CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIV, Issue 10708, 18 July 1895, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

FRENCH COMPLIMENTS.

The French novelist, M. Alphonae Daudet, has ijust been interviewed by a repre-

eentatiyepf a Paris newspaper concerning liia recent visit to England, and has committed himself to the expression of opinions which are not likely to .find much favour among the Anglophobists of his own country. It is possible that his appreciation of the pays desbrouillards is largely due to the attention he received from London society during his visit, butthere is a ring of sincerity about his compliments to his entertainers which cannot fail to gratify our national vanity. In answer to a question of what he thought of the English, M. Daudet replied “Well, I judge them by comparison, and whgt I could not tell them lest they should suspect me of base flattery, there is no objection to my telling you. The English people' is a marvellous people, and it gave me a horrible pang to realise its superiority over the French people. The English, though not so well gifted by nature as the French, less intelligent, less clever, possess, in addition to their practical sense, an amount of pride and a stubbornness of will that enable them to succeed wherever wa fail. The Frenchman very soon feels tired of what he undertakes and throws it up. in disgust, and the extraordinary aptitudes he possesses he only makes, use of to his own detriment. When I compare an Englishman with a Frenchman, I cannot help regarding the latter as a fine child who, out of sheer waatonness, disfigures himself by poking out one of hia own eyes, running his head against a wall and smashing his nose.” M. Daudet is not, strangely enough, equally complimentary to English women. “ As to the women,” be (old his interviewer, ' “ that is ttiioti-ti" ailair. i do not thit-k there exists any woman in the world, that co^i>a§Q

with the French woman; but, in any case, the English woman cannot be held her superior. Not only is the. English woman not handsome in features, but there, is nothing seductive in her physical form, and, moreover, she is an utter strangle to elegance and good, taste. The English woman whom you encounter driving about Paris, whom you run up against in our picture galleries with her flattened-dowh, hair and, huge feet, differs in ’ no single particular? from the English lady of rank whom you meet in salons, on the turf and ac the play.”. Fortunately tastes differ, aa4 English women must console themselves for M. Baudot’s ‘'‘ brutal frankness ” with the reflection that their own cpui\tiprmon, or, at any rate, a Very large majority os, them, are just as much prejudiced on the one side as the famous novelist is on the other.

THE TOTALIOATOB.

In the House of Bepre* sentatiyes yesterday afternoon it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. Cornell, the

member for Napief? that' Clause 46 of the darning and Act, 1861, should be repealed. This meant?, j| such resolutions of the House mean anytliiiJg at all, that a majority of the members are favourable to the abolition of the totalise* tor. Clause 46 of the darning and Lotteries Act provides that the totalizator shall be exempt from the regulations aimed against other means of gambling, and , Seta out the routine that is' to be observed in licensing and working the machine. The avowed object of Mx Camell’s motion is to reduce the number of race meetings now held; in the colony, and if it should be embodied in actual legislation it would certainly have that effect. Since the totalisator was legalised fourteen years ago racing oluba of one lsor| and, another have sprung up. in every direction, and while these institutions cam obtain large sums of money from the machine they will continue their operations. It must not be supposed, however, that the abolition of the totalisator, or even the abolition of racing, would put an end to gambling. That is one of the inherent weaknesses of human nature, which cannot bo removed by legislation. But now that the Government hat taken the matter in hand by limiting the number of licenses to use the machine, it might safely go a step further, and,largely increase the tax it has imposed upon the receipts. At present it receives only a small percentage of the amount exacted from the public. If it ’ would take one half of the total commissions, it would obtain an amount that would be o£ some real assistance to its finances and would effectually check the multiplication of race meetings. A proposal of this sort - should meet with substantial support in the present House of Representatives, and would be by no means distasteful to the general public, ,

• SAVING BT TORTURE.

A writer in the June number of the Nineteenth Century . essays to show that the " unfortunate ", people 'who were charged with wilful

murder in connection with the. witchburning case at Clonmel, noticed in these columns some weeks ago, were the ignorant instruments of a wide-spread, superstition. Ho claims that it was not a witchburning case at all, and ought to be called manslaughter rather than murder. Tha facts published at the ‘ time of tha horrible occurrence will still be fresh, in the minds of many of our readers.' •A man named Cleary, an Irish peasant who believed his- wife to ba * possessed by a fairy,” proceeded to beat and burn the . unhappy woman with tha object of ejecting the evil spirit. ‘As tha woman, who appears to have been suffering from some nervous complaint, naturally grew worse under this treatment, Cleary called in the assistance of eight or nine of his neighbours, and 1 between them they speedily managed to torture the remnant of life out of the frail body. The superstition which suggested the terrible cruelties practised upon the wo man is common amongst primitive men. They know nothing about germs, microbes, nerves, or laws of Nature, and when the simplest of natural phenomena, like disease, death or storm, come under their notice, they attribute them to the work of soma ; malignant spirit. The Patagonians regard all disease as the work of an evil spirit, and among the “Australian blacks illness was thought to ‘ arise from the ghoste of dead men gnawing the livers of .the living. The Yeddahs of Ceylon never administer medicine to the. sick, but make offerings to the demon who has sent tha disease, and in Tonquin the magicians are credited with the power of “driving out devils.” Among the Vancouver Indiana the doctor used to pommel hia jpatient ' while ‘ all the family beat sticks together in order to frighten the evil spirit e-way, and in many. Eastern countries, similar practices prevailed. It is rather humiliating to find the superstitions of untutored savages quoted as excuses for the ignorance of professing Christians in'a Christian lands bub there can be very little doubt that Bridget Cleary’s murderers really thought that the tortures, they inflicted upon the poor woman were necessary for the salvation of her soul, and the Judge and jury before whom they were tried appear to have made a reasonable allowance for-their benighted condition. The husband, we learn from a recant cablegram, was sentenced to, twentyyears' imprisonment, and six of his accomplices to terms of from six months tp five years. 'JJ .