LONDON CHAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13722, 11 April 1908, Page 5 (Supplement)

LONDON CHAT.

i TIROM Otlß OWN CORRESPONDENT.] •.V-'■■•'•■••/■'■• London", February 28. adoring the current week Ministers have ferooght down two of their most prominent :-•'";>■' *ijd most debatable measures, whose very sanies reek of violent antagonism and fierce ferhtuig— Education Bill and the Licensing Bill- Of their vast and complex prollfeosals I shall not here attempt any analysis, Especially as their interest is in reality pureBff)v local. I will merely remark in passing l&fi&at each is already being furiously denounc&«<¥ed 1 ' ; by opponents as "rank robbery," "pure confiscation," "gross injustice," ♦'utter nonsense," etc., etc. But each, and "a fortiori both, may exercise a trex mendous influence on the political history sot only of the Kingdom, but of the whole Umpire, before wo have done with them. •''•f - .'■The end is not yet"—is not even in sight! S3fflvf~: ; ; ■ ——— . influenza continues to run riot throughout • the country. The present epidemic appears * to he 011 cof the worst, if not absolutely the worst, yet known in Britain. Never, or - ' hardly ever 1 suppose, have so many people , fallen into its clutches. :No class is exempt :"- . _frnm Royalty downward—and while the - * flu" itself has been exceptionally fatal in its effects, its complications and sequela? are proving exceptionally fataller—if I may use the expression. Bronchitis, tonsilitis, " - laryngitis, tracheitis, otitisa peculiarly „'' diabolic form of car-achy—and worst of all, - ■"- pneumonia its frequent concomitant, ieart-failure—seem always lying in wait for '' ■ the Hapless iniluenzist. 'The usual fads arc being freely circulated by cranks. Some write violently declaring that tne Jlu epi- "; demic is entirely due to the prevalent pestilent habit of sleeping with closed windows. '. • Others assert with equal abusiveness that the main, if not sole, cause of "flu" is the ' dangerous and growing practice of sleeping with open windows. Some writers have actually attributed the origin of this scourge to church-going, on the ground that the atmosphere of churches and chapels is invariably rich in microbes. Others sadly and solemnly retort that, on the contrary, the ecouree'is applied as a punishment for the present laxity in attendance at places of worship. Who is right? Or are both sides talking what Mr. Bernard Shaw calls ■"'-' "tosh." I confess my own judgment inclines to this last view. The plain fact is that influenza is an epidemic, and— von are! I wish it would go, though! Last week alone the death-rate from flu Vent up from 80 odd to 126. : . r £h& King is shortly to go abroad, to Biarritz, travelling by way of Calais and Paris and remaining for a few nights in the French capital. About the third week in April the King and Queen are, according to present plans, to pay rather a lengthy visit to Malta, staying quietly with the Duke and Duchess of Connaught. ■ . Considerable indignation has been aroused by the suggested' demolition of the Old '' Council Chamber at the Guildhall, in order to provide a site for the erection of the new rating and assessment work that devolves ' upon the City Corporation under the recentv ly passed Union of City Parishes Act. It - ""'' ja not likely that the matter will be defi- ' nitely settled immediately; it is at present trader discussion. This Old Council Cham- : ber is not a very ancient building, it having been erected by George ; Dance, the architect to the city, and first utilised in = 1777 for , the meetings of the Corporation. It has many historical associations, however, and has been the scene of presentations 0! the Freedom of the 1 City to Nelson, . Rodney, Howe, s Hood, Duncan, ; William Pitt, Peel, Wellington, Brougham,' Colin Campbell, Livingstone, Outram, Disraeli, »nd Shaftesbury, and in contains some fine baintings of foreign sovereigns and judges *f the 17th century. Mention of the Freedom of the City, by -the way,' reminds one that a movement was recently set on foot for conferring this distinction upon the famous Miss Florence Nightingale. But tne proposal for this recognition of her never-to-be-fogotten services to her country has been made too late, for the lady is now in the evening of her life and is much too aged and feeble to '"'■ . attend personally at the Guildhall, and it seems to be the rule that this honour cannot be conferred elsewhere than within the city itself and upon the recipient in person. The authorities therefore have come to the decision of presenting an illuminated address instead; this will be handed over to her re- "• presentative, at the Guildhall next month. Thoughtful as ever for the sufferings of the tick, Miss Nightingale has made a special request that the address Khali not. be enclo'sed in the proposed 100-guinea casket, •■ ' but that the money shall instead be devoted ~, to two institutions in which she is interested—the Hospital for Invalid Gentle- ■> women, in Harley-street, and the Queen Victoria Jubilee Institute for Nurses. This request has been agreed to, and the address will be enclosed in a neat and unpretentious saken-box which will cost not more than five guineas. " At the 11th annual service in connection with the Queen Victoria Fund for Clergy. '-> held at St. Paul's Cathedral, the Bishop of St. Albans was in : the pulpit, while the service was well attended, those present including the Lord Mayor, who came in state, the Aldermen, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Mayors of 13 London boroughs, and members of the City Livery Companies. The Bishop, who took as his text, "Even so hath the' Lord ordained that they who preach, the Gospel should live of the Gos- • pel," said that all down the ages this principle had been taught to Christian men. They, must remember that inequalities always existed in the Church, and it was the plain and obvious duty of the Church in every part to see that the resources were so husbanded that the superfluity of those who had this world's wealth might be devoted to those who might be less prosperous. , • What; were the endowments in the Church I - of England when they found that it needed j £50.000 per annum to bring up to the pal- j try sum of £200 those in public patronage | With a population exceeding 1000, and to j .-_ raise to a maximum of £150 per year' #*■ parishes in public patronage with a popula- j tion of 500? That was a potent argument " for such a fund as theirs. He was told that out of that £50,000 not more than "' £500 was likely to go to the clergy in the London diocese. Far more now than ever before would the laity of the Church of England find it a necessity, not only to do ; their utmost for the clergy, when clergy, but to take up the matter of training and equipping men for the ministry. : In the space of four minutes yesterday the remarkable price of £6000 was realised at Christie's auction rooms for a rare little ecclesiastical relic of the 13th century. The ciborium—or case in which the sacred elements are kent—is one of the treasures of -' " the celebrated Braikenridge collection of i ; medieval works of art, the sale of which was begun yesterday. It is formed of cop-' : per-gilt and champfeve enamel, the earliest [[. and rarest enamel work known, and the r Wonderful beauty and delicacy of the workmanship excited admiring comment from the > Urge crowd of bidders and sightseers ''- thronging the saleroom. There was a sent' sational contest for the possession of tins r " ciborium, and after the first word—£loso , —had been spoken, the price went up at an amazingly rapid pace. Several dealers, who formed a group at one corner of the room, . " I could hardly, it is said, conceal their impay tience as they cried out offers of "vim him-, H dred" more in guttural German tones, but " 'stolidly bidding at the other end of the room was M. Durfacher, a Frenchman who ihas iarge shops both in London and Pans, : ggfiadvih about four minutes 'he had outbid , jiffiU his opponents and obtained the prize for the enormous sumof £6000! /Then another Rmbeatadcratest took place for an old Henry , macer-bowl, of maple-wood,'with ; iin about four minutes he had outbid ; is opponents and obtained the prize for enormous sum of £6000. Then another id crcatest took place for an old Henry :. ma?.er-bowl, of maple-wood, with silver-gilt mounts, dated 1534. BidPlidiVg. 1 started at £500, and by advances of ultimately reached : £2300,/ when : the » waa knocked down to Mr. Crichton. ';.;•> Othi;r rate objets d'art were disposed of at { prices;.; and : - to-day's interest centres ' ;'!'■ * cradle in which Henry, V. slept as a Ifllp&bik " ;;-"■.;,,/;:- - '::"■ ■•■•" \.r-..----h-; ■ ■ V;' i