TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10635, 20 April 1900, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Interesting at tlta present A Famous time is an account of the great Siege. siege of Londonderry two huudred year? ago, which a correspondent furnishes to a Natal paper, from the book published in 1689 by the Rev. Mr George Walker, Governor of Deny. Some of the prices realised for articles of food in Ladysmitli were high enough to warrant them being called "famine price*," 'but they look small beside what the defenders of Londonderry had to pay. In both cases horseflesh was eaten, but that was the worst that happened to Ladysmith. while in Londonderry men paid 5s 6d for a quarter of a dog fattened on the slain, 2s 6d for a dog's head, 4s 6d for a cat, a shilling for a rat, and sixpence for a mouse. A i)unrt of horse blood could be had for a shilling, but a small fish was so precious that it was not to be sold, but only to be exchanged for a quantity of meal. A handful of seawrack brought two shillings, and a handful of duckweed n penny. It must be remembered that thu purchasing power of money has vastly increased since 1689, and the sums quoted above would hava to be multiplied five or six times to equal their present value. Water never ran short at Ladysmith but in Londonderry it; had to be paid for "very dear." and could only be obtained at great hazard. Nothing but water seems to have been obtainable, and ono therefore finds nu comparison for the £145 which was realised by a case of whiskey at Ladysmith. What water the Londonderry defenders did get, they mixed with ginger and aniseed, to give it some flavour, or, perhaps, to guise the taste it already possessed. Some of the garrison of Lady-smith used to amuse themselves with football, and Mafeking indulges in cricket matches and cycling meetings on Sundays. The Governor of Londonderry would have permitted no sucli frivolous doings- He was wont to march the garrison to the- Cathedral, where he would "discourse them and consider of all imaginable methods to support them." The defenders naturally took a lively interest in the shells which the besiegers threw into the town. They counted them—until they became too numerous "they came so thick upon us"—and now and then weighed them. "One of the great bombs," we lea-rn "did scale 2721b after 171b of powder had been taken out,, and the smallest bombs, being emptied, did weigh 341b." Some of these "bombs" were evi-d-ntlv as defective as those of the Boers burled into Ladysmith. Finally, after a siege oi 105 days, Londonderry was relieved "to the admiration and joy," wrote Mr Walker, "of all good people"—another point of resemblance with Ladysmith—after the garrison had been reduced by more than one-third of its strength, one-fourth of those remaining being too weak or ill to aid the relieving force.

One of the war correspondents Camera at present in, South Africa, reor ferring recently to "war pictures Pencil, appearing in the London illustrated papers, declared that he saw more blood and smoke and general goriness and confusion in a corner of one of these pictures than he had yet seen in the whole of the war, though he had been well to tie front most of the time. The remark is a valuable commentary on a controversy which lately arose in London to the relative value, for the parpose of illustration, of the camera or the artist's pencil. As a, pure question of art it could easily be settled—no one, we suppose, would say that a good photograph of any scene was more artistic than a drawing of the same occurrence, done by a clever artist. On the other hand, if a really trutbM and accurate representation of what occurs is wanted then the camera will beat the artist every time, for, given a competent photographer, the process is automatically correct. The editor of one of the new illustrated papers at Home was very emphatic on the question, contending that if the thing is properly done nothing can touch the photograph as a record of w.hat actually take 3 place on the battlefield. "Nowadays, what newspaper readers want above all things, alike in letterpress and illustrations, is truth and realism—the actual facts—not rough impressions inaccurately worked up by artists in, London." The statement is open to question, so far as illustrations are concerned. There ia a good deal in what Mr Julian Kalph says, that war artists must still put a lot of smoke and confusion in their battle studies, "otherwise the public would be disappointed, and could not tell a battle from a parade." Under the conditions under which battles are fought nowadays, at least in their early stages, the difference certainly does not appear to be great, and some portion of the British public would feel defrauded if the actual appearance of a modern battlefield were presented to them in photographs. They would be interested in the novelty of the pictures, but illustrations with more fire and go in them would appeal to them more strongly, even if not so true to facts. The editor referred to quoted the case of a photographic picture from one of his correspondents, showing Lord | Metbuen directing the battle of Magersfontein. "The thing was absolutely lifelike," he said, "as of coum it was bound to be. Just -two weeks afterwards one oi our contemporaries came oat with a picture purporting to represent the same scene—executed by an artist in London from a sketch sent home by one of the most distinguished living war artists—which—well, which was quite astonishingly different. The contrast indeed was striking in the extreme." That is at once the strength and weakness of war photography—it is almost too accurate, quite too much so for those people who "like a battle to look like a battle," and not like a parade or skirmishing drill. The day of the artist is by no means past—he can still present to us some scenes and incidents far more acceptably than the photographer, but the last few months have shown va how closely war photography can bring iv to actual occurrences, and the pencil will never displace the camera.

The letter from a corresponVictoria. dent signing himself, with Park. some reason, "Disgusted," ap-

pearing in another column, reveals a condition of things at Victoria Park, on the Port Hills, which is very far from the intentions of those who subscribed the money for the kiosk aud the Committee who took the matter of its erection io hand. The building was intended to be a convenient refuge in squally weather for those people who might be attracted to Victoria Park by their desire for fresh air and a superb view. But it was obvious from the first that if the building were left in the half-finished state which denoted a paucity of subscriptions, it might be used as a refuge, but would never bo convenient, while its present condition is such as to preclude it being used at all by any one. Tlie suggestions made by our correspondent, that the floor, shouJd be levelled and the place kept clean should be acted upon by the authority which bae charge o£ the Park—the Cashmere Hills Domain Board, which might aleo spend a Unr pounds very acceptably by replacing

with glass the rough galvanised iron screens in the kiosk which keep out the wind from certain quarters. But, indeed, the whole matter of Victoria Park need's to be taken in hand by some enterprising body. It should be one of the most attractive places near town. It. would be regarded. we suppose, as mvonring of absurdity if we suggested that iwi occasional band performance in the Park would do wonders in attracting people thither, especially if they could also bo assured that they could get afternoon tea there. Yet there an? cities, even in New Zealand, where such a spot as Victoria Park would not long be without these additional attractions, and on the Continent they would be so much in the ordinary course of events not to say inevitable, that surprise would only be expressed if ihoy did not exist. People, of course, ought not- to need tempting to induce them to have a little healthful hill-climbing and t;> enjoy a splendid view, but people will go where they can be amused and refreshed, and Christciiurdi has not so many places of interest- in the immediate vicinity to be able to ignore one which is so pleasant and could be made so much more attractive. That "tired feeling" which one occasionally reads about, and which, if the truth must be told, is too strong a characteristic of Christchurch people and their way of doing things, would be less apparent if the public got off the- level monotony of the city streets and climbed up to Victoria Park rather ofteuer than it does.