TOPICS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6861, 3 July 1909, Page 11

TOPICS OF THE DAY

AN AMAZING ROGUE. raoM ouu srisciAL coiutEsroNßENT. LONDON, May it. Humour and fantasy occasionally light up tliu dreary aniiaU «f crime, and tin; Tailor of Ko-penick lun n -serious, rival us ii criminal hamouii,t in -Mr "J->. *taiiicy W.ndell," who la=,t September ama/.vd mid amused 11=. liy an audacious raiden tin, i.xr:lif>iu-i- <>L tlif London aim South Western li.iuk. it may be a., well to n-iri'.-di your readers' iiieniorie., with an outline oi •■UuideUV traud. On ,-seplcmoer li'JrU iu=l, tlnl-leei, branches ol tnc London and South Ucsiem Hank on Inc. .south Mil,; ui tho itat-r. ii-concd advice noli., inlurmiiig lliem lh.it -Mr llaviil Maul") Vllnilcll, ni :i.l. Mum. I'arli ruarl, 11 arie.-dcn, n, triun-lerlliig hi* a(count ol x,Mj ISs ■id to tne wiuxlunl hraiich; that the ■,ic:-0(llil ha,! la-en o;,eiu*l in .May, I'M:,, , U i,| that, Hi.- average balance at the hank inn tsIM or .tlbtw.

J-,ach adv.ee note was ill the same hand-ivritin.g, iiik .-.gm-d with the. uiuiio ~, tin- m.,na r ;,-r ot tin- JlaileMicn branch, ami imrr tne banks sec,ot'eiMlo lor tual dav, "lack." 'Ol tho thirteen branches cig'nt were vi-ited. To inaku tho traud the mine complete, all the papers had been enelo,ed m hank envelopes; even ttie stamps were the property of tho hank.

>-\>. K. Wmdell," in a taxi-uib, visited eight branches of the bank, ami ilrew from each .IiMI in notes ami X'M in sold mi llio 4-trt.-iiijl.il of tliu forged dialts. Then, untieing that the driver of the taxi-cab showed a iilile uneasiness »l,en he jiuihil up at another braucu of the bum;, Wmdell. with uniparalkdcd umlacity, uiiccicd him to drive to the head utnee of the bank in lenchureh itreet, where lie entered by one door and left by another, and then disappeared ■Mitirch-. having -done" the bans: for

Ho was in clue course traced and arrested, as aNo was ii young man named King, second u-Oiier til- lli,j South Kensingion branch 01 thy bank, who is alleged to have assist.-U "winded" in perpetrating the fraud, and to have shared in tlit proceeds. When "vvimlell" was brought on .it Bow street last Friday, it tran.spireu that his real name was Bernard Isaacs. His father is a draper of good repute in Rotterdam, and he educated his young hopeful very thoroughly, for Bernard is "'a man of exceptional ability and genius." Ho is able to speak five or six languages, including, of course, English. lie came to this country when he wus 18. ii.e is now onlv 23, but he has to liis credit one of the cleverest bank frauds ever perpetrated. On arrest "WiudoU" made a fill! confession of his guilt. His explanation of how he came to do the deed is at onco amazing and delightful, and is a most interesting revelation of the youug criminal's tempera men t. "I best to state, not i:i order to excuse, my action, but merely for the purpose of explaining it, that my intension in the fust instance ras not to obtain the money as such, but rather to i'esl myfclf able to do something which others might feel themselves incapable of aci:ompli«hing. In other words, it was the devilment of the matter, the excitement, the ingenuity, the humour, and tho almost impossible success to crown it all which urged me to attempt the fraud. Tho very name assumed—D. S. Windell, intended to mean 'Damned Swindle'— goes to corroborate this intention. : .

f am still very young, and that ihay explain my desire for some excitement. "The Great Tempter exploited my weakness, and from the moment I was successful I was sorry For it. . . "I havo been caught fairly and squarely, anil I can hardly express how painful it its to mo to be treated as a oninitial.

"I have made up my mind to bear Ilio racket euid stand mj- punishment with courage and fortitude, and when f return to the world to become once more a useful, decent and honourable mpmbcr of society." TIIO very impudence of the man is really charming. In "Windell" we have an exnmplo of tUo thief as artist. He perpetrates a. felony as other men perpetrate sonnets, and goes hunting for bank notes a* the hunter of big game Roes after lions or elephants. He does not really care for money, only for the devilment and danger, the throb and thrill, the wit and humour of his exploit. The criminal psychologist ought to analyse this type. ALL ABOUT AUSTBALIA. If I were an Englishman looking for a country overseas to settle in, I should probably find it very difficult to choose between Australia and New Zealand. 'Hie NVw Zealander will say, "Where's the difficulty? There's no comparison between the two." But then, that is just what the Australian says also! And each country ti.na been ably championed. T can imagine aji Englishman after reading Mr Pernber Reeves' recent book on Nc->" Zealand, deciding forthwith in favour of the Dominion; but if ho should then happen upon Mr Bernard It. Wise's naw book "The Commonwealth of Australia," ho would find it by no means easy to choose between the two. Mr WiVe's interesting book is the first volume of an "All Red" series of books on the British Empire which Sir Isaac Pitman and Rons are publishing. The companion volume on New Zealand has been written by Sir Arthur P. Douglas, end will .appear in the course of arother month or so. Jlr Wise's aim has been to give in some throe-hundred and fifty pages a readable survey of the young Australian nation, the special features of its policy, and the ideas, temper, and .conduct of its people. As he savs trulv enough, "the plentiful lack of knowledge about Australia justifies such an attempt." Here are some of Mr Wise's obiter dicta on .Australia and the Australians : "The most independent, self-reliant nn.l courageous of Australians is the Queenslander, who fights nature jesting, Ttocaitse he knows that in -a country of suie'i wealth the tide must one clay turn." "The Australian cuisine is, indeed, the English at its very worst, because the climate is entirely unsuited to what Pr Johnson called the 'ill-killed, ill-kept, j and ill-dieses*! meats' which are the ; stand-by of every meal " "Australians, accustomed to the light colonrß and pretty dresses of their countrywomen, are always struck by the dowdiness of an English crowd. Certainly Australian women have the American knack of 'putting their clothes on well'; and their tendency is rather to over than under-dress.-" "In Melbourne, where tho Scotch element prevails. Sunday is still a day of «loom. Sydney, thanks to her harbour, has never" suffered from the dour Scotch Sabbath." "Unquestionably tho chief amusement of Australia is horse-racing. In no other countrv is racing so popular, or of such absorbing interest." "Nine-tenths of the embezzlements and forgerirs "and breaches of trust which come before the Australian courts are 1 clirectlv due to horse-racing and its con- I constants." "No man who has to work for his l:v- [ ing. whatever his position in life, works onvwhere under pleasanter conditions than in en Australian city." "Comradeship is the bushmnn's characteristic virtue. Energy is another marked fenture." "The dominant of the average voter is to make Australia a better country to live in for men of his own clxiss — for he has learned by' experience that meai of wealth and ability are well able to look after themselves.' 5 "Australia will be the priife of victory in a war between Germanv and England." "It is a perverted sense of loyalty to the Empire which prompts the chief opposition to the Australian Navy. The

habit of colonial dependence on the Mother Country has. become so engrained that a section of the people feels r.o sense of .shame that a country so rich as Australia should 'cadge' for its defence upon tlu over-burdened taxpayer of Great Britain."

AIRSHIPS AND SCARESHIPS. I "'he people who are always discoverI ing German spies in England disguised ]as waiters or tourists have found a. new occupation of apparently absorbing interest. They are writing to. the papers to report having seen mysterious airships making midnight voyages over various [parts of England. The ghostly vessels i have been seen at spots as distant from j each other as Belfast and East Ham, I but the most numerous reports are from i the eastern counties. The "Daily Ex--1 press" .is full of dark tales of a long ! cigar-shaped craft dimly visible through the night air, passing overhead with a whirring noise. These watchers who are particularly lucky espy searchlights and hear ''foreign-sounding" voices. One man found a pipe and tobacco-vouch on Ham Common, and is convinced that they were dropped cut of the nir>hip! Yet another individual, modestly concealing his identity under another man's name, has hoaxed the "Daily Express" with a story which that newspaper gravely printed as "a most important statement." Major Hayiield, of The House, Pinchbeck road. Spalding, describes how, while motoring along the banks of Cowbit-Wash, he heard the now familiar whirring, sound overhead, and looking up saw "a strong, powerful light, and a big black oblong object." He added that he "distinctly heard men talking in a strong guttural tone." In. conclusion the Major asked if some_ inquiry could not be made by the Government. To .save the Government the trouble, a correspondent of the "Daily Chronicle" made all the inquiry that was necessary. He discovered four things: — 1. There is no Major Maylield at Spalding. 2. The House, Pinchbeck road, is the workhouse. •1. One of its occuoants is Samuel Mayfield, a well-known character in the district, accustomed to go by the name of "the General," but nobody who knows him would suggest that he was able to write the letter in question. -1. No airship lias been seen in tho district. GEORGE MEREDITH'S NOVELS. It is one of the ironies of life that when a famous author dies a rush to buy his works sets in—too late for him to benefit. It is always so, and the case of George Meredith, who died this week, was no excention to the rule. Orders for complete sets of his works began' to pour in upon the publishers on the day of Mr Meredith's death, and have continued throughout the week. The eulogies published in all the newspapers are no doubt responsible for the sudden "run" upon tho works of an eminent author when he dies. Great numbers of people are probably reading Meredith's novels this week out of curiosity—people who havo been familiar with his name for years, and who have, never taken the trouble before to read him. Meredith was never a popular novelist, but a vast amount of lip-ser-vice has been paid to his name ill recent years- When tho long years of negloct'wcro over, when his fame was established, it. became the correct thing amongst book-readers to acknowledge his pre-eminence; far more people talked about him aud praised him than over read. him. Like Shakespeare and Browning, he earned the homage, of the insvueero as well as the honest admiration which was his due. "Which is the most popular of Meredith's novels? Ii a plebiscite of' his readers coulci be taken there is little doubt that "The Ordeal of Richard Fevcrel" would head the list. If 1 were introducing a new reader to the Meredith novels, "Richard Eeverel" is certninlv the first work I should place in his hands, and if he did not come back asking eagerly for more I should forthwith give him up as a hopeless, case. Tho manager of Constable and Co., the firm which now publishes the novels, declares the following to be the order of the six most popular of Meredith's novels: 1. "The Ordeal of Richard Feverel." 2. "Diana of the Crossways." 3. "The Egotist." ■t. "Khoda Fleming." 5. "Adventures qf Harry Richmond.'

6. "Bcauchamp's Career." It is surprising to find the 6parkling "Evan Harrington" omitted from the list. One would have expected to tee it well up among the first six in popularity. George Meredith's opinion as to which was his best novel did not coincide with popular opinion. , When, a friend mentioned "Kichard Feverel" as the heat, the author exclaimed. "Oh, no, no no!" For a time ho would not name his own choice, but at last he" did decisively—"Bcauchamp's Career." One of the best pen-portraits of Meieidith m his later years is that given by Mr Henrv Murray—David Christie Murray's brother—in his recently published autobiography. "I rose and confronted a tall old man, whoso extreme leanness made him appear of more than his actual height," writes Mr Murray. Ho is describing a visit to Meredith at Box Hill before the novelist entirely ceased to be able to walk. He continues: "He was looselv clad in grey tweeds and a soft felt hat. and carried a crooked oaken, walkingstick. His features, ' independently of his grey beard and moustache, were strongh; masculine and expressed physical and intellectual virility of the highest ami keenest sort. It was

the face of an intellectual gladiator rather than that of a poet, and had nothing in it of the ascetic or the Mint: ! He welcomed me with simple and en- ! coin-aging cordiality—l had been rather afraid of meeting him. for I considered, and still consider, him very much the greatest man I have ever had tho privilege of encountering in intimate converse. He had a curious and memorable voice, which gripped the ear somewhat as Chianti grips the palate. His manner might be de.-enbed as oldfashioned," with a breadth, repose, rotundity and statulincss seldom met with nowadays. He spoke with a marked drawl and with the accent common to English gentlemen of the periods of the •J'iccadilfv-weepur whisker and tho pegtop pantaloons, the accent of Southern s Lord Dundreary."