TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13031, 5 February 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Are the great singers of A the post greater than the Museum "stars" of to-day? It is of a point on which there has Voices, beon a good deal of argument, but unfortunately there wore no phonographs in tho times of Jenny Lind, Mario and Grisi. Now, however, wo have a way of preserving voices for future generations, and music lovers of tho year 200S will have evidence of thoir ears on whioh to base a comparison between tho singers who delight them and those of a hundred years before. Melba records were deposited some little timo ago in the British Museum, but what is said to bo the first attempt to form a collection of voices for tho instruction and delight of posterity took place in Paris th** other day, when twenty-four gramaphone records by famous musical artists wero solemnly entombed in tho crypt of the Opera House. Special vaults wero built, and special precautions taken to prevent th© deterioration of the discs from moisture. Each disc after being thoroughly tested, was covered with a layer of resin, and tho records were carefully packed in a copper casket, from which the air was exhausted- Tho casket was placed in another metal box, and tho box enclosed in a special receptacle in th© wall of th© crypt with an inscription requesting that it remain intact for 100 years. A parchment scroll giving a list of tho records and full instructions for their use, and a modern gramophone, sealed in a box, were deposited in the archives of tho Opera House, for tho use of the people who ar© expected te use th© records in th© year 2007. The records include operatic arias sung by Tamagno, Caruso, Planoon, Madame Patti, Madame Melba, Madame Calve, violin solos by Kubelik, and choruses by th© singers of th© Scala Theatre at Milan. Tho ool_eotjpn will be added to ©very yoar, and as complete a record as possible will be kept of all the great singers who will be heard at the Opera, and discs will be accepted from other countries. A singer may also place a number of discs on record, showing the progress of her art. We think our instruments very wonderful, but no doubt tho critics of 2007 will say that owing to the fcrudeness of th© phonographs of our period it ia impossible to form as correct an estimate as one would wish of the voices which delighted! us. Tie _. suggestion, inHouses duced by the heat for wavo t that AustraHot Weather, liana should live in houses more suited to their climate, has created a good deal of interest in Melbourne, and the Premier even talks of appointing a Royal Commission to report as to the most suitable type of house. The discussion interests us in New Zealand only a little less than it does our friends in Melbourne. According to one archi-. teat, the best type of houso for a man with money is a double dwelling, the ground floor, sunk a few feet in the ground, for summer use, and th© second storey for winter use. In the case of houses for people of moderate means, th© walls should be of tolerable thickness, and hollow, and if the house is of one storey the ceilings should be plastered and covered with three or four inches of sawdust, to keep out the heat from the roof. Each room should harve a perforated centreflower, from which a pipe should lead through the roof, to take away the vitiated air. A candle held under the centre-flower will show whether the ventilation is efficient. Tho hotter tho roof the hotter the pipe, and consequently the stronger the upward current. A good underground cellar and an underground larder, well ventilated, ar© necessities. Another architect thinks houses should bo of brick, with rooms 12ft to 13ft high, ventilated «n th© manner described. Another correspondent of th© "Argus" would have all the external walls of every building either brick or weatherboard, one foot higher than th© ceilings, and the 12in space between tho ceiling and roof on all sides perforated, so that whichever way the wind is blowing a current of air, although it might be a hot wind, would drive the stagnant heated air out from under tho roof, and keep it in constant motion. The question of cool houses for the poor is on© of expense, and a correspondent of th© "Argus" points out that an oight-roomod house has beon built of concrete in England at a cost of £160, at which rate a five-roomed dwelling could be erected for £100. It is not 6afe to boast A at Christmas time that Christmas your burglar alarms will Joke. keep out any burglars. A discussion arose at dinner just before Christmas at Eaton Hall, tho Duke of Westminster's Cheshire seat, on recent burglaries in which motors had played a part, and tho Marquis of Cholmondele- a neighbour of the Duke, declared that his burglar alarm would outwit any cracksman. Next morning, at her-home, Lady j Cholmondeley wos disturbed at a avar-

being shut, but did not attach any importance to the incident. Later on Lord Cholrnomleley found that a valuable racing cup, some jewellery, and a number of cigars had disappeared from a room adjoining his bedroom. The burglars had substituted pieces of coal for the missing articles. Ho immediately communicated with the chief of tho Che-shire police, and detectives au<i jx>! icemen from all over Cheshire wero at once put on the trail. The castle and its precincto were miuutely examined, and it was discovered that entrance had _-een gained by tho dining-room windows, which had not been properly fastened. A jointed collapsible ladder, by which the windows had been reached, wa_ found among somo bushes. Further enquiries proved without doubt tliat a motor car had been driven from the castle grounds at a great pace towards Chester. It had come into collision with the lodge gates, smashed one of them, and lost half its hood. Scotland Yard, -Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham were communicated with, mounted police and detectives on bicycles scoured the country, motoric... with damaged cars wero stopped and tjiu—tioiuxl, linger-prints were photographed and tho negative, despatched to London and policemen on hands and knees traced a motor-car as far as Chester. But the mystery was solved when tho missing articles were returned with a polite note of Christmas greeting from Eaton Hall. Some members of tlio house party there had made a wager that they would successfully break into Lord CholmondeJey's castle. Tho affair caused much merriment, but no sympathy seems to have been expressed for the unfortunate police; if an-aiteius can drive up to a pflace in a motor car at night, past a lodge, and break into the house without being detected, it looks as if burglary was an easier matter thou is generally supposed.