LONDON LETTER

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1747, 30 August 1905, Page 2

LONDON LETTER

(From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, July 7. IN SPOUTING MOOD. In tbe Anglo-Colonial circle this week the talk has all run on. sport, and of a truth there has been plenty of it interesting to colonials to furnish food for gossip. Pride of place, of course, has keen given to' the third test match, which even the most rabid supporter of the Australian team can only consider as having ended in a “moral victory” for the Old Country. Next in order of importance has been Australia’s conquests at Wimbledon in the tennis championship tournament. The hero of the day is,- of course, Norman Brookes, who, whatever his fate when he meets our champion, H. L. Doherty, to-morrow afternoon, has covered himself with honour during the week by beating handsomely in turn all the best players we could put in the court against him. Until the final round of the All-comers’ Singles (by winning which from S. H. Smith Brookes made good his claim to meet Doherty) the Australian, indeed, never lost a single set. Smith spoiled that record by beating the visitor twice by six games to one, and altogether gave the Australian’s supporters a rare fight ere succumbing by three sets to two. Brookes’ varied and tricky service, his aggressive tactics at the net, and his surprising power of covering, the court were great factors in his successes. Thus far, even our leading players have been content to use only those strokes which champions of years ago were wont to play. Brookes’s defeat of men like Riseley and Smith has shown them that the old methods, even applied by such masters of the game, are not sufficient to enable them to cope successfully with brainy, up-to-date players of Brookes’s calibre. Swimming has also given its Australian votaries here a chance to talk freely on their favourite sport. First came Miss Kellerman’s fine thirteen mile swim in the Thames, and then Keran’s defeat by Billington in the mile championship, and his subsequent victory in the Mersey Championship at Livei'pool. Of course there has been a desire among colonials to make excuses for Koran in the matter of the mile race. Undoubtedly he was at a disadvantage in that it was his first serious effort in still, fresh water, and he had hardly been here long enough to become thoroughly accustomed to that medium. The chief factor in his defeat, however, was that he met the best man at a mile England has ever pi-O'duced (bar perhaps Joey Nuttall, who- it is said, was timed on the eve ox one of his matches to do 224- minutes) at the very top of his form. The Antipodean® have also l had an interest in the Henley regatta, where F. S. Kelly, -of Australia, aud G. G. Russell, of New Zealand, figured among the competitors for the Diamond Sculls—the chief single-handed race decided at this aquatic Ascot. Russell only survived

a single round, but Kelly, who won the j race in 1902 and 1903, but was beaten last year through being taken ill during the progress of the race, romped through the opposition and made good his right to the prize for the third time. He also broke the record for the course by winning the final in Bmin llsec—l2sec better than the previous record made by the Toronto sculler Scholes last year. COLONIAL TEACHERS IN EN GLAND. t Among the new features of the year’s -Code for Elementary Schools is one of ..special interest to colonial teachers. The hr-*-;-., schedule contains a. list of qualifications which a teacher must possess “ in order to recognised as a certificated teacher.” Hit"! ter to the oniy qualifications admit U-d as valid have been such as arise from exam in a- i tioiis held in this country, except in the i case -'or "a. graduate, or a person qualified by examination to become a graduate m arts of science of any university in i he British Empire recognised by the Hoard for this pm-pose,’ - and even m the latter casts t he applicant for re- j ccgnition nas neon compelled to produce i one or btiier or i la l . ’■ eertuficates of oroficiency m the theory and ' practice of teaciiiug” granted by the College of .Preceptors and certain of the universities m the Mother Country. To this schedule the following addition has now been made, “ or have qualifications and previous experience which, in the opinion of the Hoard, are ■ substantia]lv equivalent, for the purpose of teaching in public elementary schools, to those represented by the Board’s certificate.” This means that in future every case of a teacher with qualifications gained out side the A?other Country will be considered on its merits, and if the applicant . proves 1.0 have qualifications equal 10 tneso represented }>y diplomas obtained i m tins coun'ry, a cerl ilica fo will 11 r j ” r:! uf.i•<!. A correspondent of “ 1 he Times,” commenting on this removal of an obvious 'injustice, >■(■- marks :—“ It is net if, i | H . \ r ;S <- ;;] <o j v that as a result of fids doobiim England will bo overrun with colonial teachers though if that did occur it would mi j v bo th© colonies, that would suffer, seeing we need thousands more ten ebon-, here than we can get from our domestic

sources of supply. But it is quite possible that an appreciable number of the most enterprising teachers in the colonies will take the opportunity of enlarging their experience by spending a few years in English schools; and, in addition to the numerical benefit of getting a few of our vacancies filled up, English schools should be all the better for an infusion of new blood from the Britains beyond the seas. Nor, I imagine, will colonial schools be any the worse for the experience their teachers will have gained in the schools of the Motherland.” JOTTINGS. That clever writer, Mr James Douglas. of the “Morning Leader,” has been turned on to cricket “impressions,” and here is a sample of his panegyric on Victor Trumper:—“But look! Victor Trumper is hatting. Ah, here is our hero. His romantic temper charms the magnanimous multitude. Young, lithe, clean-limbed, bright-eyed, sunny of soul, gallantly gay, daringly adventurous, exulting in his fresh" manhood, a radiant image of the happy warrior—in a moment he sets our pulses galloping. . . . Thus, in perfect knight-

hood, this knightly crowd salutes the perfect knight, the Bayard of Australia. And when all too soon he bites the dust, the noble temper that glows in the ballad of Chevy Chase glows again in the chivalrous crowd. It takes the vanquished Victor by the hand and cries in one glad shout of yielding triumph, “Woe’s me for thee!’ This is Bushido. That is sport.” Oh, come off, James! “Punch” is responsible for the publication in England of the following alleged excerpt from a French paper concerning the recent Australian and Warwick match :—“A Birminghan les Australiens out joue un match contre Wanvickshire. Le howling des Australians etait excellent, aussi Warwickshire fut out pour 161 alors que les Australians marquerent 162 runs pour quatre crickets.”

The “Globe,” ever shameless in its

“By the Way” column, thus explains the Australian first innings collapse at Leeds:—“ln the presence of Warren they all become rabbits.” M’yes; and artful rabbits they proved, “Bossy” being quite unable to get them to walk into his “googly” traps. His average—one for 69 —tells its own tale. At an examination held in Wittey (Surrey) school,' “Empire” was a subject about which the boys were asked to> write their impressions. The following was the answer given by one of the scholars: —“England has long been mistress of the seas. She has not got all the land yet. but she will acquire it by degrees.” The battleship New Zealand, which was recently commissioned at Portsmouth with a nucleus crew, is to have here complement brought up to full numbers at Devonport- on the 11th inst., and to join the Atlantic fleet on the conclusion of the festivities at Brest.

The question of Colonial Conferences was raised, at a. meeting of the Council of the British Empire League on Tuesday, and the High. Commissioner for New Zealand (Hon W. P. Reeves) moved, and Sir John Coekburn seconded, a .resolution, .which was carried, approving periodical conferences of representatives of self-governing communities of tlie Empire; declaring that what was virtually an Imperial Council should be given a permanent existence; suggesting that the next conference .should preserve a continuous existence ; recommending that India should be represented on the council; and recommending also that the council should be able to avail itself of the services of a permanent committee of persons experienced in Imperial affairs whose business it would be. under the council’s instructions, to examine into and report upon public matters and questions; and that the consideration of Imperial defence should be specially included in the de-

liberations of the council. At the Newmarket blood-stock sales

■ja.it Monday, Mr Day acting, I underlet anc! , on behalf of Mr Re-id, purchased the se-veu-year-old stallion Kilelier.;ii- —a good-looking son of the 1837 St. Leger winner Kllvvarlin and Em it a, for 880 guineas, after a light with the Roumanian breeder Negropontes. Jvil- ( ail 'a lls UOt of n iiV IlCCIHint Oil the turf, and he bus yet. to make any name as a sire, nut it may be that lie will get Mr Beiii another as good as his old favouruo Gladsome. Kilcheran was forinv:ay the property of Mr J. JJ. Joel. Mr P. -V. Addle has an article in this mouth’s •' Badminton on a new seat for race-riding, the chums of which he urges in preference to- the American seat and the English seat. One of his critics, in discussing (lie nrlicie, has a sly dig at the Aucklander’s airy assurance, without, however, neglecting to recognise the confirmation of Mr Vailoh tennis axioms in the success of Brookes, the Australian, at the tennis tournament. "lino” writes, apropos the Badminton ” article:-—•“ The article is closely reasoned, and from a. media nical. point of view is incontrovertible, but it is evident that J!r Vuilo realises tluiv oho cannot apply exacl Iv (he same rules to a moving, bounding object as one does to a. pair of scales, for lie does not speak on this subject with (bat t cue of absolute confidence almost approaching dogma which lias curried ■•on v id nni to many of ids readers in other branches of sport, and widen is

now daily being justified at the All England lawn tennis championship meeting.”

A company which variously called itself the New Zealand Trading Company, Joseph,son and Co., and Jackson and Co., and traded at 55, Doughty Chambers, and other addresses, was brought to hook in the Central Criminal Court a few days ago. Joseph lvoplewitz, merchant, was indicted with Leon Bamberger, who did not appear, for conspiracy to defraud. Prisoner pleaded guilty. Mr Gill, in stating the facts, said the case was another of the oldfashioned long firm tricks, by means of which the prisoner, who passed as a. manager, and other, had obtained goods to the extent of £ISOO. Almost every variety of goods was among the property obtained by them, including pianos to the value of £202, and bricks to the value of £153. Detective-Ser-geant Baxter gave a short resume of the doings of the accused, and Warder Knife proved that in 1892 the prisoner was sentenced to ten .years’ penal servitude for drugging a man in order to get him to sign a document which would enable a serious fraud to be perpetrated. The Common Serjeant said people had been defrauded of' considerable sums, and the prisoner’s character was of the worst description. He would not pass a sentence of penal servitude, as the prisoner well knew, for this offence, but he should sentence him to two years’ hard labour. Sergeant Baxter and the other officers in the case were commended. The Hon W. P. Reeves analyses and discusses “The New Utopia” of Mr H. G. Wells in an able paper in the “National Review” for July. Mr Reeves views the Utopian ideal in a sympathetic light. “Every schoolboy knows,” he says, “that Utopia is a synonym for the impracticable, and that, therefore, those who dream of it are visionary and useless, not to say mischievous, people. Every young politician has this impressed upon him, and the fashion of speaking of Utopias with condescension and pity prevails among all sects; among Socialists just as among others. But the humane mind is very stubborn, idealism is as inextinguishable as hope, and youth will still find in its heart a gleam of the lofty conception. The vision which helped Moore to turn his thoughts from the evil tangle of Tudor statecraft, and enabled Morris to picture an idyllic London purged of smoke, poverty, racket, and Philistinism, does not- facie utterly.” The essayist sums up Mr Wells’s achievement by finding that, “if Mr Wells does not spirit us away into earthly paradise, to bask amid haymaking and lovemaking in a mediaevalised Thames Valley, as William Morris did—if he does not make us laugh at capitalist democracy, as Mr Howells did—lbs book in every chapter makes us think seriously, and that is probably just what he designed.”