TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13161, 7 July 1908, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Air Asquith, from thf Mr Asquith point of view of the in caricaturist, is tho Caricature, subject of an interesting article in the ''Pall Mall," by Mr G. R. Halkott, who draws tho cartoons for the "Pall Mall Gazett*-." If the choosing of the now Prime Minister had lain with the caricaturists, wo are told, they would have chosen Mr Lloyd-George, Mr Winston Churchill, or Mr McKnnna in preferences to •Mγ Asquith. Since tho passing of the Reform Bill, no Prime Minister has afforded less raw material for the use. of tho cartoonist. Mr Asquith is now the leader of a Government which will probably bo in office for two or three years longer, and after that he will cither be Premier again or Leader of tho Opposition. For some years, therefore, cartoonists will have to draw him constantly. The public must b« made familiar with his face and figure, and habits of work and play, and until tho audience learn to recognise thf puppet at a, jjlanco, tho caricaturist cannot pull the strings effectively, unfortunately, Mr Asquith has littlo tc reveal. There is no denying his intellect, but that does not help the artist. £>ir Henry wampbeH-Banner-man. with nothing like the intellectual ability of Mr Asquith, was a much easier man to present to the public. In person Mr Asquith is unimportant, ''ile in not leonine, like Gladstone, noi elephantine like Harcourt, nor willowy like Mr Ralfour, nor dapper like Mr Chamberlain, but just an average citzen, somewhat stiff in his joints, who might haunt unmolested a second-hand book-stall, or stand unobserved in a queue at a theatre." His face is without mobility and expression whon ho is debating, and ho has fow gestures. Listening to him, one feels that on« ie in the presence of an unuorstudy reading with great intelligence the part of tho "star." "Ho has no faults tc love, and his virtues are written in cold slabs of marble,." All this is distressing to tho cartoonist, who likee to depict expression, foibles, mannerisms, and characteristics. Mr Halkett thinks this lack of personality on the part of its leader is a bad thing for the party, for a leader who can be depicted easily for the people, whose face and form are as familiar as those of a friend,, and aro constantly in their thoughts, has a great advantage over a man whoso personality is negative or elusive. It is better to bo comic than colourless.

Probably every write A who discussed Mr Ai Display quith's character on 1 of olevation to the Premiei Emotion, ship, commented on h: lack of emotion. The had good grounds for doing so, for a Mr Lucy says, Mr Asquith's predom nant quality had been that of ie rather than of fire. But in his pane gyric of tho late Sir Henry Campbel Bannerman, delivered to a crowdo and hushed House, ho struck a ue - note. Such a task is, says Mr Lucj one of the most difficult falling to th lot of a Minister or ex-Minister. Th utterance must bo dignified and in perfect- taste. Disraeli, rarely "conscious of his own infirmity," when he prepared his panegyric of the Duke of Wellington, actually borrowed a passage from a funeral speech delivered by a French orator on the death of a French Marshal. Gladstone was supreme in this branch of oratory, .nd Lord 1 .osebery and! Mr Balfour are entitled to a place among the select few. Mr Asquith's eulogy of his lato chief entitles him, in Mr Lucy's opinion, to a place. "When ho rcxs© to speak he could with difficulty command his voice to utter the opening sentence. Throughout its full delivery* he was shaken with emotion. Tho speech itself was a model of good taste, warm affection, and simple eloquence"—one of the finest funeral orations spoken from the Treasury Bench within the memory ,-f the oldest member. Mr Lucy thinks tho speech will havo a permanent effect on the new Premier's relations with the House. Hitherto members had *egarded him as a man of iron, and only intimate friends knew that ho had a softer side. "Listening to him this afternoon, watching his straggles to master his emotion as he thought of tho friend -who was the House discovered it had made'a mistake. It began to suspect it is shyness that has been accountable for Mr Asquith's habitually cold manner, liis studious restraint of anything approaching emotion/ But interesting as is this revelation of tho Prime Minister's real character, it does not alter the fact that on ordinary occasions he lacks tire. Perhaps tho nocc-sities of his higher position will nuke him show more of that emotion which, save lor this ono display, he has'hitherto kept bottled up. A good many years ago Access the uresent Ambassador to at Washington introMountains. duced a Bill giviug the public access to mountain country owned privately, and a Conservative Parliament passed a resolution appro*-ing of the principle of the Bill. Interest in the measuro waned, partly because tho scandal which provided its supporters with their strongest argument waa removed—the exclusion of the public, by moans of patrols,

from a tract of Scotland reaching from sen to swa. But the detect in tne 'aw which permits snch a state of tilings still exists, and Mr TreveJyan has introdiAVd a Bill based on 'Mr Bryce's measure, and extending it to England. ;>lr Trevelyan, in moving the Bill in a very temperate speech, said the. Bill would open the mountains to everyone who wanted to go there for recreation, health, and eciejvtific purposes, *his liberty being carefully qualified to prevent abuse. He said Great- Britain was the only country where any serious barrier was placed against people going into the country. Large tracts in tLe most beautiful .parts of Scotland were being more and moro closed to the public every year. In 1882 rather less than 2,000.000 acres were, in deer forest; now tne area was 3,500,000, from all of which the public was practically excluded. The owners of deer forests and grouso moors were becoming stricter; rights-of-way were being closed ; in many places cottagers were forbidden to take in guests, and hotels had bee-n closed so that lairds might not be annoyed by tourists. A scionti 5c man in Edinburgh wrote asking a number of owners of d«?r forests in Scotland if hofind some of his friends might have leave., under any conditions the owners pleased, to go into the forests to i mako a bbianionj survtry. Ho got less '' than a dozen answers, and all of them ' i were, refusals. Opponents of the Bill argued that it wouJd ruin sport, and ■ therefore impoverish the country. It , was quito a mistake, they contended, to J tliink, as many did, that th« increase t', in the area used for sport- had depopu- '_\ la tod tho country; a committee, ol t'io ! House had reported that the evidence t I submitted did not bear out this _ j tion. Tho Lord Advocate said that r ' within his own experlenoe- thirty or r forty miles of rivor bank of gnvit j j beauty, on which as far ba-ck as there 3 J were records, jx-opJe had enjoyed, the » i right to fish, had been closed' to the : I public. How could the House resist ? I the conclusion that something rmist he ■ • done soon to preserve to the people ' ! access to spots of recreation, beauty, ' ! and splendour? Tho Bill was read a ' sooond tim-e.