TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13744, 27 May 1910, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

After having spent Fatal something like a Evening Dress, quarter of a million

sterling upon the fumiehings and general appointments of the ill-starred Cafe de l'Opera, in New York, and new having £100,000 of debts outstanding, the promoters of the venture are beginning to realise that though the American, citizen can be led to the restaurant, he cannot be made to cat. Some 700 waiters clamouring outside tho closed dcors of the gorgous dining palace recently afforded ths first intimation that the attempt to teach old dogs now tricks had failed disastrously. When the cafe was opened in December of last year,, the American Press fairly excelled itself in its vivid descriptions of the glittering splendour of the magnificent establishment. M. Henri Pruger, formerly of the Savoy Hotel, London, was appointed general manager at the pripcely salary of £10,000 a year; but in spite of everything, the Cafe do l'Oppra could not be made to establish a place for itself in the popularity of New Yorkers. The real secret of tho whole difficulty appears to lie in tho fact that our American cousins are beginning .to resent the multiplicity of English innovations that are- being gradually forced upon them. They have puffed English cigarettes at the stern behest of fashion; they have thrust their busy feet into English bcots and have arrayed themselves in English-cut apparel, .but (in New York at least) they have rebelled at the idea of eating their focd after the English mode. Tbe failure of the eostiy restaurant enterprise is attributed in one respect to the endeavour of the management to fcrce on the New York public the London custom of donning evening dress for dinner. Americans do not leve the habiliments of extremo propriety. They prefer to attend the theatre in informal attire, and refuse to take supper afterwards at a restaurant where evening dress is de rigueur. As a matter of fact, eating is much less of a solemn observance witb them than it is in England. They take their food when the opportunity serves, instead, as is the English social wont, of creating the opportunity and hedging it-about with laws as inflexible as those of the Mcdes and Persians. It offended tho national pride of New Yorker*- to be treated only to English dishes served in the English way, and as a result they satisfied their curiosity by viewing the glories of the restaurant once, thenceforth leaving it severely alone, a prey to the despair of distracted chefs and the bleak desolation of an army of waiters who outnumbered the strength of tho invading clients. It is reported that tho restaurant will be re-opened in the near future under revised rules, which -will

relieve its free and independent patrons from the tyranny of London customs.

"Sudd," a corruption of the A Arabic el sett, is the name Carpet given to a mass of aquatic of vegetation that covers porPknts. tions of the Upper Nil-e. This

accumulation of growth frequently blocks the channel for miles at a stretch, and the work of clearing it away involves immense labour. It has been known to extend to a length of tw_ntj>fivo miles, and to clear this obstacle away occupied a fleet of speciallyequipped vessels and a large force of men for six months. Tho mass of fibre is so heavy and tenacious that animals as large as "the rhinoceros can. cross over it from bank to bank, and photographs of people standing on it give one the impression that they are on a piece of solid land covered by thick un--dergrowth. It has been found that the growth varies according to the magnitude of the floods in the upper rivers, spreading very rapidly after a heavy inundation, which brings down large quantities of sediment and vegetation; while, on the other hand,' when tho rainy season is brief, the growth suffers considerable check, the current in the upper portions of the river being strong enough to wash away the vegetation before it attains any great strength. The effects of the obstruction caused by the sudd have at times become serious, transportation between upper and lower .Egypt - being interrupted, and traffic cut off along what is really a highway between Cairo and Mombasa. As a consequence the Egyptian Government has had to build a fleet of steamers and barges specially constructed for removing the sudd, and a large force of men are permanently employed in the work of keeping the channel clear. Various methods are pursued in the destruction of the vegetation. The top growth is sometimes so dry that it can be burnt like grass; but though this process of burning removes much of the weight of the sudd, its components are so matted together j that saws have to, be utilised to separate it. The firbt step'in nttacking the i sudd is to find where the riverbed really runs undcarneath. This is done by sounding through the growth with long poles. Once tho actual riverbed, generally 15 i to 20 feet deep, is found, the clearers set firo to the top-growth, which consists mostly of papyrus. Tho men then land with largo saws, and cut along the true riverbank, cross and parallel cuts Hieing mado to divido the sudd into blocks suitable for the steamer to tear j out. Tho growth Icing principally near or on the surfaco, the flow of the river is hardly interfered with at all.

It is almost as difficult to The make a person realise the Bora, strength of some mighty gale one iias experienced as to make hirji see in his mind's eye the beauty of _ome golf stroke, or the size of a record fish. Canterbury folk have a story of a dog being killed on a country road by a stone driven through the air by a nor'-wester. People from; tho Far North (a Wellington mart would cap the story on the spot) sny'thoy disbelieve it, or suggest politely that tho animal must have been in an advanced stage of heart disease, but a day up country in a. stiff , 'nor'-wester . convinces them that there are possibilities about our wind that wero previously unknown to them. Along the Adriatic littoral tho bora has an evil reputation, but the Vienna correspondent of "The Times" confesses that until'he experienced at Trieste a particularly choice specimen of the wind, he had listened sceptically to tales of its havoc. The bora in mood of thoroughness would impress even a Wellington resident. Its noise rosenrbles the roar "of express trains passing in endless procession over an iron viaduct." To stand upright in the opon is an atbletio feat; to walk against it impossible. "Adroitly though the Triestini slink round street corners and dodge tho gale in alley and passage, the ho._pitals am kept busy on bora days binding up broken heads, setting fractured limbs, and plastering cutr. and bruises." A carriage ' containing three tourists suddenly developed an alarming passion for aerial flight. A crowded train was lifted bodily off the rails and hurled down an embankment.' A large steamer moored to heavy marble columns by a massive chain and fourinch cables, was blown out to sea, "the cable parting liko tow and the chain cutting through a yard of solid marble as through cheese." After these dire happenings it savours of bathos to read that seagulls sheltered from tho gale, that a pigeon could not face it, and tiiat the view seaward was "shrouded in a hissing, whitish haze, whipped by the bora from the green surface of the uncannily calm water.''