CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIX, Issue 11541, 30 March 1898, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

When the incident of

“nrrsxNG THE TWINS.”

" mixing the twins ” is introduced in melodrama or comic opera, the public is

aptrto4hink that a pretty large tax is being made upon their credulity; but a recent case in London proves that fact is still ahead of fiction in the matter of sensational developments. The event referred to was a case of mistaken identity which occurred at the North-Western Fever Hospital of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, whereby a dead child was buried by strangers and his living substitute presented to another family as their child. There was not the excuse of even a casual resemblance or relationship of any land between the two children. The plain facts are that on a recent Friday—an unlucky day of course—William Malquin, aged three years, of Islington, and Ernest Green, aged four years, of Shoreditch, Were admitted to the receiving ward of the hospital within a few minutes of each other, each certified to be suffering from scarlet fever. Through unfortunate carelessness on the part of some of the hospital officials, William Malquin became known as Ernest Green, and Ernest Green as William Malquin* from the outset. The child Malquin (known in the hospital as Green) took Seriously ill, died, and was buried by Mr and Mrs Green at their own expense as their own child, according to the rites of the Chnrch of England. They had remarked upon the greatly altered appearance of their supposed child, bnt expressed no doubt as to bis identity. A committee inquiry into the affair disclosed the fact that the confusion arose through inattention to details on the part of a medical man and two nurses. Labels that were hung round the necks of the children to distinguish them were removed, and the bed-cards sent by a porter were placed over the wrong beds. The Hospital Board administered a severe reprimand to the assistant medical officer for not completing the first bed-card before he dealt with the next child, and censured the receiving nurse for her mistake. It also tendered ample apologies to the respective parents of the children, and reimbursed to them the expenses to which they had been put in consequence of the mistake. The error, it may be (added, was only discovered when Mr and Mrs Malquin went to the hospital to fetch the child, who had recovered, and unhesitatingly declared that it was not their son. Eeligions questions also enter into the complication, for the Malquins are Catholics, and their child was interred with Church of England rites. After such .a long chapter of blunders, it would ■seem that there is not so much of the burlesque element, after all, in the ballad of '‘‘The Twins,” which closes with the comical lament by the survivor that “ When I died, the neighbours came ' And buried brother Jim." In all seriousness, such an occurrence as that which has taken place in London is not calculated to increase public confidence in the management of public institutions. When there is such gross carelessness in the small matter of identity, there can be no guarantee of attention to more important matters.

TECHNICAL . EDUCATION „ ; IN : GBB2TANT,

A couple of years ago a small party of English gentlemen interested in the question of technical education—members of the

Technical Instruction Commission—paid a visit to Germany and learned much about the manner in -which things connected with that matter are done in the Fatherland. They detailed the result of their investigations in a letter to the Duke of Devonshire, Lord President of the Council, which letter was published in the form of a pamplet. In view of the growing feeling in the colony that we in New Zealand must be up and doing in regard to technical education some of the information they obtained, and the conclusions they deduced therefrom, are worthy of reproduction. They note, for instance, that in the large industrial centres are special trade schools wherein workers of all grades may learn to become experts in their business. They recognised that the Germans are “ determined to keep well ahead in the matter of facilities for instruction, and not only so in those institutions wherein the highest branches of scientific instruction are pursued.” “ There is in Germany,” the members of the Commission continue, “a growing recognition of the desirability of making further provision for the instruction of workmen and foremen in - trade subjects. We are especially impressed with the fact that employers in Germany largely encourage their apprentices to attend evening schools, and whilst different regulations obtain in different trades, we found that in some industries the apprentices have two afternoons free each .week for attendance at technical classes.” In the evening schools referred to the instruction is not so much the teaching of handicrafts, hut is more distinctly supplementary to the workshop practice. In the weaving schools,' which are much attended by evening students, the instruction is essentially practical. The visitors observed that the pupils enter the evening classes with a better preparation for technical instruction than English students, “owing to their elementai-y instruction having been continued to the age of fourteen, and to the system of instruction which in many ways is more formative of sound habits . of thought.” The Germans, apparently, do not believe that trades, or even a useful practical knowledge of the handling of tools, can with advantage he taught in primary schools. Hence they have special trade schools, and the student acquires dexterity in using tools in his employer’s workshop. By the way, it may be noted that the visitors saw no children at work in the factories; the boys and girls were at school. It is gratifying to see also, that Germany’s great advance in the race for industrial supremacy has not been secured at the expense of the German worker. The report says “We were also struck by the mai’ked improvement in the standard of living of the wage-earning classes, and by the growing tendency to the shortening of the hours of labour.” Those people who maintain that Britishers, whether at Homo or in the colonies, can compete with foreigners only by cutting down wages and lengthening hours of labour should make a note of this remark.

CUSTOMS OF PARLIAMENT.

A clever and interesting article recently contributed to the Nineteenth Century by Mr Michael MacDonagh

would do more to teach now members the rules of procedure and etiquette in the House of Commons than a three mouths’ session. “ How can I learn the rules of the House ? ” once asked a new member. “By breaking them,” replied Mr Parnell, Hats, of course, figure very prominently in these customs. When

men meet together in public assemblies, or in social life—as in a theatre or at a reception—the ordinary custom is to uncover while they are seated, and to wear their hats as they enter or leave the place. In parliamentary life that rule is reversed. Members have their heads covered as they flit about the Palace of Westminster, but in the Chamber they can wear their hats only when they are seated on the benches. As they walk to their seats or rise to leave the Chamber they must be uncovered. This custom is the source of much confusion to new members, and has given rise to many funny contretemps. There was the instance of a new member who left the Chamber with his hat on his head, and when the House cried “ Hat, hat!” he felt his pockets, his coattails, his sleeves, and even looked at his feet in search of the article. Finally an Irish member politely lifted the hat and handed it to the confused legislator with a bow. A man may attend prayers and leave his hat on the seat, thereby securing the seat for the rest of the sitting j but he may not leave a duplicate. This was ruled in 1880, and again in 1892, when an Irish member brought down a dozen soft hats and attempted to secure seats for his comrades, the occasion being the introduction of the Home Rule Bill by Mr Gladstone. Once a member, after making his speech, sat down on a new silk top hat, and an Irish member rose up to congratulate the honourable member “ on the fact that when he sat on his hat his head was not in it,” completely spoiling the effect of the speech. While the bell is ringing for a division any member who wishes to speak must keep bis seat and wear his hat. On one occasion Mr Gladstone found himself without the necessary head-gear, and seized that of a lieutenant. But the borrowed article was many sizes too small, and the rafters rang with shouts while he tried to balance the hat and speak at the same time. There are, of course, hundreds of other quaint customs that have grown up from time to time. In former times any member who wished the galleries to be cleared had only to say, “ I espy strangers.” In 1875 the Prince of Wales and a number of his sporting friends were thus turned out on the motion of Mr Biggar, an Irish member, and this caused the right to be taken from members. If a member wishes to resign he cannot do so directly, he can only be expelled, or die, or go bankrupt, or take an office under the Crown. For this last purpose, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has in his gift three positions which carry no salary and no work, and a resigning member must take one of these. Finally, when a debate is finished, and the sitting is ended, the policemen cry through the building, “ Who goes Home ?”, a relic, of course, of the time when nights were dark, and members were lighted home in groups by link-bearers.