CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVII, Issue 12850, 24 June 1902, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

In the volume of statistics recently issued 'by the Regis-trar-General there appears fc-r tie first time a table snowing the occupations of the males who died an'NW Zealand in the year dealt with. Similar tables have long been a feature of the statistical returns published in England, and the new departure in New Zealand was made, we believe, at the suggestion of Mr H. G. Ell. Of course, there is little to be gathered from this one table, but perhaps in ten or fifteen rears' time the statistics shouffl 1 give some indication of the relative unhealthjness of various occupations. The number of males who died in 1901 was 4413. Of these 1056 were under S years, 1034 were betwec-n 46 and 65, and 1312 were of 65 years and upwards. 5 years and 15 years 165 males* died, 162 being schoolboys, 2 farm assistants and one a driver. Of the 133 males who died l 'between the ages of fifteen and twenty, 10 were registered:.as farmers, Bas clerks and 25 as labourers. Of the 474 farmers and farm-hands, who died in tho year, 81 were under 45 years and 393 over that age. Among labourers, another large class, we find 1 the percentage of deaths under 45 years considerably 'higher, for there were 133 deaths under 45 years and 368 ovm. chat age. [Miners show a lighter- deavh rate

DANGEROUS OCCUPATIONS.

labourers, their figures being 34 imde» 45 years and 203 over that age. The proportions of deaths under 45 years to the total* in these classes are: Labourers 26.5, farm*ers 17.09, miners 13-9. Of course, in the smaller classes, these percentages may begreatly exceeded. Thus 69 pep cent of the ; clerks who died were under 45 years, and ■ 42 per cent of the drapers' assistants, and 61 per cent of the seamen were comparatively young. In still smaller classes, the deaths before middle age may be 75 per cent or 80 per cent of the -total. Thus six of the ■ 8 cabinet-makers were under 45 years, 3 oi the 7 watchmakers, 5 of the 5 "troopers," the only upholsterer, 2 of the 3 telegraph- . ists, 3 of the 4 compoiafors, 5 of the 6 . mill hands, and 3 of the 4 machinists were eknilarly cub off before middle age. These bare statements for a singlo year are not of great value, but when thj (results of a series of years have been tabulated an analysis wj.ll be both interesting and instructive. .

The brief mention of the Humbert-Crawford case, which was made in our cablegrams last month gave some idea of the magnitude of the conspiracy by which a party of American, sharpers managed to defraud a number of astute French financiers of many thousands of pounds. The details supplied by the newspapers read like a chapter from the " Arabian Nights." It was alleged that five years ago a Mr Henry Robert Crawford had died a* Nice, leaving his entire fortune, of several millions, to Mdlle. Therese d'Aurignac, a lady of American extraction, who had nursed him devotedly during a long illness, and who had subsequently married a . M. Frederic Humbert, a son of the Minister, of Justice in M. de Freycinet's Cabinet of 1882. Just as the lady was about to enter into possession of her enormous windfall, so the story runs, two Americans, Messrs Henry and Kobert Crawford, appeared on the scene with a will, written and signed by the late Mr . H. R. Crawford, and bequeathing his for- ? tune to his nephews and Mdme. Humbert's'' sister, Mdlle. Marie d'Aurignac, on condi- * tion of their paying to Mclme. Humbert an annuity of some £2OOO a year. The rival i claimants brought the case into the Courts, and the law's delays dragged it through various phases, in which STdme. Humbert and the Crawford nephews, as well as Mdlle. Marie d'Aurignac, won and lost alternately, came to terms, or attacked each other in all the Courts, from, the Civil Tribunals to the Appeal Court, and from the Appeal Court to the Court of Cassation. No one seemed to know anything of the mysterious nephews; they never appeared in the case except by their 1 solicitors; but Mdme. Humbert,' by declearing that she had securities, locked up in her safe, worth more than £5,000,000, . succeeded in borrowing millions upon mil* lions of francs. It is calculated that altogether she raised as much as £3,000,000 on no other security than, her bare word that the contents of the -safe would cover her liabilities two or three times over. At last, however, a Paris banker to whom she owed some £500,000 became impatient, and threatened to take proceedings for tha recovery of the debt. This difficulty was got over by a barrister, described by the London " Times " as one of the most, ret -. spectable men at the bar, advancing the' money, but it was followed by others, " and ultimately the Appeal Court was. moved to grant an order for the opening of the famous safe. This was done in the presence of a number o.f high officials, ' Mdme. Humbert having in the meantime disappeared, and the locksmiths revealed ■ to the assembled magistrates and notaries nothing more than an empty case and ft bundle of worthless papers!

'THE htjmbertcbawfoud SWINDLE.

In a little while now the public should' be able to obtain copies of a " hitherto • unpublished" Malton. At anyrate a "tall, handsome and genial-man-nered clergyman of about fifty, as yet unknown in the world of authorship,'" declares that lie has discovered a completework by John 'Milton. This is "(Nova Solyma, the Ideal City of Zion, or Jerusalem Regained." According to a correspondent of the " British Weekly," the fortunate discoverer of this new romance is theCßev Walter. Begiey, *' Cambridge graduate and a minister of the Established Church. Here are Mr Begley's own-words on the subject:—"My aim baa been to gather books ■which are mot in. the British Museum or in the (Bodleian Library. When travelling on the Continent I always go first to the 'booksellers' shops and to the public libraries. I make acquaintances with the booksellers, and arrange for them to send me their catalogues. It was in this way that I came upon the Milton romance. ; 1 -was looking over a catalogue- sent me by . the -bookseller. Weigel, of Augsberg, and was surprised to find thh Latin roaance with the London imprint- That such * book should nave been published in England! would of itself have attracted iny interest, for although the:Dutch and German have various Latin novels, very few 'have been,.. published in England." (Mr 'Begiey inclines • to tho opinion, that the romance, -which is partly in prose and partly in verse, -was at least begun -while the poet was at the University. It is a beautiful allegory -which: Defoo or 'Bunyan might havt> written, but tho proofs of authorship are held to be undoubted. It -was published in 1648, but. must have been completed twenty yeara earlier. Possibly, says 'Mr Begley, Milton commenced the work at College and continued it during his stay at Harton, his father's residence, where he- wrote "L'Allegro" and "H Peneeroso." "It has been a constant pleasure to me to note how full the book is of Milton's ideas," continues the discoverer. "The -passages deal- 4 ing with love and jealousy could not have . been written by anyone except Milton; Curious light is thrown on his first love, the ' Queen of the May,' whom the poet saw on May morning, and whose memory never faded from lais heart" One is interested to learn that "the book is full of adventures by sea, and land," and that " among the characters are brigands, .jobbers and pirates," while there is also* «a stirring account of a pirate fight."

THE NEW " MILTON."