NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9775, 23 March 1895, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Thf. question of finding a successor to Lord Rosebery is becoming more and more pressing, owing to his unfortunate breakdown. Is England to have another scholastic statesman as Prime Minister ? It is strange that of the ten Prime Ministers of Queen Victoria's reign, four of them, viz., Mr. Gladstone, Lord Rosebery, Lord Salisbury, and the Earl of Derby—were educated at Eton, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford. Lord Salisbury was treasurer of the Oxford Union in his time, and Glad stone secretary in his. Salisbury took his degree of B.A. in 1849, with honorary 4th class in mathematics ; Gladstone gained a double Ist class in 1831. Lord Rosebery has been Rector of Edinburgh and Aberdeen University, and the Earl of Derby of Edinburgh and Glasgow. All four, therefore, may claim to havo Attained some scholastic distinction. Of the ten Premiers Eton claims five, and Harrow two. Fivo went up to Oxford, throe to Cambridge, and two to Edinburgh; Viscount Palmerston wenb both bo Edinburgh (1800) and Cambridge (St. John's, 1803), but Lord Beaconsfield never went up to a 'Varsity.

Lord Melbourne was at Ebon and Trinity College, Cambridge, and entered Parliament at 26 years of age. Sir Robert Peel vna educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford, where be book a double Ist in 1808 ; bo was only just of age when he was elected next year M.P. for Cashel. Lord Aberdeen was another Harrovian, and proceeded to Bt. John's, Cambridge ; he took the degree of M.A. in 1804 ; he never sab in the House of Commons, but was elected a Scotch representative poor at the early age of 22 Tho third representative of Harrow was Palmerston, who unsuccessfully contested Cambridge at the age of 21, and again the fallowing year ; at 23 he sat) for Newport, Isle of Wight. Earl Russell was educated privately, then at Westminster and Edinburgh, and was returned for Tavistock while Btill a minor. Lord Beaconafield, too, was educated privately, was articled to a solicitor in 1821, and in 1824 entered Lincoln's Inn, where he studied for seven years. He was nob distinguished in his youth, and was thrown out of several elections until he became M.P. Ac 32. The Earl of Derby was M.P. for Preston, and at 23 Mr. Gladstone was already a Junior Lord of the Treasury. In addition to the four Prime Ministers mentioned above, Lord Kimberley is from Eton and Christ Church. He graduated B.A. in 1847, taking Ist class honours in classics. Sir William Harcourt, Mr. John Morley, and Mr. Asquith were all recognised as scholars long before they entered Parliament, Mr. Morley is from Cheltenham College, and is M.A. of Oxford and LL.B. of Glasgow. Sir William Harcourt) was senior opiime when he left Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1851. Like Mr. Asquibh (Huddersfield College and City of London School) he took lab class in classics, was then called to the Bar and made a Q.C.

The new scheme now being tried in London for providing cheap and wholesome meals calls to mind the great People's Kitchens in Vienna, although the latter do not serve the meals in private houses. There is no more interesting place in all Vienna than a People's Kitchen, The

most important is the one in theftechtengaese, only a few hundred yards aWy from the house in which the First Aviation began its work twenty-two years Wo. It is held in a fine handsome: building which was erected in commemoration If the fortieth anniversary of the Emperoa accesion, the money for it being raised y the late Princess Aueraperg. The consists of two very large, lofty rqms, one on the right of the hall, the othS on ! the left. In each of them are a numb? of long tables covered with American cl'fch, and paving benches on either side. The room to the right is the principal dinj>g hall. The upper part of the one to the lfo is cutoff from the rest by a counter, beyod which the public are not allowed to pa). Here is the huge fireplace in which the foo3 is cooked and kept hob until the tita< comes for serving it. A marked f atureol the people's kitchen is its scrupulous cloa*i lineae. Although many hundred person) pass through it every day the air is alway fresh and pure, and there is never a sign c ! dust or untidiness. 1

Attached to the kitchen are 14 paid ser\ vants—a matron, two assistant matrons, a cook, an assistant) oook, two kitchenmaids, j two scullerymaids, a washer-up, a general helper, two men waiters, and a cashier, j They are all hard at work by half-past five in the morning, for by six o'clock they must have breakfast ready for the men who call on their way to the factories. Breakfast is a very simple meal, soup, tea, and bread being the only things provided. A portion of soup or of tea costs 3 kreuzers (three-fifths of a penny; a white roll, 2 kreuzers ; and a slice ot brown bread, 1 kreuzar. For 8 kreuzers, therefore, a good breakfast can be had, and, as most of the workmen are content with soup and brown bread, they only pay 4 kreuzers (four-fifths of a penny) for their meal. After eight o'clock no brsakfaets are served, for then preparations for dinner begin. The cook and her assistants since six o'clock have been ohopping and paring, and stewing and boiling; for a meal for 2000 persons or more is nob to be prepared in a hurry. When the cooking is done, the dividing out begins. This is the work of the matron, and most tiresome work it is ; for, as the association makes it a point of honour that every portion shall be exactly equal in size and quality, each one of them has to be weighed.

The intense war feeling prevailing in Japan is proving a serious obstacle to the conclusion of peace, and it is feared that the negotiations which have begun between the Chinese envoys and the Japanese Government) will prove abortive. Nor can one be much surprised should such fears turn out to be well founded. Until Japan is master of the capital of China it is not likely that she will be inclined to seriously entertain overtures for peace. When the Japanese troops are in Pekin we may expect peace to be concluded, bub nob before. Lord Rosebery's health is causing his party grave anxiety, as it is being recognised that unless there is a speedy recovery, he must resign the Premiership. While all political sections unite in deploring the breakdown of the Premier, it cannot with truth be said that the Liberal party as a whole will sincerely lament his disappearance from the position he now occupies. His selection as Premier was from the first fiercely opposed by a section of the Radical party, and his performance in office baa nob so far justified the expectations which bis friends indulged in. The pertinacity with which Lord Rosebery clings to office notwithstanding his state of health—it is even officially announced that he has no intention of resigning—may be a proof of his indomitable spirit, but no man who suffers from insomnia can possibly occupy for long the arduous and responsible position which Lord Rosebery now fills. The fighting in Lima has been of a very serious character. The total of killed and wounded is put down by the correspondent of the London Times at two thousand. All kinds of dreadful outrages were committed by drunken soldiers. Slatin Bey, who should know more than any man what the power of the Mahdi is in the Soudan, declares that a very large force will be necessary to crush the rising, and that the plans must) be very carefully laid. Sir Henry Loch is mentioned as a probable successor to the late Sir Robert Duff as Governor of New South Wales. As, however, Sir Henry was formerly Governor of Victoria, we do nob think io likely that he will be selected. The second reading of the Welsh Disestablishment Bill has been carried in the House of Commons without discussion. The real attack on the measure will be made on the motion for the third reading. By an explosion in a coal pit in America seventy lives have been lost. The British Government has declined to interfere in Mataafa's case, on the ground that there is every reason for believing that he is being well treated.