TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13613, 23 December 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

None of the elements 01 The Curse _ first-class marrowoi a freezing ghost -story of Mummy, the conventional type is larking from the stirring narrative concerning a long defunct priestess of Amen-Ra. Everything pivots upon a curious Egyptian coffinlid, bearing the painted face of the priestess, now numbered 22.542, and reposing in the British Museum. Death and misfortune have persistently dogged the footsteps of nearly all who have bad anything to do with the relic, due, the superstitions confidently declare, to the anger of the three thousand year old spirit of the distinguished dead. The long procession of trouble connected with tho matter began to march several years ago, when jut Englishman who purchased the coffin-lid at Thebes from a Arab who found it in the tombs, lost his arm by a gun explosion on tiie journey back to Cairo. Tlie next possessor (a member of thc same party), on arriving at Cairo, discovered that he had lost a large part of his fortune, and he died scon after. A third member of tlie party died in poverty, and a fourth was fatally shot. The coffin-lid was given to a lady in London. All sorts of misfortune overtook her family, who suffered large financial losses. A photographer took a picture of the relic. He was .surprised to discover in the photograph the presentment of the living face of a woman, distorted with a malevolent stare. He also died shortly after. The owner hastened to ritl himself of such a terrible engine of disaster, and sent it to the British Museum. _ The carter who took it there died within a week, and his assistant met with a severe accident. This was five years a_o, and ever since, the coffin-lid has been sedulously avoided by the superstitious. Recently, two men (one a scientist and the other an en- | pineer) discussed the story of the j painted face and its reputed evil power. They inspected the grisly object and. scoffed at the idea of its mysterious potentialities. Not long after thc scientist committed suicide and the engineer suffered severe personal injuries from an unaccountable fall. A protessicnal man writing to the "Daily Express," relates how that a year ago he wandered into the fatal Egyptian room end stood face to face with the malignant priestess, whom he likened to a suffragist. Next morning he was discharged from his occupation, and has dene nothing since. His son, previously a bright intelligent lad, developed suicidal mania, and is now in an asylum. On tho top of these catastrophies news was received that the writer had lost all his little savings through the secretary of a building society absconding. Numerous other letters serve to heap horror' upon horror's head, losdbly the disasters recorded are something more than mere coincidences, and when the last mail left there were numerous suggestions that the coftinr lid should be restored to its original resting place.

This is the period of the Toys of year when the fancy of All Times, parents lightly turns to 1 thoughts of toys—of noisy toys, moving > toys, jumping toys, flying toys, toys in silks, toys in rags, toys in prunella, and toys in fustian; toys .costing pounces and toys worth halfpence—.all to the intent that the littie" ones may maie merry at Christmas. Toys have gladdened the hearts of children all through the ages. Six thousand years ago the tiny brownfaced Egyjr/tian maid played with a rag doll stuffed with papyrus, and the work, has not got so very far in _dvance of that since. To-day the limp nag doll is still blessed with a wealth of childish affection. But the tiny brown-faced Egyptian maid could not have dreamed of the amusement possibilities of the. fortnlers future. Centuries rolled by, and the rag doll still survived, but waa faced with many competitors for childish favour. In the middle ages the humbler toys invariably suggested the occupations of the fathers, and, ..perhaps (who can tell?), the youthful mind was thus inspired to enter th© indnistrial world through the samo avenue as had led its forebears to useful effort. The boys of many centuries have been fired to deeds of valour by toy soldiers and toy weapons. Nowadays the maker of toys, while cleaving faithfully to ancient traditions, draws u,pk>n all that is new in science and' invention for his ideas, and thus the modern toyshop is an epitome of the world's progress. Nuremburg is the capital of the toy tonus, and practically the whofe cf the population is given up to the occupation of manufacturing the contents of hundreds of thousands of Christmas morning stockings in both hemispheres. This year has witnessed the survival of that eminently suggestive American quip, the Teddy Bear. Arctic and Antarctic exploration is illustrated in a hundred forms. Motor oars abound en every side, and aeroplanes are available to those whose purses are not too slender. Dreadnoughts strike the dominant national note of the present time, while scores of other devices, apropos of nothing in particular save the jcyousne S3 of the period l , all conspire to reveal the standard of perfection to which aids to the happiness of children have, in thesa latter days, been brought.

The battle of GettysThe History burg has been interof a woven with the history Battle. of Now Zealand, and now constitutes an interesting link between the Dominion and the United States. One of the features of the Christchurch Exhibition some three years ago, it will be recalled, was an enormous circular iron building, resembling a water tank that had grown beyond control. This housed a remarkably vivid representation of the Bottle of Gettysburg. For many years previously it was located in brick premises near the Sydney railway terminus, and up to the time of its Christchurch career being closed, the battle was fought in perfect peace and brought plenty to the coffera of its owners. Upon the completion of the Exhibition period, however, it fell upon troublous times, the record of which has been pieced together by a Wellington contemporary. It was intended to set up the battle in the Empire city, but the municipal by-laws forbade the

erection of a temporary building to ac- ' commodate it. The Customs authorities j next contributed to the perplexities of the situation. Tlie picture had originally been brought over from Sydney under bond, and as it was defined as a "work of art." a prodigious sum by way of duty was demanded. And then the tents were folded and the wounded drap?d with calico to await developments. In the meantime, the Cyclo- j rama building in Sydney was transformed into an ice skating rink, and ' no rest for the soles of tlie feet of the ' draggled soldiers in blue and grey was • available in that quarter. And then ! tho picture was offered to the United ' States Government, but the stony- \ hearted Customs authorities declined to i admit it to the place of its birth, ex- i cept on payment of enormous duty, or i unless it wero made a free gift to the j 'nation. Finally the Public Trustee stepped into the matter. The picture had come into his charge as part of the estate of n deceased person. He was faced with two alternatives—that of send'iig the whole outfit to the destructor (in default of the duty being paid) and that of presenting it to the New Zealand_ Government. Naturally he chose the better part, and the famous panorama L. now the property <if the j people of the Dominion. Whether the Government will decide to cut the huge landscape up for closer settlement or whether it will be preserved as a national endowment remains yet to be decided.