LONDON CHAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13455, 6 April 1907, Page 5 (Supplement)

LONDON CHAT.

[tIIOM OI K OWN CORJIESPONDKNT.] London", February 22. orKNiMi OF "'hi-: xkw 'IT.Cltd CATIIKDItAI.. Sixck their return to England the King ami Queen have been taking tilings very quietly, continuing the course of domesticity mid private visiting which, in theory, they pursued while in Paris. lln I'rince ami Princess of Wales, however, are at present engaged nice more in heading some special Festivities in tin- Far West, On the previous occasion, 3J veins ago. they went, it will In' remembered, .11 connection with the opening of the completed new cathedral at Truro. In the present case tl,ev have gone to open the recently-con-structed extension of the great Keyham Dock at Uevonporl. Of the ceremony itself little need he siid- The- Prince and Princess embarked j„ the Admiralty steamer Vivid, which steamed up the noble expanse of the Hainoaze to the entrance of the new and .'igautio docks, which is approached by a lock so vast that it con admit the largest ship of war 11 the "oihl. the Dreadnought, over its sill at the lowest spring tide. A twisted silk ribbon of ted, white, and blue spanned the entrance from side to side; as the Vivid glided tin a sharp blade, which hut' been fixed on her fuu.-tay, severed the ribbon, which Hew apait right lid left, this being the signal for the tremendous thunder of the Royal salute lired by all the numerous men-of-war in the Manioa/.e, a memorial stone being simultaneously unveiled. Then cams the customary speeches anil presentations, and the formal naming of the new dock, "The Prince of Wales sin." The Heir-Apparent at the same time expressed his belief that Devonport was now "the largest and most important military port in this country —if not in the world. ' Unfortunately the pleasantness of the affair was badly marred through the continuance of the bitterly cold northwesterly gale, accompanied by shaip squalls or in, hail, and sleet. Hut no -me could be blamed to. the inclemency of the weather, and everybody endeavoured to make the " best of a bad job.'' .UK 1.1 UMAX lUT.KA SKASO.N. Just as all musical and artistic people were congratulating themselves on me brilliant success, musical, artistic, and financial, of the recent winter season ot Uerniau Opei-t at L'ovent Harden, that season suddenly and most unexpectedly ended in mysterious and disastrous and as yel unexplained collapse. 1 lie original season of tour weeks laid been extended by two more, one ot which had passed. Eoi the concluding week lull programmes and casts had been announced and large bookings nad taken place. And to-morrow lUgnt was to have witnessed the close amid a olaze of triumph of a great and splen-didly-conducted enterprise. tint last Monday morning, when the members of the company attended to receive licit salaritts, none were forthcoming, nor could any of the authorities lie discovered, save the permanent caretakers of the theatie. Inquirers for -M. Ernest Van Dyck, the famous Wagnerian tenor, who was the general manager of the enterprise, were imormed that tie had left for the Continent, that morning. This appeared hardly consistent with trie published official announcement, that owing to his serious illness it had become necessary to close the season abiuptly ■ nd to omit the second Intended week of extension. There was also a promise to return all moneys already paid tor booked seats. No promise appears to have been made as to the payment of the salaries, owing, and 1 understand that many members of the company were reduced to dire straits, being unable even to pay the bills they had incurred for board and lodging on the" strength of the money due to them. London is still without ar explanation of this sudden and extraordinary collapse of an undertaking which had been not merely exceptionally brilliant and successful, both musically and artistically, but also commercially, 't the invariably crowded houses could be taken as a criterion. But the collapse was destined to have consequences of the most terribly pathetic and tragic character- Many of the members of the disbanded company, finding it hopeless to stay on in London in expectation of receiving the money due to tuem —•being, indeed, in most cases unable to do .so through lack of fundsarranged to return to their homes in Germany by the cheapest route—that via Harwich and the Hook of Holland. They accordingly took their departure the night before last by the Great tern boat-train to Harwich, where they embarked in the company's fine steamer Berlin, for the Continent. Elsewheie I deal with the terrible voyage that followed and its still more terrible and fatal novir.ltirirtM it lull-., til s:iv that

every one of those unhappy opera-singers went to a watery grave on the very threshold of their port of destination. Their total number is stated to be no fewer than 35 persons of both sexes. As it happened, only one of the principal operatic artists was among them, but she is one hose loss to the world of musical yrt is to be great i\* lamented. She was a certain .Miss Schoene, who. when Madame Ackte had ceased to appear, owing, it was -alleged at the time to a severe cold, but as is now suspected from an affection of the chest-— Miss Schoene took her place as Klsa in "Lohengrin" and Klizabeth in " Tautinauser," in both of which parts she achieved an immediate and brilliant success. She had many points in common with Ackte, including personal beauty, girlish charm and grace, and a peculiarly sweet and fresh voting voice, most artistically used, (iieat thing? welt expected of her in tiie near future. Those expectation*, alas! can never now be realised. mk.tko noun; lew. HISTORY. Knglisii meteorological history has few parallels for the terrific tempest which has raged over this country as well as a large part of Lurope during the greater part of the current week. It has been technically it true cyclone of extraordinary magnitude iind violence. its advent was s< sudden that it came as a general surprise. It was only a few veteran watchers of the skies .Hid glass who susjiectid last Tuesday afternoon that an exceptionally heavy gale was at hand. it was, indeed, mole a certain sinister aspect of the clouds, added to the reports iiom abroad of a falling glass, that suggested the proximity of the storm. For the barometer, locally, had hardly begun any serious descent when the storm was upon us. To add to its grim and menacing character, the hurricane burst upon ha almost exactly at midnight. During the whole of that night and the following day and night it raged with amazing fury, and even now, on Friday, it 's only lulling by degrees. Some of its freaks have been very remarkable- It is not usual in London, with its lofty buildings, and its comparatively narrow and sheltered streets, to see windows and shopfronts blown bodily in. But that occurred in several cases on the present occasion. In Fleet-street, not many yards from the London office of the New Zealand Associated Press, a heavy mass of static coping was blown bodily over, and fell with a terrific crash upon the pathway, fortunately without hitting any passerby, else as one observe rather unpleasantly remarked, "There would have been a nasty mess of raspberry jam.'' There was also a great destruction of old and valued trees in various parks and gardens ; in the suburbs and country the devastation was enormous. One provincial bank was simply crumpled up like a Chinese lantern ; a vast drillstied was forcibly entered by the wind through the smashed windows and loots, the immediate sequel being that the wholt roof was hurled bodily skyward, descend ing in a. confused mixture of broken gla>». splintered wow' and twisted iron. Happily no one was seriously injured in that mishap, but many lives have been lost throughout the country and around the coasts by failing trees, wrecked buildings, Hid shipwreck. One incident may illustrate the apal ling force of the gale. The London ant force of the gale. The London anc North-Western main line to Holyhead, fin principal ominunication between Londoi «.nd Ireland, runs for the 84 miles Iron Chester to the Menai Strait, almost dm west along the southern shore of the Dc< Eetuary; it is therefore badly eijxjsed U

the full force of the westerly and north|westerly gales which are so frequent there. , When the gale was at its height, in the small hours of Wednesday morning, the (Irish mail train, hauled by two powerful enjgines. was so seriously 'inpified by the loice of the wind that its speed was j brought down fvom 50 to five miles an j hour. a. mere walking pace, and the consumption of steam was so excessive in order 'j to make any headway at all that special I stops had to be made fin water—vi sulli- ■ ciciicy not being obtainable from the track- . Houghs from which the locomotives take t it up at speed. Hut the second Irish boat !train, about two hours later, had a still , i worse experience, being actually hiought I to a dead stand by the sheer fury of the ' wind, although the engine, a. poweiful and • relatively new one. was exerting itself to . , the utmost to make headway. It was . only when a temporary lull occurred that _ the driver as able to induce his locomo- j live to make another effort. As for the experiences of the passengers who embark--1 ed from both of those trains in the cross-, ('limine! steamers for Ireland the unhappy . victims prefer to draw a veil over their I Miffcrings. 1 deem it considerate not to ! raise its edge. ' I -MKNINOITIS. . | hat very unpleasant and peculiarly i fatal disease, cerebro spinal meningitis, i not content with the ravages it has per- 1 formed in Northern Ireland and Western I i (Scotland. or with the entrance it has ef- ■ ■ fecteol to Liverpool, has now come to Lon-1 {'don, and has already three deaths to its • ''credit. So far the doctors appear quite | ' unable to grapple with it, or to arrive at i any theory ot causation, or to devise any j .'remedy. They believe it not to be infectious or contagious, but they find it invariably accompanied by the presence of [ ' a special microbe in the fluid of the spinal j column-—and there their discoveries and] - knowledge both end. Where the microbe | • comes from, or how it enters the human j |body they seem unable even to guess. But . so far as one can judge from results the | mysterious entrance ot a single microbe | ' I into the body of a living person appears I ' to be about as fatal as the bite of a cobra, ; and almost as rapidly so. Death, in many cases, seems to result in a few hours after , j the first- svmptoms of the disease appear. ; In these circumstances it is not surprising! ' I that a good deal of anxiety, and even | ''apprehension, should be felt that so mys- j ■jterious and fatal a complaint appears to, . have established itself definitely among Isuch a vast population as that of LondonIt. KKlIt HAltl)li:'s OPINIONS. I Mr. Keir Hardie —whose first name is {common pronounced as if i f were spelled! {with a "q and a "u" instead of a " k" —; 'has been airing his advanced opinions at j Cambridge. He does not seem to have' -made much impression upon the Cantabs, , . but whether lie intended it or not he cer-1 tain'iv has been the means of leading them' to exhibit themselves in their most, uii- ' favourable aspect. His visit was made the! ■occasion for what is called in the presumably gentlemanly institution, namely, the j army, the navy, and the university lag." i ,1 need not explain that this, put into sim■'pic English, • means a. revolting and disgraceful display of blackguardism, bully-i {ing, and cowardice. The "niggers" ate . always careful to practise thT'ir brutalities i : only when they ale in overwhelming I ■ strength and numbers, so that they are i ■ I presumably secure from immediate i»pri -, , { sills. In this case they conceived them- j •selves perfectly safe, being assembled in! •Ilarge numbers, in offering the grossest in- 1 ■j suits and outrage ai a man w ho, even if lie j >i advocates views repugnant to their own, i was at least a respectable person and a 1 'responsible member of Parliament. He was : j moreover, in the position of a guest- The . fact- that this rendered their conduct all the , more cowardly and contemptible seemed to - {enhance its zest to these unworthy mem- ■ i hers of a distinguished learned society. I ! And so they not only hurled at the speaker > all sorts of vulgar insults, but also pelted 1 him with vaiious offensive missiles, ini i eluding small glass tubes containing corro- , sive acid, or filth of various kinds, or ■ icompressed gases derived from filth, such ; as sulphuretted and phosphoretted hydrogen »I which yield the pleasant odours of animal i decomposition. Mr. Hardie personally showed me the burns of the acid on his i (clothing and watch-chain, and the cut made • Iby a phial which was actually flung at him : 'by one of these voting brutes. He is keepling the phial as a- keepsake. And these > j tuttian* are supposed to represent the Ijcreme de la creme of good English society! • I ——•—