshire rivers that the writer believes that before iong a mile of any one of them, without an acre of land, and only the right to fish from the banks, will be a fair younger son's provision. Nor is it a fishing in or around the Home counties which alone brings much profit to its owner. Small and distant streams fetch good money, for 80 guineas is mentioned as the price of fourteen weeks' fishing in one of these, though as it returned 175 trout in sixteen days, this must be regarded as better value for the cost than some of the other rivers mentioned yielded. Salmon fishing is even more expensive; 900 yards of the Tweed cost £80, two and a half miles £300, and £90 is asked for a stretch on the Eden, from which, if he is lucky, the fisherman may take thirty fish. Why cannot we bring forcibly before the enthusiastic anglers who pay such long prices the superior advantages offered by New Zealand rivers ? For the £300 paid for a reach of "a Kentish trout stream, a man could come out to this colony, spend a whole season enjoying such fishing as he never dreamed of, visit some of the notable beauty spots of both islands, and return Home with money in his pocket. If the Government really intends to do any advertising of the colony in England, let it not overlook the papers and journals which cater for tbe angler. There is a potential New Zealand settler in any well-to-do Englishman who once throws his line in our creeks and rivers.

In reference to the stateIllustrated ment in our leading columns Magazines, a few days ago, when speak- .. ing of the proposed "Jllo_trated Hansard," that there existed no illustrated magazine in England thirty years ago, we are indebted to Mr C. Clarke-Irons, of Fendalton, for pointing out that over fifty years ago the English public were provided with illustrated magazines, which, notwithstanding the expense of publishing, owing to the duty on and cost of paper, were issued at one penny. "Parker's Penny Illustrated Magazine" was a large quarto, as was the "Penny Magazine," an opposition paper. There was also a small tictavo, viz., "The Corner Cupboard." About this time appeared " John Cassell's Penny Magazine," illustrated, whi-jh was the pioneer work of the founder of the great publishing firm, Cassell, Petter and Galpin Later (1853) John Cassell brought out" The Illustrated Magazine of Art," and the wood cuts in this, says Mr Irons, " are excellent specimens of art, and far excel much of the modern glaze and blur." A decade later, he adds, brings us to a time when magazines were fairly numerous. "S. O. Beeton published 'The Boys' Own* and * The English Woman's Domestic.' ' Good Words' came to life about this date (I write entirely from memory), and I think 'The Sunday at Home * and • Leisure Hour," from the Tract Society, had by this followed that small octavo 'The

Child's Companion,' which long served as a moral teacher to English children. The famed 'London Journal,' which Mr Stiff sold for £40,000, the periodical having gained such favour, was first issued in the fifties; and was beautifully illustrated by Sir John Gilbert and Keeley Halswell. Another successful magazine was 'Once a Week,' for which John Millais drew." Our correspondent refers also to illustrated newspapers, in connection with our remark about the " Illustrated London News," and mentions that the " Illustrated Times,* quite equal in tone to the "News," was being published over fifty years back. "It is rather cheapness in production than such wonderful progress in art that has given us such floods of illustrations. There were equal facilities to illustrate "Hansard" thirty years ago as now, —3 all know who remember the elaborate Parliamentary outlines drawn by " Brompton" appearing in " Fun" at that period, although the process was laborious compared with modern means." Mr Irons is of opinion that the illustrated magazines of fifty years ago were " produced in a manner to shame much of the smeared and shiny productions of to-day." But those who can afford it can still buy copper-plate etchings and fine wood cuts. And as to the comparison between the illustrations of to-day and those of fifty years ago, we fancy the comments of a magazine reader in the forties, if he had a modern production placed in his hands, would have been more favourable than those of our correspondent. One of the most disastrous The Great of recent strikes—that of Coal Strike, the South Wales colliers— is at last at an end. A cable message in another column tells us of the acceptance by the men of an agreement with the masters, and work will, it is to be presumed, commence again at once* It will be welcome, alike to masters and men, for it has been a fearfully expensive business. Seven millions sterling it is said to have cost the district, and the human suffering is incalculable. Terrible tales are told of the misery the contest has entailed. It is difficult to imagine its extent. It is as if every wage-earner in this colony had suddenly been thrown out of work and remained without employment for five or six months. From 100,000 to 120,000 colliers were "out" during the strike, which affected not only themselves but also great numbers of coal-hewers and all those who gain a living by handling the coal before it is finally consumed. It is estimated that the acute sufferers by this disastrous struggle exceeded half a million men, women and children. Jn Monmouthshire aud Glamorganshire it is told that children at the schools sobbed for bread. The funds of the Poor Law Guardians were exhausted, and even a workhouse pittance was unobtainable. From one district the narrative comes of a shabbily dressed woman being seen by a butcher to steal and secrete a piece of liver. Calling a policeman, the butcher and he followed close behind to the house she entered. There, before the following pair could pass the portal, the starving children , had seized the raw liver and were eagerly devouring it like ravenous wolves. " Are you going to prosecute?" askei the constable. "My good God, no!" waa the reply, and butcher and policeman made up between them a few shillings for the woman. This tale is vouched for as true, and as butatypeof many similar occurrences. Looked at from the business side of the question the prolonged struggle has been a catastrophe from which it may take the district long months, possibly years, to recover. The furnacea.pl: the iron and steel works all over South Wales were blown out because of lack of coal, no ships came to the Cardiff dry dock to repair, and the coal mines, untenanted for five or six months, will require, we are told, the expenditure of thousands of pounds and weeks of labour before they can again be got into working order. It was feared that if the strike was not over by August many of the big annual coal contracts would go to the Tyne or to Germany, and would never be regained. That is always a possibility of a great strike—that trade will be driven into other channels, and that the industry thus weakened will never regain its old strength. But for South Wales the dark days are now past, there will be plenty of work for all for months to come, and it is to be hoped ;that the end of the trouble has come in time to prevent permanent injury to the trade of the

district. That pride of the British "W. G." cricket world, Dr. W. G. Grace, has been having a number of nice things said about him lately. His fiftieth birthday excited a great deal more attention from Press and public than it would have done if he had been a statesman; in fact, the coincidence that Mr A. J. Balfour also attained his jubilee in the same month would have passed unnoticed if Sir Richard Webster had not referred to it on the occasion of a dinner at which Dr. Grace was entertained by the Sports Club. The dinner was given on one of the evenings of the match between the Gentlemen and Players at Lord's in honour of "W.G.'s" jubilee, and Sir Richard presided. Of a good deal that he said on that festive occasion there is no need to take any notice. It was an after-dinner speech, and if it was rather more than ordinarily eulogistic oi the guest of the evening it must be admitted that it had for object a .rather out-of-the-ordinary cricketer. Cricket can, of course, be played by men much older than Dr. Grace, but probably no man of his age has ever played more cricket or played it as well. He has for a number of years held the position of supreme_ favourite with the public, a position which he probably owes in some measure to his commanding presence. He is so huge and burly, his beard is so notable, and his whole figure so distinctive that he is recognisable by everyone as soon as he steps out on the pavilion. And the public like to be able to recognise their celebrities. Sir Richard Webster's anecdotes were just a trifle stale— what Americans would call " chestnuts. ".- We have all heard of the Sunday school scholar who, in reply to a question as to what were the Christian graces, replied, "E.M., W.G. and G. F."; and the Eton boy who, in answer to the same question, said, " Grace before meat, grace after meat, and W. G. Grace" is a familiar friend. But we do not remember hearing before of one remarkable feat performed by the redoubtable doctor when he was only eighteen, and therefore before he was a doctor. It was in 1866. He had made 224 not out for England against Surrey at the Oval, and in the evening he went to some athletic sports and won the quarter-mile hurdle race. It fs true that, in subsequently replying to the toast of his health, " W.G." rather spoiled the story by saying that of the five starters in that hurdle race only one finished. He was the lucky one. But it was a good performance all the same. Pride of the Oval, Lord of Lord's ! * Your beard is surely a decoy; I watch you bat: " A vaunt such frauds ; It's nonsense: that old man's a boy." And though majestic is your tread, You're skittish on the field of play ; With fifty summers o'or your head There's no one near you, air, to-day.

Thus sings a latter-day poet, and all cricketers will agree with the sentiment of the last line. One may feel inclined to smile sometimes at the intensity of the Grace-cult at Home, but at least it is a wholesome, manly cult, and tends to popularise cricket, which is something for which to be truly thankful.