TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14406, 13 July 1912, Page 10

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

A very remarkable book, ap- j A pealing powerfully to the! Record imaginative patriot and to of the the lover of beautiful things, Dead, was exhibited recently in the ! Victoria and Albert Museum. This "Book of Record," asi t forms a memorial of those who lost their lives at the Empire's call in tho South African War. It is a product of the Capetown Cathedral Memorial of the War, which originated with the late Archbishop of Capetown, and has our present Kiug and Queen as patrons. Tho list of names, numbering over 22,000, has been compiled by Captain J. E. H. Orr, and consists of tho names of the men in the Navy, tho Staff of tho Army, the regiments in order of precedence, tho colonial contingents, and other forces and departments in alphabetical order, and tho war correspondents—all who foil in Iho war. Two talented designers were entrusted with the task of writing the names, gilding tho book, and executing the design and decoration. The folio consists of 440 pagee, which are to bo bound when the exhibition is ever, after a design in interlaced ornament. Niger Morocco, for the purpose of binding, has been specially procured from near Lake Chad, where the natives have a particular means of preparing it with coloured earths. The work of illumination and decoration hns occupied over four years, and is based upon the finest work of mediroval masters. The names are inscribed on selected lambskins in a "hand" adapted from many examples of XVth Century Italian script, notably, thoso of Marcus of Vicenza and Joachintis do Gigantibus of Rotenberg. The gilt and coloured capitals also date from tho samo period. Recipes for preparing tho ground for the gold given by Cenuino Cennini, havo been adhered to as far as theso are comprehensible. In tho mattor of pictorial deoora- v tion Mr Vigers has introduced a note of symbolism. On tho first page Peace is represented as a white pheasant surrounded by a borde* of doves, while a colophon in semi-circular form shows a white dove surrounded by leaves and flowers emblematic of the countries and their colonies. Tho appropriate quotation' is inscribed: "Every subject's duty is the King's; but every subject's soul is Ins own." Tho work of gold and coloured decoration is carried out through tho whole book in tho names of regiments and other forces, and altogether tho book forms a very valuable addition to illuminated literature, and would bo hard to equal as a piece of fino workmanship. It is to bto deposited in the Cathedral at Capetown. Tho New Zealand housewife - The may hoar with sympathy that Coet her sisters in Great Britain., of as well as in Germany, Food- France, and the United States, are "up against ,, tha same phenomenon of higher foodprices. A telling article in the July "London" mournfully shows tho condition in England of that social "powerhouse," tho . family food-cupboard. New Zealand may rank ampugst tho nations "whose hunger is not co much that of one who strives for a baro subsistence as of one who, having tasted what is good, demands even better." But Great Britain, during the last tea years, has seen a rise of almost 10 per cent, in the cost of living, while wages havo remained practically stationary. The evidence collected by tho "London*' essayist is rather more lively than anything brought forward by our Cost of Living Commission. There was a housewife who explained that since her '•' 'usband" only "fancied tho best," her resource, when prices rose, was ta "stint" him. "Which 'c didn't notice .it at first, but ns tho price of things kept going up and 'o didn't get no rise in 'is wages, I 'ad to stint 'im more, and then 'c said I was gettin' stingy with J im." Bacon was the first luxury to dwindle, then butter, "which he eats very avaricious," and lastly beef was excluded from the family diet. Another lady had no trouble at all about accustoming her husband to reduced living. ""E do get a bit fractious at times when 'c comes 'ome cravin' for 'is food, but the Lord, praises be, 'avo give mc a stout 'art and a strong arrum." What this down-trodden ratepayer desired was meat and vegetables; what he got was that "sometimes, if 'c's reasonable, I treats 'im to winkles or shrimps a Sunday." If the man of the house rejects economy, and his wife has too weak an "arrum" to enforce /ft. then the rest of the family must subsist on bread and margarine, or an unbroken monotony of "pertaters." Tho most agreeable item on tho poor housewife's side is that mutton fluctuates in the happy direction of a fall m price. "This is no doubt due to the increased production of mutton in New Zealand-" Though bread, butter, beef, pork, bacon and eggs, all threaten to become too expensive for the workingman's pantry, -sLill potatoes, frozen mutton and Canadian cheese are three hopefully cheap foodstuffs which may serve better than winkles and shrimps to keen famine from his door.

"We aro accustomed Athletics to , think that tho

and visits of colonial Advertisements, athletes to tho Old

Country arc a line advertisement for the younger nations, but Mr H. S. Gullett, an Australian who is acting as London correspondent for the Sydney "Sun," thniks the value of these men is -greatly exaggerated. "Measured by actual results these visiting sportsmen and athletes do very little beyond the field of sport. I very much doubt if a thousand people have been induced to leave Great Britain by all the cricketers and footballers and scullers and runners who have in tho course of 40 or 50 years come here from Australia. And I am sure that not a shilling of capital has been influenced by all our test match victories, or even by tho high standard of clean sport which the visiting Australians have always maintained. 1, Mr Gullett is not surprised that this should be so. Lot tho Australian consider whether he would be attracted to Russia by seeing Hackenschmidt wrestle, or to Italy by watching Dorarido run. Xo one is tempted to go to tho United States simply because Jack Johnson is the world's champion boxer. If people were influenced by these things tho fact that Tommy Burns, of Canada, was too good for Bill Squires, of Austrnlia, would have a disastrous effect on Australian immigration. Australians aro advised Gullett to

stop thinking that the succesi of Cricket teams sends a stream of emigrants to Australia, and to advertise the facts that really do attract people from the Old Country. Information about hours worked and wages paid would have a far greater effect than tho scores of Gregory's eleven. "Tho cautious emigrant sees nothing in brilliant cricket to assure him of high wages! He sees tip-top cricket all found him here, and k*ill ho is sweated." And the capitalist, if ho is moved at all by th* prowess ot Australian athletes, probably thinks that it indicates a mis-spent youth inconsistent with that industry which he demands in those working for him. Mr Gullett admits that visits of various champions in sport may possibly promote Imperialism in a general way, but ho advises his countrymen not to run away with tho idea that they are a big advertisement for Australia. Thero is much truth in what ho says, but ho overlooks ono point, that tho visit of a team like tho "All-Blacks" will cause, people to think about a Dominion who havo never done so before. It may bo only a passing thought, but it has the effect of breaking the ice of indifforenco or ignorance.

Tho immigration inspecContraband tors of tho United Coolies. States and Pacific Coast,

if they could bo persuaded to talk, could tell tales tfully as thrilling as any of thoso wo read of in stories of a bygone age. The commerce which it is tho business of these officials to suppress is tho illegal introduction of Chinese coolies into the States, a business that is carried on under tho nose of tho law by moneyed syndicates and "smuggling rings." There are about fifty of theso rings operating up and down the Pacific Coast, and about twenty vessels, ostensibly fishing craft, .are employed in tho trade. Tho coolies are landed in Mexico to start with, where there is no law against their immigration, and where they earn enough to pay their passage money into tho States, and acquire o smattering of English rind a hear-say acquaintance with San Francisco's Chinatown. This is necessary no that they can claim to havo lived thero before the great fire, in which their certificates of legal, right to bo in the country wore presumably destroyed. They aro then shipped off in the swift, innocent-looking fishing craft employed by the smugglers, and landed with tho utmost secrecy in tho States, or else they aro brought overland by tho "blind trail" under the guidance of Mexican adventurers. Sinister tales nre told of launches pursued by revenue cutters, which wore known to contain Chinese contraband, nnd yet when captured had no ChiMuo on board. It is only too probable in such cases tlistt tho smugglers, knowing that long terms of imprisonment awaited them if convicted, and having tho timid unarmed coolies at their mercy, threw their living cargo overboard and thus destroyed tho evidence. On one occasion ten coolies wi*ro marooned without water or food on tho rugged Coronado Islunds, twenty miles off the coast, where they nearly perished of starvation and thirst. 3>ark stories of a- nimilar import aro connected . with the overland smugglers, telling of tho bodies of slaughtered Chinese found •in lonely .mountain, passes, who w«ro thus go* rid of by their guides when capture was imminent. These, pursuits and oaptures aro no mere game of hide-and-seek. Shots are exchanged more often than not, and death frequently awaita some of tho players. All kinds of ingenious devices are used by the smugglers to avoid detection. Motor-cars and motor-cycles aro brought into play; their charges are even introduced into sealed freight cars, without tho seal being broken. They are concealed. in lineii closets, coolers, and lavatories on trains. When & dusty rood has to be crossed on foot, tho utmost precautions are taken. A blanket is Laid on the ground over which they haro passed, and then quickly flipped up by tho four corners, raising the dust and obliterating the tracks. Indeed, the methods of these daring smugglers often outbid tho most sensational fiction of tho detective variety, and tho landing of the- contraband, which takes place on a rocky coast, under the sheltering darkness of a moonless night,., provides all the elements for a scene in a stirring melodrama.