TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13159, 4 July 1908, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

We bolievo the "Le Roy lo Veult." "Citiaen Reader" tolls children that when tho King gives his oonBent *to a Bill, ho does so in old JSor-man-Fronch, but wo are not sure tihat most people are aware of this ancient survival. "Le Koy le voult"—tho King wills it—is the formula, a remarkablo instance of tho innaxe conservatism of tho English. The subject was touched on in a very interesting address given recently by the Speaker of the House of Commons. Mr Lowther said ho was constantly struck with the extraordinary continuity of tie forme of Parliament, and remarked that it was rather astounding that an English King should speak to English Poors and English Commoners in \«:r-man-French centuries ok!. Tho a&tonishmeut does not cease thero, end many pooplo will bo surprae«l to hear that ail formal cozmnunicatioas bot/U"««n tho Hoaee of Commons and tho Houso of Lords are carried on to this day in old NormanFronch." These remarks led to an investigation of Parliamentary forme by a rsoresentativo of the' 'Daily Express."

He found that the official record of the assent of one House to the Bills passed or tho amendments made by the otiher House is still in the odd language. The Clerk of the House of Commons endorses a Bill sent to the Lords with the sentence: "Soit bailie aux seigneurs" — (To be sent to the Lords.) Should, the Upper House approve of the Bill, the measure is endorsed as follows: "A ceste bille, avesque dcs amendemens te* seigneurs sont assentus."—(To this J3iU with the amendments, the Lords have assented). Should the Peers amend the Will, and the Commons approve of the amendments, the words: "A ces amendemens les communes 6ont assentus" (To these amendments the Commons have assented), are added. In the case of a Supply Bill, such as ihe Appropriation Bill, where the Commons are voting money to the Crown, the royal assent is given in the following form: "Lβ Roy remercie see bonssujots accepte leur benevolence, et ainsi le veult".—(The King thanks his good subjeste, accepts their benevolence, and thus will it.) Mr Lowther says he would regret the abolition of these old forms, since they convey everything they are meant to convey, and preserve the continuity of an ancient assembly. Democracy may vote them foolish, but the oliances are that they will continue to bo used for mauy years. The House of Commons hats a way of winning the affections of members, and mating Radicals conservative in their views on Parliamentary procedure. What is the best thing The Lady for a. woman to do awd. when she discovers The Burglar, that there is a burglar in the house and there is no man at hand whom she can summon? We remember a story 'n which a telegraph girl, on going up to her bedroom one night with a fellow operator, discovered that there wee a man under the bed. Did she scream, or hysterically call her companion's attention to the third person ? Not a bit of it. Under pretence of taking a nail out of her shoe, she tapped out in tho Morse Codo the information that there was a man under the bed, and the suggestion that the other had better go for assistance. The unsuspecting burglar remained whore ho vas until men came to secure him. Unfortunately the combination of fine presenco of mind and a knowledge of the Mors© Codo is too rare to suppjy a solution to the problem sot by the "British Weekly." 'Miss Helen Fane lives alone dn a villa in Nottingham with one maid. She allows tho servant to go and spend two days with her invalid mother. Miss Fane is, therefore, alone in. tho house. One night she wakes up at about two o'clock to hear a footstep on the stair approaching her room. What should Miss Fane do?" The prize-winning answer strikes us cc being extremely tame, though practical enough. Mfcs Fane should lock her bedroom door, place a heavy piece of furniture against it, dress herself, turn on the light, draw up the Winds and keep a sharp look-out for passers-by. The noise and the light will probably scare the burglar into a hurried' departure. One competitor thought the burglar would bo chivalrous when he found he had to deal with a lone woman, and leave "the house without plunder. Other suggestions were that Miss Fane should pull the bedclothes over her head and appear to be fast asleep, that sho should bark like a dog, wait confidently behind the door with uplifted chair, or in a shrill voice conduct an imaginary conversation with st companion about a revolver being ready and the worthlcssness of the "crib." This was to be punctuated by the clicking of an imaginary revolver. "Punch," we imagine, would make the lady jiu-jitsu tlio intruder, truss him up witb a sheet and an umbrella, and then go off for the police.

A question not yet raised The Day in all English deliberations and the on a national change of Sun-dial, time, is what effect

the Daylight-saving Bill TV-ill have upon tho national sun-dials. Possibly tihfiiir relation to the subject is the lese considered becaoiee there are only four days in tiho year, under the tho present arrangement, when dialtime and clock-time exactly agree. On all other days tho son has been from a few sobonde up to sixteen minutes either before or behind Greenwich mean time, according to tiho dial's position oast or west of that determining point. The up-to-date garden has, in fact, been driven to improve its dial by tlie addition of an engraved equation tablo, and the longitude of the place where it is fixed—then, says a writer on this subject in "Pearson's," tho dial bocame ''not only a thing of beauty end inherent charm, but a valuable instrument for adjusting the clocks." For those "who disliked even such simple calculation, an invention reposed to establish tho "helk>-c!hronometer , '--a weird thing of suoh accuracy that at a glance it might supply "a standard of reference for correcting clocks and watches, so that. tiie business man in his week-end cottage, or tho owner of a country estate in a remote place, need never be troubled by tho vagaries of tho local church clock." Still more ingenuity produced tihe cannon-dial, which addod to its other perfections a burning-glass so arranged that, as twelve camo round, the concentrated sun-rays must ignite a Irttlo powder In the touch-holo of the cannon winch adorned the structure, and thus fire thoir own salute to noon. Now, nil such accommodation wnth science will bo thrown away, and since no Act of Parliament can aiter twice a year the engraved figures, or turn back the shadow on tho dial, all the mast beautiful old time-keepers of English gardens, with their grey columns of stone, their brass faces and sternly improving mottoes,, will be desperately at variance with the new prooe«lim£S of tho summer world. "No human hoing can certainly dare to know tho time of the day as well as th*< sun,' , said tho sententious shepherd, ''since without him there would be no time." It Is a curious, development that human beings, in order to enjoy more sun light, must began by ignoring all thoae time-keepera framed to depend most directly upon the sun.