CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 15042, 9 July 1909, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS.

THEATRES AND riALLS.

Mr Harry Lauder, who may bo a prejudiced witness, of course, has

no vory high opinion of the theatres as compared with the music-halls. " Take certain plays produced at certain theatres," ho said to a London interviewer recently. " The curtain rises, and you ask yourself the question, 'Will they marry?' Sometimes you think, 'Are they married?' In that play there is throughout a vein of immorality, a suggestiveness which would not he allowed in a music-hall. Moreover, in a theatre only one or two stars appear, and they appear only now and again; otherwise they would not shine! If they were always on the stage, there would be a sameness in the performance. And the other members of the company arc only playing up to these stars, giving so much padding to the entertainment. Little wonder that the public i 3 not satisfied with the play of to-day." Compared with the theatres, the music-halls, Mr Lauder declares, are absolutely clean. "When T started on tho mnsic-halls," he said, "the comic singer was not a success until ho had sung a vulgar verso. But let the comic singer sing a vnlgar verse to-day; he'll bo hooted off tho stage. Now, when yon go to tho theatre you get the good and the bad characters, and I contend that there is no necessity to show tho had. Of course, I realise that in tho theatre the play is generally performed in a darkened auditorium, so that you cannot detect your neighbour's blushes, and you know consequently that your neighbour cannot see yours. But in a music-hall you can see every member of the audience, for the building is a blaze of light; and I liko light." Tho music-halls are succeeding, Mr Lauder thinks, because the managers employ tho best artists they can find, and pay them well. Every turn at a first-class hall has to be a "star" turn, and the performer who fails to " make good " loses his place. It is a now view of the relative merits of theatres and halls that the famous comedian gives, but he is in the business and he is successful, and he should know what ho is talking about.

Tho removal of the hoarding surrounding tho Victoria Memorial in London has enabled

THE VICTORIA MEMORIAL.

the public to gain some idea of the beauty and tho magnitude of the work. Tho monument has already been nearly seven years in the making, and in all probability it will not be completed until the end of 1910. It is the centre-piece of a great scheme of improvement, says a Loudon writer, which is transforming tho Mall into one of the finest thoroughfares in Europe, widening Constitution Hill, and is raising tho magnificent Canadian, Australian and New Zealand gates, with their accompanying sculpture and piors. Of this general scheme Sir Aston Webb was the designer, and the result of his bold conception has been to provide for the memorial to tho late Queen a site which, alike from its new surroundings and its broadened and beautiful approaches, is well worthy of so great an object. The lower portion of Mr Thomas Brock's monument which has now been completed, embraces two huge marble fountains, each holding 50,000 gallons of water, flowing in cascades from underneath tho reclining bodies of a mermaid and a merman fashioned in bronze; sculptured reliefs of Neptunes and mermaids rising from the billows, symbolical of Britain's power upon the sea; two great flights of marble steps leading to the plateau upon which the statue is to be raised; circular granite paving at tho base, 630 ft in circumference; and four bronze electric lamp standards, the fore-runners of some fifty of similar design which will bo erected along the Mall and around the space in front of tho Palace. The work already completed has involved tho use of more than 1,000 tons of marble and 800 tons of granite. The erection of the marble masonry of the central feature of the memorial has been commenced, and the sculptor has completed, in the marble, the colossal statue of the late Queen, sitting in state, which will face the Mall, as well as the group representing Motherhood, to face tho Palace, and that of Justice, looking to tho South. Tho remaining group, Truth, which, on the North side, will complete tho square, is in course of completion, and the glittering figure of Victory, which will rear its head high above all, is in tho hands of the founders. Statues of Courage and Constancy will find a place at Victory's feet, and the massive work will bo completed by a number of bronze groups set upon flanking pedestals round about the fountains. Gorman Social Demo-

" XO nrrocitiSY."

eracy adopted a perfectly consistent attitude

when it refusod to have any part in the festivities in honour of the British Labour representatives visiting Berlin last month. In April last, when naval debates were raging simultaneously in the Houso of Commons and the Reichstag, the Social Democrats brought down a motion calling upon the Kaiser's Government to " grasp the hand which had been outstretched by England in the direction of the limitation of naval armaments." The proposal failad to secure the support of any other party, and the followers of Horr Bebel regard it as ridiculous for politicians who decline to consider a naval understanding with Britain to organise or participate in ostentatious demonstrations of friendshir) with that country. Such a spectacle, the Social Democrats consider, is branded with tho mark of insincerity, and they decline to bo associated with men thus willing to stultify themselvos. The committee formed to entertain the British membors of Parliament consisted of tho leaders of the Radical Party, which gave the cold shoulder to tho Socialist motion seeking to commit tho Government to a naval entente with Britain. The Socialists apparently realised that Germany's naval ambitions |

were tho chief bar to friendly relations between tho two nations, and they refused to stand shoulder to shoulder with politicians who prated about "good relations" with Britain in one breath, and in tho next vetoed absolutely tho only course which could possibly bring about 6uch a consummation. Herr Fluegge, tho mouthpiece of tho Radical Party on this occasion, sought to smooth matters over by stating that the proposed visit was purely non-poli-tical, and ho described the action of the Social Democrats as " tactless and uncalled for." No doubt, in the circumstances, it was tactless, because, after all, these visits of representative people to foreign countries are calculated to promote friendships, and in the long run they operate precisely in the direction desired by tho German Social Democrats. But tho Socialists avoid compromises whenever they can, and their attitude was consistent with both their principle and their policy.