LONDON CHAT.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12825, 8 June 1907, Page 2

LONDON CHAT.

'FBO-I OCB OWS CORRESPOXDENT.) LONDON, April 26. Toor King Edward is e_ill the target ."or tho Gorman finger- of denunciation . . being tho "bogey-man." Apparently the ok! French proverb th.it '-appetite comes with oatin^ - ' applies w-ith sixx-ial forco to tho German jotirnak, I which, becomo every day more virulent I in their reviling- of this amazingly | wicked and astuto royal Mcphistophelei -ivho is ;-o iclontke-ly plotting tho rum j and destruction of innocent and harml_s Germany. King Edward, assert I the Teutonic editors, steadily persists in his nrtful and malignant design of tirst L-iati-ng and then crushing .ho Fatherland before the latter can havo ready a navy able to cop© with that ol Britain. Of courise, It all is the wildest nonsense, but evidently there aro simpletons who aro imposed upon by even such drivel as this, and those who aro in a position to gauge the public fc_ing, assure mc that a very mischievous sentiment of bitter antagonism toward England is being fomented oy those ridiculous utterances. AVhat thrcv.. a t-.oircwliat sinister I'cjhb. on tho absurd, mouthings ana posturing, is that tho Berlin Governnieiit. wnilo professedly regretting any condemning thera, is vet making assiduous use of them to support a proposed increased expenditure on tho German Army and IVivy. This suggests an unpleasant feeling of doubt as to the good faith ol T tho Berlin authorities, and "gives ono furiously to think" whether these same authorities may not havo .tin-ted, or at leaet inspired, the whole hullabaloo. THIIEE ACCIDENTS. Judgment has just been pronounced in n_pect of threo serious disasters, which attracted an exceptional amount of" public attention. The inst is thero ii way accident on the North _>ritiah at Kiiict Junction, near Arbroath, by which 20 parsons lost their Lives. I related at tho time the circumstances of this mishap, which occurred during the great Christmas blizzard. _n engine-driver named Gou-rlay dLsreg.udcd tiho special and ur&ont instructions which he had received .19 to tlie careful working of his train, and overrunning a signal, he crashed' into another train with fatal results. Intoxication was at first suggested as tne explanation of his reckless proceedings, but a wave of sympathy was set. up toward him through its being ap-' parently. shown that his demeanour was duo to the effect of a singlo gla6s of spirits given him while he was weakened and dazed by injuries. So, although it was impossible to avert his conviction 'for the Sooteh equivalent for manslaughter, mo received a light eentonco of five months, which was reduced by Homo Office to tho*eo, I _rs'.mally, I had made enquiries, of which the outcome dried up in a very painful degree my sympathy with Gourlay. but I felt bound in f:iirness to say nothing oven in Now Zealand until the Board of Trado Inspectors report came out. I knew, however, what its purport must be. It is just out now, and is, ns I expected, to the effect that Gourlay acted thus strangely through being under the influence of alcohol, which had been thoughtlessly given him by various passengers and others because tho weather and he both were co cold! Net result—loss of twenty lives, nnd cost of about £100,000 to tho North British Railway. Those wero very expensive "nips" 1 Next, tho loss of tlie s.s. Berlin and 140 lives is declared to havo been due to "error of judgment on the part of the master, Captain Precious, who in his desiro to get in punctually, had put his steamer at the waterway entrance to the Hook of Holland, wnen this was manifestly unsafe, and so had encountered two suocessive heavy seas, which rendered his ve_el unmanageable, and flung her bodily on the projecting end of the breiikwater with a terrible resnl't. which is a matter of history. Jtoral: Captains should not be encouraged to make fast (or even punctual* runs, nt all risks, or bo made to feel that they have lost caste if, through putting safety qll ship passengers in tho forefront, they should happen to lose a littlo time. Fitral'ly. there i_ the caso of the *\s. Suevio. Hero the facts were too plain to admit of any dispute. It is true *hafc some doubfc is left as tb the orfectiveneßS of the lights and fog signals at tho Lizard, but in reality thi. mattered little. For the hard fact rr-mnin.pd that the captain of i_ lv Suevic had overrun his distance without being aware of the fact, and liar! taken no adequate steps to make sure oP his whereabouts, which in that locality unless known to absolute certainty, must nwls be a position of grave neril. However, in view of v is admirable conduct afterward, Captain Jones is let off with three months suspension. It was a mercy and almost a. miracle that frightful less of human hfo was avertedi. . SQUEEZING THE RAILWAY COMPANIES. It is qin'te clear that wo aro steadily, and nerhaps rapidly, drifting toward many radical changes in tho matter of locomotion. Tin's is strongly felt by the railway companies themselves, and preparations are being quietly made for tho inevitable. Hitherto tho rathor ambiguous status of tho railway companies has been in some degree exploited by themselves to their own advantage. They enjoy practically a State monopoly, and they aro tremendously represented in Parliament. This has enebled them to resist, successfully' at various periods, the enforcement of reforms in working which were undoubtedly advantageous. Once it was continuous-brakes; now it 13 automatic couplings, and in each case the delay ha 3 involved much sacrifice of human life, while tho latter reform still remains in suspense. Consequently there ha.s been alienated from tho companies a good deal of public sympathy, which, at tho present time, and in "tho early future, might have stood them in valuable stead. As it is, they undergo a constant siege on the part of every municipality that can, by hook or crook, got a chance of squeezing them under tho guise of rates, in respect of which, although tho heaviest ratepayers, they havo no voice at all, while tho Labour party in politics never ceases to "peg away" at thorn for shorter hours and higher wages to the men men employed, a clamour being kept up at tho same time for enhanced travelling conveniences, such as thirdclass sleeping-cars. It is invariably forgotten that tho railway companies aro simply traders, who sell facilities of travel, and who, if they wonld continue to exist, must make their operations "pay." The time is fast approaching when this last condition will be incompatible with the perpetual encroachments from outside, and then "things will happen." I suspect that the present political party in power would not bo sorry to have such an excuse for prompting the gcquLsition of tho rail--1 ways by the State at forced sale prices. It "will take a long time to bring this .i")out —I hope it may not come in ir.y t. r r_e —but if not some measure of relief from the outrasreous local taxation, and from the inordinate demands j n-.ado upon their railways in various directions will hnve to be devised. 1 THE SAVOY REVIVALS. } Much to tho regret of a great many people, including a number of New Zealanders. to -whose ranks will certainly be added numerous colonial visitors from the colony who may arrive rather late, tbe*Savoy revival of Gil-

bwt and Sullivan's operaa is rapidly drawing to a close, owing to the termination of Mr D'Oyley Carte's tenancy of the theatre. Only ono more of tbe famous list can be remrcd, and .Mrs DOyley Carte took a vote by poet-card plebiscite as to which of the works remaining unperformed shoul 1 he done in the present season. It was generally bolicved that '*H.M.S. Pinafore" would come out at the bead cp tho poll, and that that opera would bo "first, and the rest nowhere." Contrary to gene al expectation, hewever, "lolanthe' came iv the litst by a long way, "Pinafore" and "Tho Sorceror" being far down in tho list, while, stranger still, "Princess Ida," which is po.hap-, the weakest in tho whole eer.o?, had a largo amount of support. "Kuddigore,'' which, in the course of gener.il convocation, I found that a large number of people desired to see iepreduced, appears to havo been hardly mentioned at all, and ro the die _> cast, and "Iolantho" is to be tho concluding opera. Ono of the most popular 01 all, "Tlie Mikado," has not been prceontel, in consequence of a distinct intimation that it might give offence_ to our now allies, tho Japanese. This hint was given in a way that coul.l not be disregarded. I have reason t" bolieve that a liko feeling was tho cause of "RuddignroV exclusion. It may bo remomtx-ied that when it was fi.Bt produced, great offence was given in France by a jesting, mock-heroic eoa-song, vrbich our Gallic neighbours, who. however witty, are oi'ten distinctly defective in a sense of humour chose to take "to tho grand Eoricus.'' A REMARKABLE UTTERANCE. A remarkable utterance by one o? tho most eminent of London procchcrs, the Rev. H. R. Gamble, Vicar oi" Holy Trinity cliurch. Slcanc square, almost paralysed the London Diocesan Conference tlie night before last. A largo number of teetotallers had attended o fiiipport a resolution which was moved by tho Bishop of Kensington, declaring that temperance reform should include a time limit arrangement of the hours of eale, prohibition of barmaid'", exclusion of children from public-houses, and Sunday ckaing under tho local authority. Sir Gamble said that ho roe© to protest against this most unjust and fanatical roolution. The Licensing Act of the late Government was as good as any Act oould be, and under its operation, tho number of public-hou e_ was rapidly diminishing. Tho speakers seemed to place their whole hopo in local control, which would load to groat harm and mischief, and inevitable reaction. In highly respectable neighbourhoods, "where men had in their cellai- wine, good or bad—of tenor tho latter —they would desire to abolish all public-houses, and add to the dullness of their suburbs. In poor neighbourhoods, a vigorous, though smull and fanatical minority would carry thoir point only on the next opportunity to rouse the indifferent voters to iover_ all they had ddne. If tho local authority could deal "with the hours a public-house might be open, it conld do so for an hour, or possibly a few minutes. Ho did not say a barmaid's occupation waa an ideal one, nor did he know what the Bishop of Kensington's experience of barmaids might bo; but he had found them hard-worked and pure, and treated with a kindness, fairness and consideration not always show-n in places where only teetotal drinks were consumed. He could take the Bishop to eomo fashionable dressmakers in tho West End whero the giils were oxposed to much greater evils* than those in public-houses. . As to the exclusion of children from pub-lic-houses, the result would bo that mothers and older sisters would stay there much longer. He had found no evil results from boys—even choir boys —fetching their father's beer from pub-lic-houses; and as to their hearing bad language, they heard that in tho street. The Child Messengers Act had resulted in adults staying longer in public-houses, and was the wo-st stroke at tomperanoo. In Sunday closing,, the Puritan hoof came out, the view of thoso who hold that the Christian Sunday had some vague connection with.the Jewish Sabbath. Stin? day was the most natural day for a working man to have a glass of beer. It was a" legitimate pleasure on the day of rest, and he protested ngairust a miserable piece of class legislation, and tho whole spirit which animated the speeches of a militant and fanatical Puritanism. Public-houses wero a social necessity. It will readily be imagined what a sensation was created by thoso utterances in a mainly teetotal assemblage. The Rev. Canon Rarker characterised it as "an amazing speech," and a fierce debate ensued, which led the Bishop of London to oh-serve that at least Mr Gamble s speech hael made a dull meeting livoly. i" fancy that much moro will bo heard of it.