TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Star, Issue 12882, 3 August 1906, Page 9

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

(From Oue Special Correspondent.!

LONDON, June 22. MR ASQUITH AND THE AMAZONS. . The tragi-comedy of the " suffragettes" is the only lively feature of a languid week. Indifferent to the heat-wave which has left overyone else feeling jaded and listless, these indefatigable champions' of woman's franchise have been clamoring and literally fighting for their cause with an energy that seems to know no bounds. Their latest achievement is the " baiting" of Mr Asquith, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Invading the genteel seclusion of Cavendish square at the early hour of nine o'clock in the morning, they lay in wait for the unfortunate Chancellor, while a gleeful crowd of errand boys and idjers gathered to egg them on and watch the Fun. Denied admission to the house, the suffragettes paraded up and down outside the front door, awaiting Mr Asquith's exit. At ten o'clock Miss Kenney, one of the leaders, went off to the Treasury to see if he wag there, while her companions remained on guard outside (.he house and delivered stump speeches to the world at 'large. An hour later Miss Kenney returned, after a fruitless quest. The monster was still in his lair! But the wrathful Amazons were foiled after all, for the Chancellor left the house by a back door, and was off in a motor-car before his persecutors had time to waylay him. Imagine (he situation—the Chancellor of tho Imperial Exchequer fleeing from the wrath of voteless woman!

The next scene in the little drama was oven more stirring. Three days later the suffragettes paid another call at Mr As3uith's house. They came with banners ying—a procession of them sixty strong —and paraded Cavendish square. The inevitable crowd collected, and this time" tho police took a hand in the game. Tho suffragettes were requested to "move on." Miss Billington's reply to the request was laconic, but vigorous. She "slapped the constable who spoke to her three times on the cheek and kidked him twice on the leg." A police inspector who was in the square immediately ordered her airtFt, and Misg Billington was marched uff. Three more of her companions were arrested for persistently refusing to depa-t, and two hours later thev were all brought before the magistrate at'Marylebone Police Court on a charge of behaving in a manner likely to create a breach of the peace. Against Miss Billington the more stiious indictment of assaulting the police was also preferred, and her case was taken by itself. Dressed in a light-green cloth gown with pink slejves, and wearing no headgear, she fixed a steadv gaze on the ui.igistrate, a look of grim determination riveted on her features. She declined to ccssexamine any of the witnesses, but at the close of the prosecution she treated ; t-o Court to a dramatic speech. I desire to say that I have refused to give any information to the police. I have refused to question any of the witnesses, and I refuse to recognise the authority of this Court or any other Court in the land to try women. At. the present moment the law which you administer has been wholly made by man, and according to the first principles of English justice it is unfair, it is unjust, that women should have no voice in the making of the laws under which they are tried. I shall continue to refuse to acknowledge the authority of the laws made by man over the women of this nation " Until women have a Voice in the making of the laws yc u have no authority to judge me or any other woman. I refuso to acknowledge your sentence, as I do not cmsrlcr nyself liable in any way to your authority. Unmoved by her eloquence, uie ma>, strate imposed a sentence of £lO or two months' imprisonment, and, Miss i';.lluigton refusing to pay, she was renvircd to the cells. The other cases were adjourned till next week. GREENWICH OBSERVATORY. The futuro of Greenwich Observatory, of world-wide renown, has become an imminent question. "Someone has blundered " on a gigantic scale, otherwise the London County Council's new electric station would never have been established so close to the observatory a3 to interfere with its delicate recording instruments. According to Lord Goschen, the blunder is the fault of everyone concerned—the Admiralty, the Astronomer Royal, the London County Council, and Parliament. Nobody thought the thing out beforehand; nobody appears to have realised the consequences until the mischief was half-done. No _ one denies the seriousness of tl;c situation as regards the observatory. Greenwich is the astronomical centre of the world, and many millions of observations connected with cartography and astronomy depend largely for their value upon tne fixity of the Royal Observatoryas a reference point. The position of every place shown on British and American maps and charts, and on most foreign maps, is dependent upon observations taken at Greenwich, and every ship at sea ascertains its position by reference to Greenwich observations. Nearly all nations of importance now use Greenwich time as a standard or universal time. "If a single ship were lost in consequence >i ccni'u-

sion being introduced into longitude," s;ys Lord Ellenborougb, who raised the question in the Lords this week, " its value might well be treble that of these r.cw electrical works of the London County Council." The noble lord protested that the geography of the whol** world must not be interfered with because theCrui.ty Council preferred to use vertical catfne's instead of turbines, and h-i could lot re- ! train from dragging in the übiquitous Tdu- ' cation Sill. "It seems sad." he renurkjd, amidst some laughter, '' that the ndusavon of half a million of London children si rr.ld . have been entrusted to a body who are j svidently ignorant of the first principles of ; reography and astronomy." j The Earl of Crawford, premier ©ail of j Scotland and ex-president of the Astrono- j mical Society, raised several interesting j points in the debate. For many years, he ' said, the moon had been given" over to Greenwich Observatory by the scientific world, just aa the observation of the minor i planets rested with Berlin, and other matters astronomical were looked after by American observers. If Greenwich were now reduced to the position of saying that its lunar observations had lost" weight and value, it would bo a terrible blow to the reputation of the Royal Observatory and to the position of Great Britain as a'scientific country. Another difficulty was that disputes as to boundaries between countries 'were mainly settled by astronomical observations as to the position of the moon; and <i<? the moon was being constantly watched at Greenwich Obcervatory applications were frequently received from foreign countries as to the error of the moon at such an hour *n such a day. That also showed how extremely important it was that the observations at Greenwich should be reliable. Such was the accuracy demanded of (he Jastruments at Greenwich Observatory that ineasures of extension were fractions of thickness of a spider's web and hundredths 6f a second of time. Therefore, though the disturbance caused to the instruments at the Observatory by the electric works mi<dit be infinitely small, that infinitely small disturbance might lead to incalculable damage. Altogether, a? Lord Kelvin remarked, the difficulties of the situation seem absolutely mindless It is {.lain that the present position must not continue, Bnd equally plain that it would never do to remove the Royal Observatory. On' the other hand, the London ratepayers can hardly be expected lo sacrifice half a million of morey for a mistake which it 6hould have been the business of Parliament, the Admiralty, and the Aftronomer Royal to foresee and prevent. As a posiible way out of the impasse, the First Lord of the Admiralty has decided to appojit a committee lepiesenting jointly the Council and the Admiralty to discover what the effect of the new Council works upon the Observatory really was, and to ascertain whether by any rearran Lenient of the machinery the threatened damage can be averted. SPIRITUALISM AND FRAUD. Thre are many people in this world who firmly believo that it is within the power of certain individuals to call up and materialwo the spirts of the departed. Possibly they are right, but it is a strange fact that oa every occasion that sceptics attending

spiritualistic seances have tried to demonstrate that their scepticism ia well founded they have usually succeeded ia doing so. Tho latest case in point ia the exposure of a, well-known "medium" named Craddock, who has been fined £lO and costs (with tho alternative of "a month inside") for that ho, "being a rogue and a vagabond, did unlawfully use certain subtle craft, meana, or device, by palmistry or otherwise, to deceive Mark Mayherw and others, contrary to 5 George IV., chapter 83, section 4/ Mr Mayhew, it must be admitted, went jnto the matter with his eyes open. He felt certain that trickery was at the bottom of Craddock's business, and determined if possible to "bowl him out." Hip first visit to Craddock's rooms strengthened bis conviction that the whole show was a fraud, but it was not until his third sean«» that Air Mayhew decided to act. At the fir3t visit Craddock materialised a "dead child " of Mr Mayhew's which was alive and well, and conjured up an "Uncle George" who had never had part or lot in the Maybew family circle. He also materialised the celebrated clown Joey Grimaldi, and caused bim to crack jokes of which the genuine J.G. would have been, ashamed, and produced " Dr Alder,"' who wore a very yellow goatee beard, obviously and badly stuck on. and another " spirit "* whose Emperor William moustache was all awry. At the third seance, which was under the control of a departed gentleman referred io as Dr Graem«, some suspicion that Mr Mayhew's scepticism might be actively demonstrated seems to have occurred to Craddock. At any rate, " Graeme" opened proceedings with a discourse in which he solemnly

warned the audience that it was very dangerous to break a circle, and might cau?« the loss of the medium's eight or even his life. Mr Mayhew wv.e told that the spirit of a friend had come for him. A face appeared with a very frizzy and much-turned-up moustache. Measuring the distance to what he supposed would be the position of the shoulders, Mr Mayhew put out his hands and seized them. "My bands," Mi Mayhew continued, "came in contact with evident shoulders, •' to which I held on. There was a struggle, and the figure to which the shoulders belonged went back to the ground. I called for a light, and Mr Carlton switched one on and flashed it on to the person whom I had seen. I then saw that the person was Craddock." "HEAR WAGNER AND DIE." Some remarkable evidence was given at the inquest held on the body of a youth named' Coward by the Battersea coroner the other day. Coward, a youth of nineteen, deliberately threw himself upon the metals at Clapham Junction station before an express train, and was dismembered. It subsequently transpired that he and another young man named Parnell, who was a fellow-student at Freiburg University, had come to London for u.e express purpose of putting an end to their fives. Coward wrote to nis father, who -lives at Earl's Court, saying that he was going for a walking tour in Switzerland. Instead of doing so, the young fellows came to London, and on last Friday morning Mr Coward received another letter from his son, in which the youth declared his intention of making an end of his life. It was a remarkable effusion, and ran thus : " Our object in coming to London was to kill ourselves, but we delayed doing so . . . for the sake of hearing Wagner's 'Flying Dutchman' on Tuesday evening, but this evening (Thursday) wo mean to die. . . . You will wish to know whv I am killing myself. To me it seems that Freiburg has already killed me. If one puts a plant in a cellar it will die. It is a weak and worthless plant iu my case. I have had to live in an atmosphere of bigoted, horrible, uncharitable Catholicism, among people who not only had different views on all points to mine, but expressed themselves almost daily with the utmost rancor and injustice against things which were all my ideals. First, I say, I was kill dby Catholicism and the baser qualities of certain illeducated Catholics; secondly, I have be-n killed by Philistines. Not only were all kinds of art, save those in print, out of my reach in Freiburg, but the persons with whom I lived had no idea about art, or had such opinions that conference with them on the subject became impossible. You see, not only had I to starve, but starve alone. Thirdly, the winter kill.d me. It was not the cold; it was the dark brown hills, the lifeless trees,, the hideous, fearful mountains. . . . Now, I know that these three reasons will s cm to you absolutely inadequate. Perhaps they are, but they arc strong enough in my Wise. ... I am weak and worthless. If one can do anything one may feel it a duty to keep on living, but ... I have for some time realised that I can do nothing. I can appreciate, 1 can despise, I can love, I can hate, I can be cheerful, I can lie cast down—in short I can feel, but I can never do anything. What need is there for such a creature in this world? . . . Therefore do not regret my death. I know this affair will cause you trouble and distress, but in a few days it will be all over, and I, who have troubled you often, shall never trouble you * Then followed a number of instructions for the disposal of certain belongings, and a request that a packet containing a piece of chocolate, a match box, and a dictionary should be buried with him.

This morbid missive startled Coward J senior into immediate action. He went at once to the address given in it, and found Leigh Farnell at breakfast. " Where is George ?" was his first query. " I don't know," replied Farnell. turning ghastly pale- and trembling. '• Has he killed hirnsulf?" was the father's nest question. j "Yes," whispered the young fellow. And ; then he told how he had gone with young 1 Coward to Glapham Junction fully intending to share his friend's fate. But " at the last moment," said he, " George peTsnad d me from following his example, saying: | 'Think of the great grief it will be to j your parents.' George then left me and I went to another platform, and then T j turned away, so as not to see what hap j pened, and then went home." j Farnell's father, it appears, had also received a letter from his son intimating that he was going to die with Coward. Farnell senior destroyed the lett-r, and having tracked down the writer, promptly pro ceeded to have his boy examined by a mental specialist and had him placed und i proper care. The inquest has bo-n ad journed to allow Mr Farnell and his son to bo called as witnesses by the police. A FALLEN IDOL. Backers of favorites had a bad time at "Royal Ascot" this week, one of the fea tures of the meeting being the regularity with which " hot-pots" boiled over. But tho incident which will rerder the Ascot meeting of 1906 memorable was tho unexpected defeat of Major Loder's splendid marc Pretty Polly, which for the past three years has been the idol of tiip British racing public. " Polly" had never met her match on English soil until last Thursday, when she succumbed to Mr Solly Joel's aged son of Winkfiekl and Milady (Bachelor's Button) hi the Gold Cup, after appearing to have the race in hand a ! quarter of a mile from home. Her defeat was a bitter blow not only to her backers, who had laid 11 to 4 on Ga-llinule's great daughter, and to her owner and trainer, but to the majority of racegoers in general. Bachelor's Button we knew for a very high-class horse, with a paiticular pariality for the Ascot course, but no one doubted Pretty Polly's ability to b;at him easily, especially as she was in receipt of the sex . allowance. That the mare was listless and : sweated profusely, and showed a strorg : disinclination to leave the saddling padi dock, were signs that all was not quite j well with her, and it transpired a f ter the race that she had a few days previously und rgone a slight operation "in connection with a wartv giowth. Still, we all thought that "Polly" could afford to be a little below par, even against a tried stayer like the Button or Cicero, and the idea of su hj animals as Achilles or St. Denis b ing able to live with her over two arid a-half miles was deemed ridiculous. St Denis was only put in to p aV € the pace for Bachelor's Button, ard did so to such good effect that he had beaten himself and j Cicero half, a mile from home. At this point "Polly," who had been striding easily along in the roar, raced up to the leaders without apparent effort, and seemed about to spreadeagle the field in her usual fashion. But it'was soon seen that she could not leave Bachelor's Button, and a i few strides further on. Mr Joel's horse was

at hor neck. Then Dillon cave u Polly" a sharp cut with his whip, hot the more could make no response, and, to the consternation of everybody, Bachelor's Button, hard ridden by Maher, began to creep ahead. Stride by Btride he gained on the now faltering mare, and when at, length tho post was reached " Polly " was a tentfth to the bad. v . J

Viewing the faces of the crowd after the race, one might be pardoned for imagining that some serious catastrophe had happened. The sentiment shown after the race would have surprised those who have eyes only for the commercial side of horse racing. As one punter remarked : i ' Well. I won a bit over the ' Button.' but Pd rather have lost my money than have seen Polly beaten." "Polly," indeed, has been to the British public what Carbine was to Antipodeans, and her defeat leaves a sense of personal loss.