LONDON GOSSIP. NEWS AND NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 48, 26 February 1908, Page 4

LONDON GOSSIP. NEWS AND NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.^ LONDON, 17th January. It is announced that the King and Queen will leave. England on 29th February 'on a visit to Paris, crossing tho Channel by the D&ver-Calais route. Af- { tervard their Majesties will proceed to the South of Franco. It is stated that they will pay a visit to the Vosges district, visiting Contrexeville to take tho waters, and staying for two days at Jipmal. The visrt was expected to take place earlier, hut has been postponed, it is understood, on account of the levees and courts, to bo held shortly and the dinners which Hia Majesty is to give to members of the Government. ALLEGED MALICIOUS DAMAGE. A delightful illustiation of une'ploasant methods adopted t>y a peculiar class of workmen is provided by a case which was heard at Church, near Accrington yostorday. Albert Bushton, a weaver, I was committed for trial on a charge of breaking into Providence Mill ° and Lhurch Tanpita 1 Mill and maliciously damaging 621 warps. Bushton, it was stated, was formerly employed at Piovidouce Mill, and the outrage was committed after his discharge. The damage amounted to £690. The following extraordinary letter, which prisoner had sent to the firm, was road in court: "Jack the Ripper Company, Limited. Dear Sii.— Wo rogret for the outrage but it had to bo done under captain's orders our little band of Textile Jack the Kipper Company, Limited. We received complaints from your weavers about sticking to wage.-. Don't push about drawing the beams :n, for wo will give you another call before long. We will burn tho place next "'time. You must beware, we are armed with revolvers. If any arrest is made we will blow out your brail's. There is a few more mills already in our lisu If any policemen dare to arrest our little band he will bo killed on the spot. Yours truly, The Textile Jack the Ripper Company, Limited, with a few shares for sale ", On tho back was drawn a pistol, and beneath was written the word "Warning." The prisoner re&rved 1 his defence. DISAPPEARANCIToF REGALIA. That very strange and unpleasant . case of the unexplained disappearance of, tho State Kegulia connected with the Irish Knighthood Order of St. Patrick assumes a still stranger and unpleasant aspect day by day. Sir A. Vickers, Ulster King-at-Arms, tho person primarily responsible for the custody of theso important jewels, valued at £30,000, has peremptorily declined to give evidenco or appear before the anomalous aud unsatisfactory body which tno Irish Government has thought fit to entrust with tho investigation. This •'Council of Three" answers with remarkable closeness to the facetious Maori description of an olden-time Imperial official, who possessed no real executive power, as "a man of war without guns." It cannot oven compel the attendance of witnesses or take evidence on oath or require proper cross-examination. Consequently all sorts of testimony might be given with entire eocurity tor the deponent which might very gravely reflect upon the character of innocent persons. £k> Sir Arthur Vicars naturally declines to entrust his reputation to such a tribunal, and demands more adequate and competent enquiry, which apparently thero exists, no just reason for refusing. All that is manifest is that Ministers do not seem to want to have a really* drastic investigation. As is only natural, this attitude has inspired mistrust and suggested suspicion. Unfortunately; there ai'o already ddoat sinis--ter rumours as to oho implication in the ali'air of certain personages whom it is urgently desirable to shield. There is undoubtedly trouble brewing over the Uiattei which will not b& lost sight of when Parliament meets. A CHARGE OF CRUELTY. Last week I gave details of a shocking ca.Bo of human — and feminine — cruelty. It will bo remembered that Mrs. Ru&hVort-h, tho wife of a wellknown and highly-respected York solicitor, holding a ve»'y hjgh. social and public position in the ancient, "metropoliticai" city, was charged with inflicting tortures upon two helpless young girls whom she had adopted. Her methods as deposed on oath t>y various .witnesses included burning, her victims with a red-hot poker, "branding with a hot flatiron "until the skin frizzled" and adhered to 'the iron; scalding with boiling cabbage-water; holding the victims' hands in boiling water ; merciless floggings with a dog-whip 5 violent kicks on the shins, which left bad woqnds and bruises ; deprivation of proper foou and clothing, and tho infliction of other cruelties. All these allegations we're supported by ample testimony and corroborated by signs testified to by medical witnesses. Tho accused, was found guilty, but was let off with nine months imprisonment. This leniency has. been, widely and-severely criticised, pointed comparisons being made „ between the lights sentence imposed and the far heavier punishment given in some cases of similar character when persons .of a lower class were tho criminals. a -music history: Practically the sole ' musical event of the currenf*month' has been the pupneation of "A History of Music in England" by Dr. Ernest Walker, M.A,, Mus. Doc, an exceedingly gifted musician and admirable composer. Hjs account of English music generally is singularly lucid, accurate,, and interesting. But in' his review of England's music in the Victorian period he proves himself such' a very earnest walker in the path pf scafchtag criticism that his utterances will make many musical New Zealanders "sit up" with amazement. Here, for instance, is what he thinks of Balfe's "Bohemian Girl" : "Artistic* ally it. is not, worth a moment's consid"erati6n~th&" tunes are empty beyond expression, and there 1^ not a particle of any workmanship to < carry them off ; yet there is nothing worse than emptin€63, and the rubbish is quite unpretentious 'and decent." He entertains a lower opinion still of Wallace's "Lurline" and "Maritdna," which he snys "are considerably poorer, and indeed, advance a good many steps on the road to sheer vulgarity, though of a pood-naturcd and unpretending order." Such sweeping condemnation seems ex- • ccssivo, for if the above-named operas cannot be judged according to the highest artistic standard, yet they possess certain qualities which should not be overlooked by a historian. Concerning the comic operas written by Sir Arthur Sullivan 10 the libretti of Gilbert, Dr. Walker says that "we cannot forgot how enormous » eharo of tho success they achieved was dtw to tho brilliantly sparkling, wit of his coilsbonitor," and, while he admits that "tho music ia almost always fresh and sparkling" yet he considers that "its artistic, merits are indeed in the main of ft somewhat negative order ; all the composer's talents are devoted to securing that every listener, whether his normal tastes be fop Beethoven or ior the music-hall, shall appreciate tho word? without being annoyed cither by amateurish workmanship ov by lack of simplicity." Sullivan's serious wurks come, in* tor almost wholesale condemnation. "The Martyr of Autioch" "alter-

nates bet\ff2n dulness and vulgarity," and "Tho LighA of the World*' "has hardly enough vitality even to be vulgar," while "the later orchestral pieces, such of the "Macbeth' Overture, come to singularly little, and 'Ivanhoe,' tho one 'serious' opera ia a purely elementary "work all through." As to i "The Golden Legend," Dr. Walker considers it, "as a whole, a melancholy production." After the above opinions it is not surprising that he Bhould allude to "The Lost Chord" as "disgraceful rubbish." ,1 think I had better simply let this stand without comment.