TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13466, 5 July 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

A well-known English enRailways gineer read a very mmm teresting paper the other China. day before tho Society of

Arts on tho difficulties of building railways in China. The prccressive Chinese have come to realise that railways are of prime importance, i-*.t it is impassible to raise any large amount of capital in China for railway construction, owing to tho high rates of interest prevailing there. Ten per cent., which in other countries would be regarded as a high rate, is a low rate in China*. Sound native banks borrow money at ten per cent., and lend it out at anything up to thirty per cent., so fivo per cent, railway bonds do not apipeal to the Chinese capitalist. Rene, the large employment of foreign capital. Of tho difficulties of actual construction, the engineer said:—"Beside!* the fierce opposition of reactionary officials there is the superstitious antagonism of the people to bo faced. 'Fengshui' is still a difficulty to be reckoned with, and there is also tho question of the interference with graves. 'Fengshui' is a geomantic mystery far beyond the scope of a mere Western intellect to grasp. It is the luck of ** place, a town, a village, or a building, but what that luck depends upon only tho wise man, skilled in mystery, can say: and some of tho conclusions arrived at after solemn investigation by the sages would put to shame the pronouncements of the wizards of the Middle Ages." Spirits have to be taken into account, and only the wise man can tell whether or not the pnejtosod railway line will interfere with the habits of th© unseen world. Then there is the grave question. The Chinese are ancestor worshippers, and a man who permits the bones of his ancestors to be lost or scattered, suffers a sad fate in the after life. In such a densely populated country as China, it is generally impossible to lay out a railway without-disturbing graves. Fcrtunb-toly, the Chinaman's feelings may be salved by a monetary consideration. "Whenever compensation for disturbance is being paid, it is remarkable how largo a number of ancient and forgotten graves find owners. To make sure that a claimant really has a grave to claim, sometimes it is the rule to insist on his ,producing the ancestral relics for inspection. I know of one unfortunate man who, after having done a brisk business in hiring out his parents' bones at fifty cents a time, to eager applicants for compensation, lost them *Tirough a careless client." .Surely thero was never a more curious mixture of reverence and irreverence than this.

It is related of the celeThe bTated Coquelin, that be reActor's tired in disgust from witTears, nessing a play in London because an actress wept real tears. It was one of the canons of his art that one should never lose control of oneself to this extent. Professional opinions on this (point have been collected by a writer commissioned by "T. P.'s Weekly." He finds that the weight of opinion is with tho great Frenchman, but so celebrated an octrosa as Miss Ellen Terry says that she cannot restrain her tears at times. Other leading English players believe in shedding tears at appropriate moments, but under strict control. Mr Arthur Bourchier holds that an actor should always be master of himself, even in tho most emotional scenes, lest he convey to the audience a ridiculous, instead of a sublime, impression. "Tears come into my eyes," says Mr Forbes Robertson, "but not unbidden. I feel all emotional scenes under favourable conditions, very strongly, but I never dare let myself go." Mr Hermann Vezin, a veteran actor, and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, seem to belong to the unrestrained school. The former regards his acting as successful only when tears come to his eyes, and the new knight says tears undoubtedly rise to his eyes in moving situations. A question closely allied to this is, should the part be assumed on the stage only, or should the actor live the _tort between the acts? Some men and women can chat lightly with a friend behind the scenes, and the next minute be scaling some peak of tragedy on th© stage. Others find it necessary to concentrate their attention on their parts between the acts, and even work themselves up just before going on. It was

«y-id of Mrs Siddons that, in "King John," she kept her dressing-room door open so that her attention might be concentrated on what was happening on the stage. The investigator knows of two actors who play leading Shake_w?nrian parts, who find it necossary to work themselves into a passion "off," much to the annoyance of the other players.

A pleasant outgrowth Dancing on from the new pageantry the Green, of England has been

the revival of the old English dance. Of course, this is countenanced for a duly modern reason. '•Dancing is. without doubt, a most desirable and' beneficial feature in education." And. of course, it adds another responsibility to a teacher's cares, for '■'now. all over England, save in four counties, Morris dancing is being taught in the elementary schools." But perhans somo fears of over-pressure for the children's bends may be exorcised by the "exhibitions of folk dancing," which show their healthful and graceful agility with their heels. At Strntford-on-Avon. in May, when tho school companies from various villages competod in the dance before some of the leading lights concerned in the revival, and perts agreed that it would have been difficult to have had a more spirited interpretation of old English revels, and spoke warmly in admiration of tho pretty dresses worn, and the effect of bright colour produced. The only objection was that each school team very pardonably appeared in dresses all alike, and, however historically correct in form and colour, as representing country folks of bygone centuries, the uniform impression jarred, "since- the villagers would naturally not have been duplicates of each other." Some grown up companies, competing on tho same occasion, afforded a good example "in rustic dresses of every hue." Bolls on tho ankles are a necessity of the Morris dance, and somo performers indulged in triple rows of bells. In the malo sextettes, "some wor© white shirts with bright-coloured red, white, and blue, or sometimes yellow, ribbons as braces, tying up sleeves, and encircling tho high black silk hats. Some wore smocks and coloured handkerchiefs, with slouching wide-awake hats, while they waved frantically a couple of handkerchiefs, or beat together a couple of sticks, accompanying tho music." So great was the success of "Shepherd's Hey," "Bean setting," "Maid of the Mill," and other traditional movements, that the beholders almost swore nover to dance again but "after a tabor and a pipe," and cherished dreams of a future "Merry England" with Mopsas and Dorcases dancing on every village green. Ono specially agreeable figure may bo noted. "The men and women separated, set to each other, were united, kissed, and danced gaily up and down." This is strictly authentic and Shakespearean. When Henry VIII. masked as a shepherd, he informed his partner, "I were unmannerly to take you out, and not to kiss you." W© sco no reason -why the revival should not bo very popular indeed.