TOPICS OF THE DAY,

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10704, 10 July 1900, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY,

A firm of employers in Unci, A shire, Lever Brothers, expended Picnic £5000 the other day in to employees, 2000 in number, ft Paris, trip to the Paris Exhibition

Tour special trains'left Bivkfsihead in the evening, two of the trains tefc. ing half the party to Folkestone, and % others going by way of Dover. When th 2000 excursionists landed on French soij tliey proceeded to the Terminus Hotel, at Calais, and consumed all the available re« freshmen ts, and resuming their journey W rail, arrived at the Champs de Hal's statioiv at eight o'clock in the morning after they' had left Birkenhead. The brawny, red. cheeked North-country lads and lasses, wit!; their vigorous appetites, keen as razor?, kept the waitresses busy at the restaurants, and despite the strange tongue, were supplied with breakfast with remark* able promptitude. Then the visitors set out to see Paris. The sight of the Eng.' lish, driving in four-wheelers, char, a-b&n'cs and cabs, gazing with won. der- at the celebrated' buildings of, Paris, almost elect)itied the mercurial TYenclunen, who shrugged their shoulders, and gave up the task of analysis the character of "these droll people." The excursionists roamed about the ExM.. bition, and along the boulevards, invacSsd; the cafes and shops, and altogether spent a delightful day. Yet one Lancashire lass, ■when asked what .vhe thought of it all, replied that "while tho Exhibition was ""rale-' jaunock," she iras not so sure she didn't like the "parade at"Dugglass," and the dancing at Blackpool, Better. One incident of the visit was a deputation to President Loubet. Six of the excursionists called upon M. Loubet at tho Elysee, and presented him with an. address of congratulation, in reply to which he offered cordial welcotnd to the party, and hoped tliey would enjoy themselves. And notwithstanding the verdict of the patriotic Lancashire girl, who liked her own couutry better, they did enjoy themselves, Mid during their railway jour* nevs consumed ten tous of food.

Some of the AustrauaiU;J An Aimless papers are getting alarmed a| i Exodus. the lush which lias set in* t<® I South Africa. A la.rgejriimi4.l ber of people appear to regard the I war as destined to become, "after tliiL ve \ settled down," a perfect. Promis* without having anything much in thaa hope ou which to base their • Jl3j The-Moravian lately took over 300 p ys from Sydney and Melbourne foi Africa, and scarcely one of the <%yjji s fortxine-hunters who was give any valid reason for his action. FoA most part they were just the sort of t\ ■whom' Australia wants—well-built,, heal men, mostly in the prime of life, and ( ] majority of thenj, with some money. T| -. j freely admitted that their emigration wad! I a large extent, aimless, and many of w displayed pitiable ignorance as to the f? t i peets offered by the country for which t , .".'■ ! were bound, and even of its geography. J I*, desire to be "in the swim" was aeknowletfl ;m. by a mechanic from Queensland, who I || always earned" good wages, to be the- objlhreason why Jie .'was leaving Aiistraliaim "Everybody's italking of going to South;® Africa," he said—an insufficient reason surely '§§ for throwing lip a good billet and takiug liifc B wife and young family with him to a land fi of which he confessed ho knew p no more than* the man in the 1 moon. There was, we are afraid, more tha\ I a flavour'of prophecy about- his remark -'I | suppose when we get there we'll find tut | place different to what we. expect." Arti- 1 sans said they were going.out "on; spety 1 on the ground that there ought to be plenty § of work when tilings settle down. There 1 will be plenty of work, no doubt, in time. I but there'will also be plenty of men to do 1 it,.probably more than plenty. The practical engineer whose skill had always giver. \ him a., .good income in New South Wales, and who covered his family when he put on his hat, had no sounder reason for tempting j fortune in an unknown country than tnanj ! others, but he had afc'least no one but him self to bother about, and his belief in the" value of looking for luck rather than wuitiiig for it to cotne to him may be justilietfi,. Hα has at all events a better chance titan the young Collingwood bootnmker, who thought he could "better himself" at Duf. ban, though' he had nothing to complain Hi iv Australia. Hβ didu't know anything about Durban, and a cynical Customs officiaj who heard liirn talking gave him some* thing to think over by telling him that most of the residents of Durban were half-naked blacks who wore no boots. '"Why, I didnt" kjiow there were any "niggers in was the surprised reply. Speaking, generally the "didn'i-knowit fool" is a sage in comparison with thy. colonial who set 3 out for Sorith Africa witt as little krsowledige of the country as mosV of the Australian, emigrants stum to possess.

An English magazine vrrifcer **. Men Who lias collected gome of what Never Met. he calls the "mysteries of ■public life," th-ougi] mysteries is hardly the -word one would choose as best describing the remarkabtf. 'facts relate**. Tho article grew out of •statement made .by ftlr Justin M'Carthy ttoat the Duke of Wellington did not'know , the exact date on which the battle of Water"' 100 Tras fought, but .spoke of it as having occurred on June 15th, -whereas every schoolmaster faiows that it took place or. the 18th. 'Some of the Cii.?es t quoted as being equally odd are cerfct'iinly strange. Ifc, is difficult to believe, for instance, that Lord' Sailiabmy never met a. man occupying sv prominent a place in. political life as Mr Parnell, yet .the Prime Minister himself sai<J so "witliiu a few* months of Panieli's death, «md it- is mot likely that they met durieg thia interval. Though they were

,',, l\irii:ii»i''» {in 'y '''<* t'other for twelve , <I( , S Mc CliKNtoiiC never spoke to Lord ]\f,'ih,.i]ni!'. .M 1 though both stau«nieu held liiji i>! ><-•«•* in contemporary European hiiifo.r f»>r »<» many years Gladstone never fuw Hi.«m.irck. One famous and similar ca>e is nut mentioned by the magazine vrtfr c have hesrd from one of Mr i,U : '--~'■'■''■• i"'f'-'s:»> f:ifiids ihat tome time A f, t -r (if!!-i-t.l iJiiTtlttit'i t;a-k- death tlie t - -,i, s»i.;;i «■;!■■. tlion/iillcs'-ly .■l'-hed, in the j,ri--t'r-<v '•; ;» iiumU-r of .!uju;»iii lances, Vl t,.i; .-■..',•! !' .i 'ii:;'-!«i (J.nv.-.i wan. To ,-;,,., ,<H|->K!>)iin('!it -f ill I t'.u- s'ui'ft reply ,-;.;;..-. "I '■> '•:,-: **"' Go-dun.'" 00r,i,,,i. it ;ii ! ]*- '-'VS It -* V« 1 .•"•'lir'lit- :>u ifii ftvi'-W ~-itit i-'-U:,<u.- tli" iii.;iit hi-U>i-i he left |,i,i;J-'n. ...' !:io i.U'tT'a to go to xh- , '■-•; i.M» nmetia: did not take ,*!.»;;■ -!'l '.■'<•: <>m returntJ to England no n>-r>. F«ir m<in> than thirty years Lord fcUH:ibury h'i-i W-en in the House of Lords. KevtT ia .ill tint time h-aa he been seeu in the Pe?r*' ITilltry of the Lower House, of uiiii-h hv used to be a member, and he ha? j,, link , t<» <Jo -with t-be.Jife of the House of Commons that he has never yet spoken t,i Mr .loan Mo:k-y. Xclson and "Willington <)Ti;'t' met- casually in :i irieud'a bouse, |,ut i.tithcT knew the oflwr, though each iuim"! tir. , (/fiin'itiii from the conversation ;};••-.• hud tit^et'iH , thai' tae otht-r was "no e-.iiiit" ii man," it v»'p)ict which their vic■jun.-- Hi later yr.urs were to justify. The l)uk<' Mvev saw Napoleon, though this is ji?rh.'ipi» lift vt-vy remarkable. I>ord Roberts mr».y not tiwt President Kruger. Among oilier "inyKterioiis" facts it ia mi j niioi:ed that tin 1 of Suite for the Colonies has never seni a British colony, nnd Mr (id.fdci;. tin' Fir«t Lord of the Admiralty, Inn l.i-va , hid an lionr'a frepdom from sickins-* .it sea. In nt'ilhtr cusi , does the fact refwrted intcrffre wit-h the Minister's fulfilment <jf lii-i duties, thougli one cx>uld wish iliat Mr C."haii»'i«rlaini li;id some personal knowledge (/f thc«e parts of the Empire which (T.mi» und;r the ojOcial of the CVlonial Office, Still, if he were a CwlonWhl Irr.rn uu4 tired he could uard'ly be pmudt'i , of 11 10 colonies or more solicitous for their welfare. Finally, it may be said that Lord Randolph Churchill never met f)!iakc* , iv."arc —either on the stage or in a bo<;k—until he hmv Henry Irving in "Ham--Ift, :uul then he was yo interested in the mN/ortunes of Uphriia that *>n beitijj told l>v In-Jiijt df her daith in the next act he muttered. "Dear mc, this is vary sad." The story >'')H!i<hs improbable, bub after all "Jii.'.miy's" igwiriinco of some matters wns pnJv eqintlU-d 'by his determination, to them when he found them necessary. Was it not lie 'who confessed to one of bvs Fpcretams when, as Chnncellor of the ExohfquOT, he 'wart confrcnittd by some -itatistiLH In decimals, that, he "neverunderitood what thawed d dots meant'"/