CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIX, Issue 13122, 9 May 1903, Page 7

CURRENT TOPICS.

Some idea of the magnitude of the licensing problem afc Home may bo obtained from a pamphlet that was issued in London a little time ago. The document gives the number of public-houses in the principal towns of the United Kingdom, with the names of their owners, and may well fill the hearts of the temperance reformers with despair. There are, it seems, 125,944 licensed houses In England and Wales, and 11,626 in Scotland. In “England there is a public-house to every 301 inhabitants, and in Scotland one to every 566, while in Ireland, we gather from another source, there is one for every 271. The significance of these figures will he understood when we explain that in New Zealand the licensing laws regard a publichouse to every 700 inhabitants as quite sufficient for the requirements of the community. There is no approach to consistency in the number of licenses in the towns at Home; the ratio to population in England and Wales varies from 160 in Dudley to 583 in Cardiff. Leeds has one public-house for every 514 of the population, Manchester one for every 214, Southampton one for every 197, and Plymouth one for every 305. Birmingham and Liverpool have about tbs Banja proportion, rather less than one for ;

IHB LICENSING PROBLEM AT HOME.

every 300, while Bradford and Leicester rise above the one-in-400-line, 'Bradford with 469 and Leicester with 425. In twenty-two typical towns of England and Wales, only two, Leeds and Cardiff, rise to the sober height of one public-house for over 500 people, and only two others, Bradford and Leicester, one for over 400. Nine of these towns have a public-house for every 200 people, and three one for less than 200. In London there are 14,039 licensed houses, one for every 446 inhabitants, and in St James’s they reach the density of 798 to the square mile. Among the owners, Lord Derby figures as the proprietor of 72 public-houses, the Duke of Bedford of 50, the Duke of Devonshire of 47, the Du Icq of Rutland of 37, and the Duka of Northumberland of 56. Among the other titled owners we find Lord Dudley with 33, Lord Cowper with 22, and Lord -Salisbury with 11. When we are brought face to face with these figures, and realise that only about one adult in fire has a vote, we cease to Wonder why licensing reform makes such slow progress in the. Mother Country.

The “ Argentine Impressions” which a special correspondent is contributing to the Melbourne “ Ago ” give anything but an edifying view of the social life of the people who are said to be ousting us from the London produce markets. Corruption and rapacity seem to run riot everywhere, and shooting and stabbing to he among the accepted “customs-of the country.” The correspondent, during his brief visit to Buenos Ayres, did not see any actual bloodshed himself, but the experience of some of his fellow-travellers was less fortunate. One of the party, while visiting the meat freezing works at La Plata, saw a young man being carried away after. receiving a ferocious stab from one of his fellow-work-men. They had quarrelled at the opening of a new eating house in the neighbourhood, hut drink, apparently, had nothing to do with the tragedy. Another of the visitors went to see the city abattoirs, and while waiting outside for the gates to open, he heard two shots, and, looking round, shw one of the slaughtermen lying on the ground with a wound in his leg, while the police were seizing another,' who held a smoking revolver in his hand.’ A \hird visitor was the horrified witness of a still more sickening encounter. An Italian stabbed an American in the stomach the favourite stroke of his countrymen—and his dying victim paid him back by shooting him with his pistol. Each day the newspapers record two or three of these deeds of blood, with no more concern than we should expend on a case of common assault. These repeated assassinations are generally attributed by the foreign section of the population to the foolish and often corrupt leniency of the Judges. Eor those who have money there are endless- avenues of escape, and it is not an uncommon thing for a man to be convicted of murder and to be at large in the enjoyment of his liberty within a few weeks. With such examples before them, it is little wonder that the hot-blooded natives give full play to their violent passions. The death penalty has been abolished by sensitive legislaters, but “messieurs les assassins” have shown no reciprocative leniency. It is only fair to say, however, that the state of affairs is not quite so bad as it was twenty years ago. . There is less official corruption, and many of the more notorious offenders have thought it expedient to “ move on.”

OUB SOUTH AMERICAN RIVALS.

In the “ Pall Mall Magazine ” Mr E. Vickers gives soma account of the recovery of Greek art treasures from the bottom of the sea. About 15 months ago some sponge fishers at work near the Island of Cerigotto descried on the sea bottom, at a depth of about 20 fathoms, a number of bronze and marble objects. The Greek Government treats the finders of antiquities in a liberal spirit, so the men, instead of trying to gather the crop for themselves, hastened to Athens with the news. Divers were despatched, and the antiquities were carried to the capital. They are chiefly statues and statuettes in marble.and bronze. Most of the figures, no doubt, are “/Shop copies ” of the works of masters, the Farnese Hercules of Lysippus, for instance, being among them. The marble generally is badly corroded, but the bronzes are in much better order. They are finely moulded and belong, evidently, to the best period of Greek art. The most important discovery was a life-size figure of a young man. It was in several pieces, though the head, which has the eyes in enamel, was fortunately unharmed. As the fragments were found to fit together with only a few gaps, the authorities at Athens determined to have the figure restored. They applied first to Messrs Sturm, of Vienna, who not long before had mado a most successful restoration for the Austrian Government of a bronze statue of an athlete, discovered at Ephesus, though broken into hundreds of minute fragments; but they would only undertake the work at Vienna. Application was then made to M. Andre, of Paris, also noted as a “restorer,” and at first with the same result; but ultimately die was persuaded to go to Athens, as the Greek Government refused to run the risk of transport. After constructing a framework, he attached the pieces to it, one by one, filling the gaps by new castings, and finally concealing the traces of rents, rivets, and the like with a pigment. The result was a noble figure of a youth, with the right arm outstretched, as if he hold some object lightly between the fingers, and the left one hanging by the side. Possibly it represents the youthful Paris with the apple of discord. Experts “place” it as belonging to the fourth century, 8.C., and regard it as possibly the work of Lysippus. Lucian relates that a cargo of art treasures, looted by Sulla from Greek towns, was lost off Cape Malea, and the sea may now have restored the loot to the descendants of the people who were robbed.

RECOVERED TREASURES.

The collection of armour in the Tower of London is to he transferred from the custody of the War Office to that of the British Museum authorities. Interesting and extensive as the collection is, it cannot compete with those at Vienna, Madrid and Turin. It is kept in the White Tower, which has been an armoury for many centuries. Down to the time of Henry VIII. the Royal armour was kept! at Greenwich Palace, but the .much-mar-ried monarch transferred it. Henry had a nice taste in iron suits. The Emperor Maximilian gave him several splendid sets, among them an equestrian suit made by the famous Seinsen Hofer, in 1515. Bearing the ciphers and badges of Henry and Katharine of Arragon, it is engraved with scenes from the lives of St George-and St Barbara, find is, probably, the greatest masterpiece of the armourer who produced it. One of Henry’s suits, intended for fighting on foot, is so complex, that it consists of two hun-

THE TOWER ARMOUR.

drcd and thirty-five pieces, while another was originally magnificently gilded. In the White Tower, too, is the armour Charles 1., and that worn by Elizabeth’s favourites, Leicester and Essex, splendid and pathetic reminders of vanished greatness. When Paul Hcntzncr visited tho Tower in Elizabeth’s time lie saw tha “ body armour ” of Henry VIII., and other pieces which are, no doubt, still under the care of the present curator. By the time of Charles I. many of these things had already become antiquarian curiosities, and a grievous proportion of them disappeared during the Civil War. From that time to nearly the end of the reign of George IV. confusion reigned among the armour, as it did among the national archives, in the Tower. Experts in defensive armour were then employed to classify the exhibits and preserve them, and the collection was reasonably wejl looked after. Tho present curator, Lord Dillon, has the reputation of having a wider acquaintance with ancient arms and armour and a jHofounder knowledge of the general subject than any other man In Europe. It remained for him to reject the spurious suits and sham antiquities .previously included in the collection, and also to disprove many of tho fantastic legends associated with some of the pieces.