TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13151, 25 June 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

It is really not snrprisOut raged ing to fad the English Provinciate, province turning on their detractors, and protesting that the idea, fostered by the playwright «nd the novelist, that provincial life rocks of narrowness, eelf-satisfaction, end hypocrisy, is nn outrageous libel. Mr Pinoro's latest play, coming after that admirable study of middlo-dass narrowness, "His House in Order," and Mr Hoiiry Arthur Jones's "The Hypocrites," has proved the last straw. "live Tltun-

derbolt ,, is described as '"An Episode in tho History of o Provincial Family." Tho critics seem to bo agreed that though it is not Finero at his best, it is a very fine piece of 6tage .mechanism, and I*o complete a study of avarice, that, in tho words of one of them, the stench of coin nauseates. .Most of tho characters iro estimable people in tho eyes of the world, bat at heart sordid money-grubbers, without a thought beyond getting rich and rising in the social scale. No wonder that the provinces object to the freezing self-satisfaction of tho Ridgeleye in ''His House in Order," and the greed of the Mortimores in "Tho Thunderbolt," being put before lx>ndoners as typical of provincial life. ''So many London writers ire totally ignorant of tho conditions of society in tho provinces," writes a Manchester man. '•Otherwise they would not write as they do. Aβ a matter of fact, we 'provincials' aro, to say the least, quite <ift broad in our irinds and our interests, and quite as appreciative of art and literaturo as tho clover Londoners. In fact, I havo had visitors f rora, lx>ndon at tho Literary Club, and their general opinion has always been that wo can do things better hero than they can in London.' , Most of tho finest English literature, ho declares., is provincial in ite origin, and in tho greatest writers tliere are no eneers at provincial ways. u Tho mistake of ko many people, is to think that the London man is necessarily raoro intelligent than tho mm in tho provinces. Ivook at tho great- movements which havo had their origin in provincial centrre. Ixmdon. dorives all its vigour from us. If it wero not fed by the provinces where would it bo? All this talk about the narrowness of tho provincial mind is tho thing we laugh at here." So convinced is Judge Parry, of Manchester himself a playwright, that thoro is no real difference l>etween Jxmdon life «nd provincial life, that he refuses to take euch protests seriously. Mr Pinero, ho is sure, has, with an eye to tho receipts, sought to interest Londoners in somcthini: outeide London, That may bo so, but it is hardly fair to the provinces.

Some- astounding figures Snowball rela-tivo to tho growth Pensions, of war pensions in America are given in tho "Daily Mail" by Mr Sydney Brooks to illustrate his contention that once old-aj;e pensions are sot going, there is no telling where they will stop. Since 1790 the United States has paid away over £700,000,000 in pensions, and of this all hut about £30,000,000 has boen voted in tho last . forty years. The pension t-stimates touch £30,000,000, there aro about 1,000.000 pensioners on the Toll, and -for thaii support orory mam-., woman, and child in. tlhe country is 'taxed 7s a bead per annum. It is forty years since tiho Civil War, yet over 14,000 claims for pensions arising out of it are rocoavod every year. Tho aiumJjor of Spanish war pensioners to-day, ton years after the war. is equal to tho TUinnber of combatants. Congress devotes a whole day every week to pension business, and in the 1-ast forty yeais has passed over a hundred Pension Aote and some 10,000 private Pension Bills, the latter giving pensions to meai who ibavo failed to got them, through the department. In a normal year the dopontanonit deals with somo 60,000 claims for new pensions, and some 1.50,000 applacatione for increases. Optimisfcic sentiment and political cousidero-tdons gave tho thing a start. No American expected that tihe system would fao abused. Now it is out of hand. The veterans of the war formed on organisation, which for years has been nothing but "a pemaionhunting agency on a vast and pitiless scale." Tho soldier vote became a source of uneasiness to politicians. "Tho officials of the Pension Bureau, somo 2000 in number, an army oi pension 80,000 strong, 4500 ommining surgeons, all who had pensions and wanted rtiem increased, and all who wished and intrigued to get on the pension roll by ihook or crook, formed together an. omnipotent power for. perpetuating and expanding the system. Against such forces tho Government has never stood a real chance. . . . The State, in short, stands helpless while dts till is rifled." Fronds of various kinds fkwrtfsh, such ac the personation of veterans, tho manufacture of disabilities, women marrying veterans on their deaih-<beds for tho sake of tho pension, and tha granting of pensions to women of irregular life. Throughout tho country the belief exists that tho Government exists to bo robbed.

■> An interesting and A picturesque vrisi tor to Picturesque London is tho Prime Potemi-aito. sLkiist<oT orf No-paul, Maharajah Sir Chandra Slioinisher Jang, who ia virtually niler of the Gurkha kingdom, the frontier Wbato whidh sends thousands of splendid little soldiers to fight India's battles. The JNLaikiiujaii ia "a red-lhot soldier," a man of good education, a patron of tho arts and learning, and an enlightened ruler. Ho asked Lady lloberts sixteen years ago, when she visited No.pa.ul with her husband, if the Russians were coming soon. ''I wish they would make haste.," he said; "we havo •*u,UOO soldiers in Nopau], and thoro is no one to fight." Ho camo to longland in great state, by special steamer from Bombay to Buropc, and across the Channel, and by epeoial train across France His luggage oonsists of 150 crates and boxes, 1-J0 iron-bound trunks, 40 uniform crises, 30 boxes of foodstuffs, .two large metal jare containing holy water from the Gang,es, cagx« of singiiig birdd, and iron safes (ilkvl with jen'eHery. 'lUwso tr'easiiTes aro guanied night and day by a staff of twelve scrvantri. Ho is accompanied by relatives, nearly a «x>ro of officers, and IS servants. "\V3ien he drove to Buckingham Palaoe pretat crov/ds lmv>d tho ronte, eager to csitch v. igliin-pse of hts famous licswl-dress of gMns. They were not disappointed, for the stonre flashed brilliantly intho sun. It is "estimated xfont upon the persons of the twe-dvo occupante of the three carriages were gems to a iotal value of between £-500,000 and £700,000. As tho carria£«« drew up a girard of honour of the ColdstTearns saluted, and his officers lined up as ho • alighted and bowed low as he passed into the Palace. At Mortimer House, his headejunrurtf in London, most picsturrsqiio state i.s maintained. Officers armed and in full uniform take sentry duty day and n-igkt. TJie MaharajaJh is very particular about h'w food. His caste forbddi-. him dining in a rctd.aatra.ni, and when kLi traiu croasod France it was ptrlU-d

up in a Ending near Dajone and tho staff of cooks turned out to prepare a meal in a tent, sot up in an adjoining field. When his food has beea. cooked, no ono outside his following <rver sees it. Tho honours paid to this potentate are ail tho more noteworthy xvhen it is considered that he is not tho head of Nepaul. The- nominal head is hold to be too sacred a }»exs*vi to be burdened with mundane affairs.