CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12986, 29 November 1902, Page 7

CURRENT TOPICS.

Mr H. W. Lucy deals with his political opponents as lightly and gracefully ns with his friends, and his Chany the “Sydney Morning Herald” always throw an interesting light on current London topics. This year the Lord Mayor departed somewhat from custom and precedent, and issued invitations for a Mansion House banquet only to members of the Unionist Party, “to meet the Prime Minister.” There was a full muster, and the utmost cordiality prevailed, but it was hard,' according to Mr Lucy, to determine which had the warmer reception, the nominal guest of the\evening or the Colonial ■ Secretary. Both were in' their host form,’ and their m;dual admiration was “beautiful to see.” . Mr Chamberlain has never excelled the grace. and charm of his own historical comparison of Mr Gladstone to a great mountain.' “We do not appreciate the magnitude of the great mountains while we are still close to them,” he said. “We shall have to put between ns and Mr Gladstone a space of time before we shall know how much greater he has been than any of his competitors for fame and power.” It was in similar mood, though hardly in the same strain, that he spoke of Mr Balfour. He was evidently determined to set at rest the rumours of jealousy between himself and the Premier, and his speech, had been carefully prepared. He spoke from a few headings jotted down on ai small card, with which he now and then emphasised his points. It was equally plain, continues Mr Lucy. that Mr Balfour had made no elaborate preparations for response to the rare compliment paid him. A chance reference by the Lord Mayor to Lord Salisbury led him to pay a touching and tender tri- ( bute to the vanished statesman. It was delivered in ai low, sometimes faltering voice, which added greatly to its effect. The finishing touch was his self-congratulation that “ he was talking of a family matter amid' a company of private friends, and might, therefore, the more frankly unburden his heart.” This was an odd slip to make. Reporters' were hard at work before his • eyes, but Mr Balfour never saw them. He had absolutely forgotten that such gatherings were; the best of “copy,” especially on the eve of a session. Mr Balfour once told the House of Commons that he was a child in some matters, and here he was proving the truth of his words. The Lord) Mayor gently reminded him of the reporters’ pretence, and the Premier, according to Mr Lucy, actually faltered and blushed. : ; The manner is obviously o intended to be more than the . matter of the “Saturday Review’s ” latest complaint concerning- the growth of the cigarette habit amongst children, but even a literary pro- ■ test- is not valueless. It is now, it seems, “ de rigeur ” for the London boy to smoke. “Partly the Americans are to blame,” says the “Saturday.” “They have spent a million and a half in the effort to capture the English market; and since big things nowadays often have small effects, they have brought cigarettes within the reach of the smallest—you can buy no less than five for. fi, penny—and, therefore, the ambition of ’all. Even in India the advent of the cheap American cigarette has given an impetus to cigarette-smoking among the native children.” Poor old men used at one • time to get their smoking cheaply, if nastily, by collecting butts and fragments from the city and suburban railway stations. That hunting-ground is lost to them now, for the boys, many of them/ mere infants, swarm wherever the burnt ends of cigars or cigarettes are obtainable. Of course, there is a “movement” against the habit, but it is a mild distribution of literature which 1 merely describes: How they who use fusees All grew by slow - degrees Brainless as chimpanzees, Meagre as lizards; Go mad, and heat their wives; Blunge {after smoking lives) Razors «ndi carving knives Into their gizzards. The vice is easy of learning, particularly attractive to boys by reason of its mannish affectation, and above all, it is cheap. No one seriously questions its injurious effects on children. “The chimpanzees and lizards,” says the “ Saturday,” “ have qualities which the cigarette develops, and a sumptuary law that was obeyed would benefit in pocket—and elsewhere —the boy ■who has escaped from th© thraldom of the Board school to the liberty of a free smok-ing-room.” We urgently need some earnest effort to check the evil in New Zealand. Parliament has declined to legislate on the ground that no law would bo / effective, but Parliament might, at least, make an honest effort at reform. We hear little of bi-metal- ’ lism nowadays, mainly because the Wave of prosperity passing over the world has removed many of the evils which its advocates were wont to attribute to the undue “appreciation” of gold. But the “ Silverites ” are neither dead nor sleeping. They .are merely waiting for a more favourable season for the revival of their agitation. In the meantime, one of their number, a Mr Goeoher, of Manly, has been explaining to the Australians how they might create many millions of wealth by introducing a larger proportion of silver coins into their currency. The process is , quite simple. At the present time the gold and silver coinage of Great Britain . and- her colonies hold a disproportionate relation to each other when compared with the currencies of other countries. The .United States, for instance, circulate ISO millions sterling in gold and 131 millions in silver; Prance has 180 millions of gold and 140 millions of silver; Holland, six millions of gold and twelve millions of silver; and the East fifty-six millions of gold: and 205 ■ millions of sliver; while Great Britain has • three times as much gold as silver in circulation, and Australia nearly thirty times as much. From these figures Mr Goecher con- : 'tends that if Australia went only a little way on the right road and adopted the Old Country’s proportion of silver to gold in her currency, she would at once benefit to the extent of about five and a half millions sterling. The Value of silver to-day is under two shillings an ounce, and the facial • value of money coined from that ounce is 5s 6d. The Federal authorities would, therefore, make a profit of 3s 6d upon every ounce of silver they coined, and in an isBue -of eight millions—the amount required to bring; the value of the silver coinage up ■ to the proportion existing in Great Britain—would realise the profit we have stated. And Mr Goecher does not think it would I }>e necessary for the issue to stop at eight, ilA,— i. ■ ' ,

£7 TENDER MOOD;

babies 'ax CIGARETTES

COINING WEALTH.

millions. He would like to see tlie authorities buy up eight millions sterling worth of silver and coin it into twenty-two millions worth of money, and so give the Commonwealth a silver coinage proportionate to that of the United States. This, he declares, besides yielding the country a clear profit of some fourteen millions, would confer an immense advantage upon the people by increasing the amount of available money. Ho does not explain why the process cannot be carried on indefinitely.