CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15919, 3 May 1912, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS.

A GREAT PL.VTEB.

The famous actor, William Macready, who was born on May 3,

1793, was one of the greatest of British tragedians. His admirers would not admit that he had a superior, and they used to scoff at Sir Henry Irving when he essayed to play the Shakesperean parts with which their idol's name was inseparably associated. Some reminiscences of Macready are contained in a recently published book, " The Spice of Life," by " Thormanby." The great player was a man of violent temper, and tho actors and actresses who were brought into contact with him on the stage lived in terror of him. When Mrs Kemble played Desdemona to his Othello she used to complain that he really lived his part. She was bruised from head to foot by his violence, and she was in mortal dread that he would really smother her when he took the pillow in his hands. The look on his face as he uttered the words, "Thou art to die!" was "so awful in its intensity of doom that she felt as if she had not another minute to live." Mrs Kemble congratulated herself that as Lady Macbeth she could not suffer from Macready's painful realism, since he was not required to lay hands on her at all. But she was astonished and dismayed when at the exclamation, " Bring forth men-children only," he seized her by the wrist and swung her round with reckless violence. Actors who had to endure the full fury of the tragedian s passion on the stage were generally so severely man-handled that they demanded extra pay when they had to play with Macready, who would sometimes hurl them to the ground or halfway across the stage in the transports of his histrionic rage. Ho was supremely self-centred as nearly all great actors are, and he resented bitterly any encroachment on what he regarded as his right to monopolise the attention of the audience while he was on the stage. Some amusing stories are told of his experiences m America, where he met players who had not been taught to yield to his whims. On one occasion, when he was playing Hamw> the King "&<d" in the best Position on the stage, the exact spot that H mlet had selected for his own death * e Macready's anger could not bo restrained- He whispered savagely to •i "king" that he must move up tlo e and when no notice was taken f repeated the order. Then the "king" liftod llis hentl and re P l,ed: (< t gu css I'm king here and I'll die here I damn well please." The inJvnation of the "star" tragedian and +ho amusement of the audience can be , ffe ll imagined- \

patentees' RIGHTS,

A remarkable decision was given in New York recently by the Supreme Court of the United

States. A firm which had patented a rotary mimeograph sought to compel tho purchaser of one of the machines to use only ink and other materials required in its operation that had been supplied by the patenting firm. The patentee's contention was that the pa- | tent covered the right to issue a license with each mimeograph that was sold, snd the license could contain a provision to the effect that no materials except those supplied by the patentee should be used by the purchaser. A majority of the Court of seven judges by whom the claim was heard decided in favour of tho patentee, holding that tho owner of a mimeograph who had bought ink from another firm had "violated his license and infringed the complainant's patent." .Chief Justice White dissented emphatically from the Court's decision, declaring that every home in the country would be affected by it. He remarked that he had bought a patented razor some time before, and according to the decision he had infringed the patent because he had paid a lower price than that prescribed by the patentee. "My mind," said the Chief Justice, "cannot shake off the dread of the vast extension of evil practices which must come from this decision. Who, I submit, can put a limit upon the monopoly and wrongful restrictions which will arise if by such pow~er a contract, otherwise void as being against public policy, may be successfully maintained?" Naturally the Chief Justice's view was shared by many eminent' lawyers, and the decision was criticised very warmly. One authority described it as tho most important judgment given by the Court since the Standard Oil and Tobacco Trust cases were heard. " Unless it is reversed," he said, "or some counteracting legislation is enacted by Congress, it is likely to work serious embarrassment to the Government in impending suits under tho Sherman anti-trust law, suits dealing with-an alleged monopoly based on patent rights." Curiously enough, the judgment was said to have been based on British, as well as American, decisions. It certainly would not be accepted in British countries.

A BOMB OUTBAGE.

The Black Hand Society is still making its sinister presence felt in

New York. A few weeks j ago a member of the organisation was ' sentenced to thirty years' imprisonment by Judge Rosalsky, and tho sequel was nearly a horrible tragedy. , The Judge received through the post I a small parcel, which bore some resemblance to a jewel box. His suspicions were aroused and he- loft the packet on his library table while he telephoned for the police. Several officers came, headed by Inspector Egan, whose special sphere of work lies among the perpetrators of dynamite outrages. The police gathered round the table while the Inspector gently opened the parcel with his penknife, and the removal of a portion of the paper revealed a piece of wood about the size of a thimble, attached to a strong. wire spring. A quantity of powdered sulphur was found' wrapped in tissue paper and beneath this package was to be seen a small section of iron pipe, with a dry battery at each end, lying in a bed of scrap-iron and lead. If the parcel had been opened in the ordinary way the pulling of the piece of wood would have released tho springs, which would have completed the battery circuit and exploded the dynamite that lay within the pipe. The Judge suggested that the police should take the unpleasant contrivance away, and Inspector Egan replied that there was no danger, since the machine had fallen into the hands of experts. This assurance did not satisfy Judge Rosalsky, and he was leaving the room when tho bomb exploded with a detonation that shook the house from cellar to attic. The police were hurled to tho floor, and the room was wrecked, but by a happy chance the injury done to the men was slight. Inspector Egan lost two fingers and sustained some slight wounds in the head. Ho' had been examining the box when tho explosion' occurred. The slugs of metal lodged in the ceiling and the other police officers were merely shaken, while the Judge suffered nothing worse than a severe shock. The perpetrators of the outrage were not discovered, and it is probable that their offence will go unpunished. Evidently the lot of the policeman is no happier in America than it is in comic opera.