CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 14202, 26 October 1906, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS.

The women suffragists at Home, whose leaders have just gone to gaol for two months rather

THE WOMEN SUFFRAGISTS.

than be bound over to keep the peace, are, of course, seeking the advertisement which is as meat and drink to the reformers in every field of political activity. There can bo no doubt about their earnestness or about the righteousness of their cause, but the British public, oven the progressive section of the British public, is mainly apathetic in regard to the franchise, and if Mrs How Martyn and her colleagues had confined themselves to mere ladylike protests against their exclusion from half the rights of citizenship, they in all probability would have failed to attract a tenth of the attention -they are commanding now. Miss Theresa Billiugton, one of the ladies who are now suffering martyrdom behind a prison’s walls, in a letter she addressed to the ‘A Clarion” last month, frankly admitted that she and her friends were in search of publicity. “ We suffragists,” she wrote, “-may have obtained much newspaper prominence by sensational methods. Possibly Mr Stewart may scorn such advertisement. I do not know. Socialism to-day may- not need the unconventional protest and the consequent impetus of public interest. I only know that such protest® as we have made , were needed in the'early Socialist days, and educated thousands who would never have been reached except by such moans.” Perhaps'these methods are the best that can bo employed under the circumstances, but some of the: more aggressive of the euf■fragists have not made a very wise use of the publicity when they have obtained it. The lady who writes on “Man, and Woman’s Rights ” in ono of the London newspapers,- for instance, shows none of the conciliatory spirit that did so much for the triumph of the franchise movement in New Zealand. “ Man—woman save him! —has so plumed himself on hi® powers and parts, has so prided himself on his position as world manager, has strutted so serenely through the chaos and sin and dirt-of his kingdom,” she says, “ that the woman who knows him as the veriest baby of all cannot but smile at his antics. She may weep as well. There may be more than sadness in her smile. She may even wish to curse. Some women have done so. And what man shall judge them? For man’s over-weening

sense cf satisfaction with his handiwork is sometimes like to make angels blaspheme.” All this is, of course, very smart, and some of it may be very true, but it is not the sort of appeal with which Mrs Sheppard won the sympathy of a majority of the male electors in this country, and eecured for her sex the privilege and the responsibility oi a vote.

A peer finds it no easy society mar- matter to remain unmar- . RiAGB ried nowadays. If he is brokers. not captured in his salad days by a chorus girl he has still to run the gauntlet of the society marriage brokers. The recent revelations in the Townshend inquiry threw a lurid light upon the machinations underlying the marriago of the luckless Marquis, and “ Truth ” is now supplementing this case with some very interesting details of the adventures of another peer amongst the marriage brokers. Lord X., as he is called in the narrative, is a bachelor in the prime of life, and in every way an eligible matrimonial “ catch.” The details of some of his recent experiences have been supplied to Mr Labouchcre’s journal by the nobleman himself. Not long ago an intimate personal friend of his mentioned that Lord X.’s cousin, a clerk in the House of Commons, was anxious to see him. The interview took place,, and Lord X.’s cousin, Mr Z., explained that its object -was to ascertain whether his lordship would be disposed to marry a wealthy American widow. In a spirit of curiosity and adventure,.Lord X. announced his willingness,- and was thereupon introduced by Mr Z. to an American lawyer who had an office in London. The wealthy American lady, his prospective bride, was not mentioned by name, but was indicated as living in a fashionable West End Square. Lord X. knew an American lady living there, and promptly wont to her, and explained what was passing, to the no small indignation of the lady. However, they both agreed to play a trick on the brokers, and allow negotiations to proceed. The upshot of it was that Mr Z. and the American lawyer arranged with Lord X. that if the marriage took place the lady would pay him £40,0C0 clown, and settle on him £20,000 a year. Out of this he was to pay £20,000 in cash to the “ honest brokers,’-’ who had thus secured his happiness. Of course' nothing came of the affair. Other offers that were made by marriage brokers to Lord X. included a “little widow with £20,000 a year and great personal charms,” and a mere mature lady with £40,000 a year, of whom the broker said “if her face was •net all that could be desired, her figure was unexceptionable.” Yet another agent who tried his hand on Lord X, was an Irishman, who offered the tempting bargain of a princess of the House of Bonaparte, with a fortune, of 1 £3,000,000. His terms were £40,000 commission.

America and Britain Britain versus met on the Thames America. last month in a boat i . race between representatives of Harvard and Cambridge. The wonderful thing about the race was the crowd. The estimate that a quarter of a million people watched the race is probably not excessive, but the figures given are mostly guess-work. For four miles and a half on either side of the river, we ar© bold, crowd® lined the banks in “ a isolid wall.” The roads and bridges that overlooked the race “ simply swarmed with people.” Their numbers must have seemed out of all proportion to the importance of the contest. It was by no means fully representative of the rowing strength of Britain and America, but the newspapers, by lavish “booming,” had awakened a keen spirit of international rivalry. To the man in the street, the Light Blues stood for all that was best in the aquatic conditions of the Mother Country, and Harvard represented the eager emulation of the New World. The prestige of England as the home of rowing was, in popular opinion, on its trial. So London poured forth in its countless people and lined the Thames from Putney up to Mortlako, the fact that the race was rowed on a Saturday afternoon enabling tnousands to be present who otherwise could not have gone. Contrary to the forecasts of all the rowing experts, the race was a very hollow affair. Cambridge took the lead at the very first stroke, and led throughout the whole of the four mile course, winning easily by two lengths, a margin which they could have more than doubled had they pleased. Everyone in the know had been predicting a keen struggle for supremacy, but Harvard in practice and Harvard in the actual race were two very different crows. As a battle of styles, the race was conclusive enough to most unprejudiced observers. Harvard, with their quick, short stroke and uphill slide, did not seem able to command sufficient pace. There was no doubt allout their staying power, for they finished comparatively fresh. Physically they were as fine an eight as ever sat a boat, but they had never been taught to use their strength. Cambridge, ,o‘ii the other hand, combined a fine turn of speed with a beautiful style. “ Rowing long, gulling the stroke clean through, and swinging forward in perfect time,” says one critic, “ they went like a machine.” And so the prestige of the Mother Land was saved once more.