CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12404, 18 January 1901, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

The cabled particulars of the arresD of Lillywhifre, alias Blatch, a,t Wellington, in, November last, have given

THE COLCHESTEB TRAGEDY.

■those English journals who cater for the more feverish life at Home an excellent opportunity for some hysterical splashing in the matter of headlines, as well as for a platitudinous, and? : ander -nhe circumstances, somewhat gratuitous moralising on the hackneyed test 'that "murder will out." Of more practical interest is the revival of the story of the crime of which Blatch is suspected. Alfred Welch, the victim of the murder, was the proprietor of a large outfitting' establishment in Colchester. He was past the prime of life, a leading townsman, a prominent Freemason, a patron of the' arts, good-hearted, genial, and refined. On the might of the crime be remained behind' at his 6hop, avowedly to meet a former porter in his employ hamsd Arthur Blatch, who desired 1 to see him. Two hours later the buildings were destroyed' iby fire, and ini the morning Mr Welch's charred remains were discovered. A theory of suicide was accepted, but the persistence of a young surgeon ultimately resulted in the discovery that a dastardly murder had been committed, and that Mr Welch had been killed by blows which fractured his' skull. ■ / The murderer, to hide: his diabolical work, had dragged the \ r ictiin, by a rope fixed round the neck, upstairs, set tihe building on fire, and.then disappeared. Blatch was traced to Stratford, where he left thei train and'i.disappeared' into the vortex of London's seamy side. Several times he was almost captured, and on one occasion it was discovered, when too latei, that while the landlady was giving the officers false information concerning him, Blatch was watching them from the window. Eventually he got right away, but ho forgot; to take with him one effective piece of evidence. He left at these London lodgings a cap belonging to a lad employed by Mr Welch, and leftby him in the shop -at Colchester on the ' night of the murder. So impressed are the Watch Committee of Colchester with the importance of the Wellington arrest that they have despatched a police officer and the keeper of,, the. Colchester Town Hall to New Zealand, for the purpose-of identifying the accused. These two officials have just arrived 1 in l Wellington, and though they cannot positively recognise LiHywhiLe, they are strongly of opinion that they have got ■hold 4 of the night mail.

A NEW SHELDON CBTTSADE.

The Rev Charles M. Shel : ! don, having exhausted the novelty of pulpit storytelling, and having ascertained that the running of

"an ideal newspaper," whatever the personal acceptance of the definition of the phrase may be, is as much a matter of experience as of theory, has branched l off at a tangent, amd started to <»xploi; a new reform. A New York cablegram stales that Mr Sheldon is preaching a fresh orusatfe at Topeka, an favour of mistresses treating tiheir servants on an equality withi their daughters. During his address thirty ladies rose amd! strongly protested. Mr Sheldon is one of the most glowing enttasiaisLs the strenuous life- of our trans- "- Pacific cousins, rich, in the superla lives of teoretical! idealism, has produced. Un- ~ fortunately, like the tangible Yankee no- y tions which! flood our markets, the in- \ tangible "notions" to which Ik. gives utterance are lacking an a basis' of stability. His propaganda, are wholehearted and l vreil meant, bub they will not recognise the little element of .common; •humanity, which must 'leaven all reforms snot pre-dflomed to languish" in the realms; of'-.tiba visionary. No dung lias ever

(ape -within the conscience of the masses, «D# oertairtly the consciences of the mass of mistresses are not ripe for this reform. PTor is this tmna*ural nor unreasonable. The claims of Tdnslrip, 'in the natural taller of things, must count for something in Oa estimate between daughter and hired help. . The gMs in service themselves *"Ould ho the first to cry out against any Kfctem.pt to push Mr Sheldon's hypothesis to the, extreme inclusion of unbearablefleas which it at. once, suggests. Mr Sheldon would be better employed were he engaged! in the more practical work of attempitdng to secure for working girls some measure of general legislative protection, iipon the lines of our own Statutes, than b preaching a gospel of impracbibility, singularly akin to the primitive so-called gbciaism, which calls for an absolute equal 'division of property upon a basis of purely pjidiyMTiai participation.

It will be remembered that it was reported; some months ago—before the fall of Pre-

JPOMMBSSIOJSC.

. - . toria—that Mr Michael who had gone to the Transvaal for tfee express purpose of encouraging the ■Boers in their resistance to the British, had [confessed himself as thoroughly disgusted ifoy the methods and behaviour of his newifound The report was contradicted 'after the famous Irishman's return to Lonbut the oontradictioni was of a rather jfeadf-irearted character, andi now the Rev H. X Batts, to whom tho confession was made, ihas given to a representative of the " Daily [Express " the actual words employed by Mr Davitfc. These are plain enough to leave ao doubt about the speaker's meaning. "I (have advised the Transvaal Government," he said, " about the British) advance. Is it not a pity'that someone cannot bring influence to "bear on the Transvaal Government to stop the bloodshed? I have this 'morning told the Government that if they would commend themselves in the eyes of the world they should at once wire to Lord Roberts that since the Free State is conquered they are unable to resist alone the 'might of England, and that in the interests of humanity they should surrender. Instead-, of that they have sent a message of a threatening character, that they will "blow up. Johannesburg or the mines if some terms axe not made. They don't mean this. Their own action in continuing the war will cover them with ignominy and contempt, in the eyes of the civilised world." If Mr Davifcb had stopped at this ha would not have objected to the repetition of his words; but in his disgust he spoke of the Boers' greed for gold, of their 'hypocrisy and of their cupidity. "They deceived me," he explained to Mr Batts. , J *l have written to all my papers about the brave stand to be made at Jhe Vaal, which would only be crossed over the dead bodies of the burghers. I would give £IOO to withdraw those articles now. The Boers are religious, but they would not leave a horse alone if nmattended." Perhaps Mr Davitfc was a little irritated at the time he spoke by the loss of one of his own horses, which had been left unattended with the inevitable result; but it is evident that Ms sober judgment was against the Boers, and that, while he admired) Mr Steyn's courage, he had the utmost contempt for Mr Kxuger's avarice and duplicity. It is a thousand pities that he should! have- ever tarnished his reputation by giving his countenance to undeJserviggf cause. -