HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1160, 25 May 1894, Page 11

HERE AND THERE.

CLIPPINGS, CONDENSATIONS AND

COMMENTS.

There is an excellent cartoon in a recent issue of the Westminster Budget. The Marquis of Salisbury and the Archbishop of Canterbury are seen sitting at a table, on which is a pie, entitled “Parish Affairs.” Underneath is the legend, “This is Our Pie,” and at the side of the table stands Hodge, hat in one hand, the other extended as in entreaty for a share of the pie. Abovo, on the wall, is a placard bearing the words, “ God bless the squire and his relations, and keep us in our proper stations.” The cartoon is to bo published in thousands and used as “ Campaign literature ” against the House of Lords.

Stead on Rosebery:— Lord Rosebery is the rising hopo of the British democracy. He is the statesman who, more than any other Liberal Ministor, combines Imperial instinct with tho social democratic aspiration. He has been chairman of the London County Council; he is Foreign Secrotary ; he will be Prime Minister ; he is a Scot, a Peer, and a man of means. He is still in the prime of life — buite a youth, as politicians count years and, wonderful to relate, has never yot made an enemy. It is difficult to say whether he is moro esteemed by the Radicals or by the Tories. By both ho is regarded as a security of the first class for tho safety of the Empire and the peace of Europe. Ido not know of another instance of a man so lavishly dowerod with every advantage of rank, age. wealth, culture and opportunity, who has lived so actively and done so much without even exciting an envious enmity on either side of the House. He is a phenomenon almost uniquo, and as valuable as he is rare.

The Marlborough Express points out that the English Prime Minister’s affection for the turf may injure him with the Libera] Dissenters.

Mr Gladstone’s private tastes were bookish and always eminently proper; there was nothing in them to cause grief to the somewhat “ Nonconformist conscience ” of which Mr W. T. Stead is supposed to bo the special keeper, and which is liable to severe awakenings whenever a prominent Liberal shows signs of worldliness; but what will “ good man Stead ’' and his puritanical following havo to say to the fact that a horse owned by the Prime Minister has actually won a good classic race, the Two Thousand Guineas, to wit, and that the samo horse is now a hot favourite for the Blue Riband of the English turf, the Dorby itself? On the other hand, there are hundreds of thousands of Englishmen who have a very firm affection for the so-called “ Sport of Kings,” and as Lord Rosebery’s horses always run strictly ‘ J on the square,” their backers always have a fair “ run for their money,” it may be questioned whether the wrath of the “ unco guid ” will not bo politically counterbalanced by the support of the sporting section of the British public, a section, by the way, which has to a large extent been hitherto strictly Tory. Nevertheless, we fear the famous “ Nonconformist conscience” must feel rather uneasy just now.

A special feature of the National Review for March is a symposium on the Referendum. Professor Dicey sets forth its advantages thus—(l) It may bo so used as to make a clear distinction between laws which effect permanent changes in the Constitution and ordinary legislation. (2) It would ensure that in matters affecting the Constitution, the country always came to a decision on a clear and plain issue. (3) It givos duo weight to the wishes of all voters. (4) It places the nation above parties or factions. Thus it would savo the State from parliamentarism or sway of partisanship.

Mr George Curzon, M.P., one of the smartest of the younger school of Tories, opposes the adoption of the Referendum in England on the following grounds tf) It would involve the grotesque turmoil of a general elootion whenever the two Housos should happen to disagree. (2) When a Bill has been seriously amended by the Peers, on 'which version of tho Bill is the elector to vote? (3) The House of Commons would become a mere registry tho decrees of a parliamentary tyrant eked only by a haphazard plebiscite.

4) A plebiscite going against a Government Bill would be tantamount to a dissolution, (5) against tho Peers, would bo taken as their condemnation. (6) What would bo the position of a membor whose constituency voted under Referendum contrary to his vote in Parliament? (7) The two Houses being as at present politically, the Referendum would only be set in motion during a Radical Ministry. (8) It is a grave mistake to tempt the electorate to believe in its own infallibility.

Here is a mem. for the Rational Dress people of whom we have heard so much of late. Modem Society's Paris correspondent writes: —

In the neweet costumes the knickerbockers are made quite full, being confined just below the knees by a broad threebutton band. A pretty costume, worn by a charming girl of about twenty, which I saw last week m the Bois, was made of a dark powder-blue habit cloth. The knickers were accordion-pleated, made on a wide hipband, and so full, that when walking at a little distance off, they appeared to be merely a very short, full, accordion-pleated skirt. The blouse or shirt, confined at tho remarkably trim waist by an oxodised siltior belt, was of cream-coloured serge, tho “ sailor-knot ” cravat being of powder blue. A short Bolero jacket of similar cloth to that of tho knickerbockers, piped with cream silk braid, a small blue felt tequo with a hugo cream bow; blue stockings, and high-legged tan boots completed a remarkably smart riding dress. For underwear, ribbed silk combination garments are most fancied, the corsets being specially made high in the back, and moderately so in front, with plenty of room, as well as support, for the

bosom. Against a costumo so modest and chic even your Madamo Grundy could scarcely urgo an objection.

Oamaru Mail on the local millers :

It must bo very evident that millers locally have conspired to keep up tho price of flour. It is still .£8 a ton in Oamaru, while tho same flour is selling in Dunedin at £7 10s. It must bo borne in mind that this price is charged in Dunedin after paying 10s railage. Is 6d cartage and agent’s commission. The consequence is that bread inado from Oamaru flour is sold considerably cheaper in Dunedin than it is bore. The oxpense of this fall upon those citizens who havo large families, while tho profit goos direct to the millers. The bakers gain little commensurate benefit, for they mako far moro bad debts in tho present season of distress than tho millers do. The necessity for a farmers’ co-operative association grows daily moro distinct. As it is, tho millers must be making about J£2 a ton profit.

In tho New Review thero is a somewhat remarkable article on the late Lord Tennyson by the late Francis Adams. Mr Adams must have sorely shocked the Tennysonian devotees by some of his remarks. Thus:— The sicklier side of tho art of Keats and Shelley was absolutely to his taste. His one instinct is to look nothing in the face. He would mako of life a pretty play. His touch is always felicitous, but the felicity is doomed to inferiority. He has against him the inevitable difference between enamel work and painting. The!same timid artificiality still moots us at all points. “ The May Queen ” stands for tho first of those resolute bids for popularity which Lord Tennyson was always careful to reiterate. There are 39 verses in this wellknown poem. In 28 of them one of the most perfect little female prigs in all literature takes an over more unconscionable time in dying than Charles 11.

After paying a high tribute to “In Memoriam,” Mr Adams returns to his adverse criticism: —

Those myoptic stumblings of his manhood seem large and lucid beside the distressing mental collapse, the insane and incoherent rliodomontaae of so much of “ Sixty Years After.” Unhappily, the same phenomenon is to be noted in a dozen other cases.

King Arthur is a crucial case, because ho is Tennyson’s deliberate attempt to present to us an ideal figure of social manhood. Ho is “ like a modern gentleman of stateliest port.” The writer who could deliberately paint such a character as Arthur —as tho Arthur of this culminant Idyll of Guinevere —and present it to us as his ideal of modern gentleness and modern manhood, never had the remotest conception of what gentleness meant or manhood meant. Nothing more essentially unmodern, moro false to every notion we possess of true mtrality and true justice, has been written in our time, and perhaps in any time.

Although the general tone of Mr Adams’ criticism is antagonistic, he concludes by stating that “ the poet’s own ‘ last words/ ‘Crossing the Bar/ are perhaps the loveliest Christian lyric an our own or any language.” “It is here,” says Mr Adams, “ that once more we find him at his truest and highest and best.”

Scotland still stands where it did, as not only the most theological but tho most immoral member of tho United Kingdom. While Glasgow is pluming itself on, its virtue in producing only 6‘9 per cent, of illegitimate births, a sufficiently high proportion, Aberdeen, that pink of Puritanical propriety, is responsible for more than 10 per cent, of children born out of wedlock.

John Burns addressed a big meeting of Woolwich Arsenal workers recently, and told them some plain home truths : Tho last time I came to the Arsenal, a dirty, barefooted little boy put into my hands, not the news of an eight hours’ day having been conceded in France or Germany, but tho result of a brutal prize-fight or a race. Men of Woolwich, I have earned the right to speak plainly to you on this point. lam sonry to say we have not got to fear the machinations of our employers or the indifference of the Government, but worse than these is the coquetting of the forces of reaction with tho betting and gambling which are eating the heart out of Woolwich and Plumstead and the labour movement everywhere. I hope the eight hours’ day you have got may lead to the abolition of drink and betting, and to the extension of the brightness, contentment, peace and happiness of evory artisan’s home in Plumstead and Woolwich. A true “ working man’s friend " is John, and one who gives good, wholesome advice, whether it be palatable to his hearers or not.

The enterprising aboriginal. A Mr Utiku has started a roller-skating rink at Manakau!

Hawke’s Bay Herald on the Onehunga rowdyism Onehunga is earning for itself a putrid reputation. Judging by the way it appears to glory in unfair treatment of a woman, the majority of its inhabitants are cads, its police service is demoralised, and the section of the press which caters for Onehunga’s patronage beneath contempt. The Colony is blushing for such a degraded community and admiring the spirited, if undignified manner in which Mrs Yates treats hor blackguardly assailants. That redeems all her mistakes of routine. Hear, hear!

In the American magazine, tho Forum, Mr W. Sandford Evans, a Canadian politician, strongly opposes the idea of the annexation of Canada to the United States. He maintains that the Canadian Dominion is relatively making faster progress than tho United States.

Since 1760, when it became a British possession, the population of Canada (then

00,300) has increased eighty-fold, while that of tho United States (then 3,000,000) has increased only twenty-one-fold. . . Since our North-West was opened up, and particularly since the Canadian-Pacific Railroad was built, the exodus of Canadians to the United States has stopped, and recent statistics clearly show that the tido has turned the other way. Any representatives we would be allowed to send to Washington would be ho hopelessly in tho minority that we would bo exchanging a condition of almost perfect freedom and self-government for one of helpless subjection to a parliamentary majority. Mr Evans prefers tho Canadian to the Columbian form of govermeiit. “All government is yet in tho experimental stage.” “ There is an ideal of Government to which tho xvorld is working, and which wo hopo Canada will first formulato and carry out.”

Our Wellington Social Reform League has an American counterpart in the “ Union for Public Good,” which has been formed in the flourishing Atlantic seaport of Baltimore. The Baltimore organisation is thus described in the Arena :

This body is composed of delegates from nearly all the religious, philanthropic and reform societies of tho city, and its purpose is to mako practicable concerted action on the part of all persons interested in tho public good, . . . to promote the good government, health and prosperity of tho city of Baltimore, to secure useful and prevent injurious legislation affecting its interests, to correct public scandals, grievances and abuses, to restrain all forms of vice and immorality, and to encourage the co-operation of individuals and existing societies aiming to advance these ends. Any congregation or society having for its object tho moral or social improvomont of the community may bo affiliated to this association, and shall be represented at its meetings by three delegates, to be selected iir such manner as each society may determine, and provided with credentials signod by its chief officer. Its president is Charles J. Bonaparte, grandnephew of tho first Napoleon.

In Temple Bar there is a very interesting article making a study in comparisons of the various great men turned out by tho two universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The -writer says that Oxford has had the greatest number of poets, but tho lower quality— For of poots who, according to the modern canon, arc entitled to a first place, Oxford possesses onlv Shelley (who was expelled for heresy), Matthew Arnold, Mr William Morris and Mr Swinburne ; whilst Cambridge can boast of Milton, Dry den, Wordsworth, Coloridge, Byron and Tennyson, net to mention Bon Jonson (who was but a few -weeks at tho University), i Mario wo and Herrick. Cambridge has produced more archbishops and bishops than Oxford, but the town by “ Isis stream ” can claim tho most historians. In philosophers, Cambridge proudly boasts that glorious trio, Bacon, Newton and Darwin. Limiting the Comparison to t-welvo names from each seat of learuing, Oxfoed is represented by Wickliff, Wolsey, Raleigh, Hampden, Chatham, Addison, Johnson, Adam Smith, Gibbon, Shelley, Newman and Matthew Arnold; and Cambridge by Milton, Bacon, Cromwell, Jeremy Taylor, Newton, Darwin* Spenser, Byron, Wordsworth, Pitt, Macaulay and Thackeray.

It is proposed to expend about £IOO,OOO on works to demonstrate the practicability ©f constructing a bridge and railway across the English Channel.

It is a mistake to think that it is in Germany that the perfect system of education is to be found. An article in the Contemporary Review thus refers to the French village schools :

The education given in those schools is very good, tho toachers being all trained and certificated. Tho subjects taught are French, arithmetic and mensuration, history and geography (general, and that of France in particular), the principles of morals, “ instruction civique,” which embraces knowledge necessary to every citizen concerning his duties and rights, the administration of the parish, that of tho Department and then of the State, the use and election of deputies, &0.. and all relating to the manner in which the country is governed ; the rudiments of physical and natura sciences, agriculture (theoretical and practical), drawing and elementary music. Girls are taught needlework instead of agriculture. Religion finds no place in the teaching of the schools ; parents who wish their children to receivo religious instruction send them to the classes held by the priest in the church.

That grim plague of-modern life, consumption!, is the subject of a notable article by a Dr Biggs in tho American magazine, The Forum. The doctor docs not believe that consumption is hereditary

Paronts do not transmit the disease itself to their children, but they mav transmit a constitution which is particularly susceptible to this kind of infection. . . While tuberculosis is communicable, yet it is communicated with far less facility than many other diseases, which are more properly called contagious. Ordinarily, for its transmission, long exposure to infection, and intimate association with the infected individual, are required, unless, because of some peculiar conditions, the natural resistance has been much reduced.

He quoted some tcrriblo figures to show that a vitiated atmosphere is tho chief predisposing cause. For every 1000 deaths from all causes, 103 farmers die of pulmonary tuberculosis, 108 fishermen, 121 gardeners, 122 agricultural* labourers, 167 grocers, while among tailors the mortality rises to 230, and among drapers to 301. Out of every 1008 deaths among

printers and compositors, 461 —or nearly 50 por cent, of all —result from consumption. Finally, it is said that among tho Cornish minors more than GOO out of every 1000 die of this disease.

“ How to prevent consumption,” is dealt with at great length. The most “comprc" hensive and eflicienfc means for the prevention of tuberculosis ” consist, according to Dr Biggs in :

Educating the people as to tho communicable character of tho disease ; in instructing them in tho measures to he taken to render the sputum innoxious ; in the systematic employment of bacteriological examinations of ths sputum for the early diagnosis of tuberculosis; in the proper disinfection of rooms occupied by tubercular patients before they are again occupiod ; m tho establishment of public hospitals for tho segregation, isolation, and treatment of the consumptive poor; in tho'cnactmont of regulations which shall ferbid the employment of tuborcular persons in such occupations as shall oxposo others to danger ; in the adoption of sanitary regulations to prevent the dissemination of infection by means of tubercular sputum in places of assembly ; in tho governmental inspection of dairy cattle, and tho destruction of those found to be tuborcular. By the way, what is being done in the way of inspecting dairy cattle in New Zealand ? Not much we fear.

Moorish women have one custom that commends itself to womankind in general. It is a point of honour among them never to know their own ages. They have no birthday celebrations.

Bad nows for the teetotallers : Two French dootors have come to the conclusion that death may lurk in bottles of mineral waters. In certain natural mineral water* they claim to have discovered whole colonies of microbes.

Three expeditions are now endeavouring to reach tho North Pole. The latest to enter the field will be led by Mr Wellman, who has just left Liverpool. He is sent out by an American newspaper, and hopes to accomplish within a year a task which has baffled humanity for centuries. He will establish a depot of provisions and then make a rush for the Pole in aluminium boats and sledges.

Some months ago we quoted in tho “ Here and There” page some marvellous instances of Indian magic, alleged to have been witnessed by a German scientist, Dr Hoinrich Hensoldt. This gentleman gives some more of his very uncanny experiences in an article in the Arena. Visiting the “adepts of Sorinagar M (the capital of Cashmere) he was taken to see their library by his guide. The doctor lamented that he could not see anything in “ the inky darkness, 1 the night being “ pitch dark.” “ What a pity/ 1 he exclaimed, “ we did not bring a lantern with us. *

“Oh, I forgot,” said the adept, and suddenly, as if at tho fiat of sorao unseen power, a flood of light surrounded mo, and I found myaolf in a high-roofed apartment devoid of furniture, except an old chest and two sheepskins in the middle of the floor. Tho light was certainly not produced by any artificial means; it was as bright as day, and of that unearthly refulgence which on more than one previous occasion, had startled me in certain of the feats of Yoghis in Central India. Tho objects in this light cast no shadows, which clearly proves that its source cannot be an incandescent body liko the sun, or any other radiating point. The nearest definition—although a poor one —which I can give of this light is that of a luminous fluid, which is suddenly precipitated over a limited space, and in which tiie objects seem to bo immersed. On this occasion the light did not extend beyond the threshold of tho apartmont, where it did not merge by gradual transition into the darkness of the corridor, but seemed cut off by a sharp demarcation line. The same was tho case with the windows, which w r ere square holes in the wall; there was inky darkness and the drizzling rain without.

Good story, if true, and good all tho same, if not true (told by “ Woomcra’ in the Austrcilasian.

The news some people are most eager to hear is who’s boen engaged, aud they are ever on the look out for signs. Lot me give them one. Said a friend to mo in the smoking-room of my club—“ You remember that artist chap who burnt his finger at ‘ The Wattles ’ during the Easter holidays trying to fix a flower in his buttonhole with a lighted match, and how we all thought ho had gone off his head when he tried to explain. He has cleared the mystery up since. He had just been proposing to that pretty girl we saw him spooning with in tho garden; she said ‘Yes,’ and to get cool for dinner and disguise his excitement, he thought tho best thing was a smoke. But when he came among us he mistook the flower she gave him fora cigarette,and the match for a pin, and in his efforts to light a cigarette and fix the prize in his buttonhole, ho got mixed.” The next time I meet a man who has bjp<it his fingers, I shall say—“ You have been proposing!”

Either the doctor has seen some most marvellous things or he is like the editors of the New Zealand Opposition newspapers, possessed of great powers of—imagination.

Protestant and Catholic missions in Polynesia are compared thus significantly by Mr Bryan J. Clinche in the American Catholic Quarterly Review :

The Gambicr Islands and Wallis and Futana in the South Pacific are a striking contrast to-day with Hawaii. In tho firstnamed group tho condition of affairs, when Catholic missionors landed there, at tho very time when their colleagues were forbidden to enter Hawaii, was almost identically the same as in the kingdom of Kamehameha. The race was the same, with similar language, institutions and superstitions. . . Under the sway of the Catholic Church the native population has steadily grown in numbers and in material pros-

perity, and at tho present moment they • form tho only branch of tho Polynesian race ’ | {which can be fairly said to live and thrive. ~ To briefly sum up tho results of tho Pro" tostaut missions in Hawaii, it can bo said that, getting practical control, both intellectual and political, of a heathen raco socking for religious instruction, they havo only succeeded in building up a wealthy colony of a few hundred planters and merchants in the islands they professed to evangelise. Tho population whose conversion was their nominal object has welcomed them, and m two generations it has all but perished. The survivors, for the greater part, havo rejected any form of tho doctrine* they once received ho readily, and where they have not received the Catholic faith they havo practically ceased to bo Christians.

Wo should like to seo a Protestant missionary’s comments upon tho above.

The Queen, it appears, before leaving Windsor had a fall and injured one of her knees, but she has now quite recovered. An Italian photographer has taken a portrait of Her Majesty, which has recalled a story of Mr Downey when ho first secured tho Queen as a sitter. “ What did you say?” and “ What did sho say ?” asked friends. “ Well,” said Mr Downey, " I took Her Majesty just as.l wad anny ithor pairson, and when I’d settled her, I said, ‘ Wad it please Her Majesty tao put on a more favourable countenance ?’ and sho said* * Sairtainly, Mr Dooney.’ ”

An extremely interesting article in tho Contemporary Review is headed, “ The Scientific Problems of the Future,” and Lieutenant-Colonel Elsdale, the writer, indulges in a little prophecy. We utilis the condensation of the Review of Reviews.

“Tho conquest of tho air is the first.’* Already navigable balloons are being propared by the French War Offico which arc expected to go at the rate of 25 miles an hour. Failing the sudden invention of a true flying machine, the writer anticipates a progressive development of this class of balloon. First, the gas will havo simply to sustain the weight—the lifting power will be supplied by the addition of air-acrews. The air-screw or propeller will gradually predominate, until it does the work of wings, and tho balloon is rondered superfluous. The flying machine was 14 years ago, in the then condition of mechanical science, demonstrably impossible; but if tho present rate of progress be maintained for another 14 years, it will have become actual. Tho flight of birds and the general laws of aerial locomotion havo been carefully studied.

Of course, tho “flying machine” is to come, the writer of the article considering that if practical engineers only apply themselves to the problem it would soon bo solved. The " vital issue '* is to achieve “ stable suspension in tho air.” Once let tho flying machine bo stable, strong, safe and powerful enough for its work, and it will represent the safest kind of locomotioir e ver Invented. . . The revolution made in locomotion by the flying machine, whereby we shall be able to run from London to Now York in perhaps from 36 to 48 hours, and from London to Pari* and back between breakfast and luncheon, will be at least as great as that caused recently by the introduction of railways and steam navigation. . . Tho machines will run at a tromendous pace, probably up to or exceeding 100 miles an hour. When this is possible, the editor of the Mail will at length be able to spare time to seo tho Melbourne Cup run.

The latest thing in “ reconstruction M «—• not of a bank this time. Says Modern Society :—

The enamelling of tho face is completely abandoned by the grand ladies of Paris, who now submit to a new process of reconstruction of the skin, which is simply a branch of martyrdom, besides being very costly. It is a sort of preparation of tho living flesh, which can be compared to the successive operations through which the skm of a dead animal has to pass to arrive at the smooth state necessary for tho making of a pair of soft gloves. The artificial whito and pink look well afterward on this perfect surface, and the lady can laugh and make the dainty little grimaces which were forbidden with the enamelled faces; but hours and hours of silent torture, passive, smarting, &c., have to be spent to obtain the desired result.

Here is a pleasant little picture of the Parisian cafe in the working men’s quarters. It is given by Mr Sanborn in the North American Review :

The furnishings are not in the best taste, thev are chiefly glitter and gaud. Nevertheless, tho room is a beautiful sight; it is so full of the brighter aspects of humanity. Here are bloused and frockod labourers, with their white-capped wives and their black-aproned children; petty tradesmen and tradeswomen, and one or two uniformed soldiers. On tho tables are glasses of darkbrown coffee, light-brown beer, red wino and pearly absinthe, beside cards, dice, dominoes, checker and backgammon boards, tally slates and newspapers. Here also are tobacco smoke and good humour, and emulation and curiosity and labyrinthine chatter, but no drunkenness or rudeness or tobacco juice or saturated sawdust. Various journals are read aloud, and their reading is illuminated by subsequent discussion. This exchange of views soon makes accomplished conversationalists. . . The develops tho courtesies of life—makes its patrons, though they bo working people, true ladies and gentlemen. The caf<s is to a degree the French neighbourhood tea, church social, sewing circle, lyceum, current items club, reading club, social club and corner grocery, having some of tho elements of all and allcf none.