CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12996, 11 December 1902, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

The article by Sir Horace Rumbold, in the November' " National Review," which was mentioned in. our

BBITATX AND AUSTRIAHUXGAHV.

cablegrams at the time of its publication, lias provoked a great deal or discussion, both in Britain and on the Continent, and some of the German newspapers have raised quite a storm of protost. The author is tha- lit■& British Ambassador to Austria-Hungary, and he writes under the heading, " An English Tribute to the Emperor Francis Joseph," He states that the South African War has raised British prestige with " envious, ill-disposed neighbours, who are now obliged to recognise in us a power capable of earnest and sustained military effort," and, further, that the Germans " continue to be potentially our most unrelenting and dangerous foes." This is the statement to which such exception has been taken. The French and Russians, Sir Horace says, are not to be accounted Britain's irreconcilable enemies, and he personally has "strong convictions as to the possibility of our arriving at a settlement with Russia that would once for all make our position as a world-Empire one of absolute security." Sir Horace mistrusts the Emperor of Germany, but he claims that " throughout the war we had no more steadfast friends than Austria and Hungary." " Our trap'reparedness, our often faulty strategy, and the evident luck of training of too many of our officers,_ were," he says, " the subject of criticism in military circles;, but in these strictures, not the least trace was of the ' schadenfreude' so patent elsewhere, while the most generous tribute was paid tb the gallantry displayed in the darkest days. Nowhere, too, was there greater rejoicing than among our Austrian friends over the triumphant advance of Roberts and the avenging anniversary of Majuba." Sir Horace urges that Britain should "make clear her disapproval of the Pan-Germanic programme, as essentially directed against Austria-Hun-gary," and should recognise.that the maintenance of Austria-Hungary in her present position is a matter of 'Supreme importance to the Empire.

HEROINES IX SOXG.

When the analyst of fifty, years 'hence comes seeking i the inspiration of tlie song/

writers of to-day, he will probably i find that some feminine divinity is being apostrophised! anonymously in "Daisy Bell" or "Sister Mary .Jane's Top Note," just as Herrick wrote Siis love lyrics to Julia and Ben Jonson his to Celia. At piesent the id-entities of the modern heroines in song are shrined carefully in the hearts of those whom they inspired', but with many old-fashioned favourites the facts have eked _out, and have been carefully, pigeon-holed. The heroine of Fitz'ball's charming song, "My Pretty Jane," is known to have been a pretty cottage lass who lived at Burwell, in Cambridgeshire. Fitzball himself was a farmer's son, and a mutual liking' was aroused between' the ■pair, which the fair, one disclosed one day by surreptitiously peeping at "Young Edward " from, the security of her cottage window curtains. Her admirer observed this token of interest," and seating himself in a field of rye near by, he penned the words of the now famous song. Unfortunately, " Jane " died of consumption. Miss Frances I'Anson inspired tlie words of-" The Lass of Richmond! Hill," and married the author as a punishment. The words of " Kathleen Mavourncen" were written by Mrs 'Crawford, an Irishwoman, and she is supposed to have had an eye to herself as the heroine. For "Annie Laurie" the seeker into the 'heart of things has to go back to the latter part of the seventeenth Century. She was the 'daughter of Sir Robert Laurie. The maiden who occasioned the ditty " Where are you going to". was a Cornwall" girl, whilst Henry Carey was inspired to the production of " Sally in Our Alley" by observing a pair of lovers at a fair at Moorfields. The lady of Poe's "Annabel Lee" was his own wife. She was his cousin, a woman; of "marked personal charm," and it is suggested that her untimely death 'had something to do with! her husband's early decadence. The fair one immortalised in " The Girl I Left, Behind Me" was a Yorkshire lass,, but Mho song as sung to-day is very different.from the original Irish poem.

THE rHOISLEM OF FOGS.

There is a fortune awaiting the lucky man who can devise s>ome effective method

of fog dissipation, or even some modified form of relief from the disagreeable and uncomfortable cloture which these damp and heavy curtains from Nature's cupboard inflict upon both land and.sea. It is too much to expect that a) study of the problem will'result in the discovery of any method of annihilating these distressing .visitation!?, but at least it may do something towards, finding a. means of penetrating them for a considerable distance with, light -rays or by the

human vision. A discovery of this cha» meter Would be a, godsend tc. the residents in such a place as the city of London, and to the mariners who have to traverse such, ocean highways as lie in the vicinity of Newfoundland, or, for the matter of that, in the neighbourhood of our own Three Kings. Some success has, of course, been attained by meteorological students in- the direction of devising ai system of fogsignals and warnings, but even these are for the most part crude, fragmentary and ineffective. In particular, nothing has been done to mitigate the woes of life in those big cities which are often enshrouded for days in an all-pervading pall. A 3 London suffers more from this affliction probably than any other town in the world, it as approached' in the big metropolis with some degree; of method. Arrangements have been made for a course of experiments during the present -winter under the combined auspices of the municipaland national governments, for the modest purpose of first determining whether the coming of a fog can be foretold, a matter of some importance in the community, and secondly whether its miseries can be in any way alleviated. A staff of volunteer observers has been organised to report on conditions existing simultaneously over a considerable area. The national weather bureau furnishes the necessary instruments, and has drawn tip a code of instruction. When a sufficient amount of data has been accumulated the Government experts will review and digest it, its is hoped with some practical results.