TOPICS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6871, 15 July 1909, Page 10

TOPICS OF THE DAY

lion ODE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. LONDON, June 4. ENTER THE COLONIAL EDITORS. The arrival of some fifty colonial delegates to attend the Imperial 1 rw.. Conference is tixo event of the week in London. The newspapers here are making a great feature of thus influx of pressmen from overseas, and every <laj they have been publishing columns ol interview** and imprecisions. The lounge of the Waldorf Hotel, where the visiting editors arc quartered, is a very interesting sight tin so days, it you stroil m there about midday you are pretty sure to find a colonial editor in every ixnnor with an interviewer at his elbow, notebook and xiencil in hand, busily -engaged in recording the visitors impretsione ol I ora ion, the English, and tna coming conference. It is a now experience lor th- editors to be interviewed, but they seem to have taken to it kindly, or it may be that <a fellow-feeling has prompted them not to-send an interview?!* empty away. They can put themselves in -las place, so to speak, and appreciate his point of view. The interviewing proce.-<s 1 has been in full swing all the way from Vancouver to London. “I never knew before what a terrible business it is to Ibo interviewed by regiments of really ! enthusiastic reporters/’ said one of the ’editors. “At first I liked being inter--1 viewed. I was quite eloquent on colonial sheep ami the mutton they gave to a grateful world, and so on, but when I had been interviewed several hundred times the novelty began to wear oil. * sOW ; when anyone comes to-interview or draw me I pretend to be asleep.” ‘ln Lou. don,” said another visiting editor, the nowspaner men aro courteous but linn with you. It makes you perspire the way they won't have generalities, but stick you up for complex facts and accurate statistics. We are all intensely amused at the turning of the tables. It has increased our deep respect for all men who give interviews —their's is hard work. We also admire the skill of the journalist who dissects them.” Some of the editors are revisiting London after an absence of long years, and their impressions are interesting and varied. On© finds the Londoners have grown slack and pleasure loving, another thinks they have brightened up out of all knowledge. This one finds them disappointing in physique, that one is full of confidence regarding their future. AH are loud in praise of the progress that has been made in the rebuilding and the beautifying of Lon<}<m. The testimony of the editor of the "Melbourne Argus” is very pleasant reading after all the criticisms one has heard and read about-poor old London. , “One has heard so much in recent years/' he said, “as to the slackness of trad© and industry in England, that one naturally expected to see some evidences of it in ,his ordinary intercourse and observation in London. In that we have certainly been most agreeably disappointed. The London to-day, as compared with the London of twelve years ago, when I was here last, is hardly recognisable. It requires a man to be away from the city, as I have been, for so long, to appreciate how marvellous is the progress that has been made, and to give film that confidence in the' soundness of ‘ the future of the country which one who has been here from day.to day might probably not be so encouraged to entertain,” SOBER HOLIDAYS. Each time a public holiday comes round one hears fresh testimony regarding the increasing sobriety of • the crouds. Whitsuntide was marked by this gratifying feature. Some of the publicans in London have admitted that they considerably over-estimated the actual consumption of alcohol when laying in stocks for bank holiday. Moreover, the demand for non-intoxicants is everywhere reported to have been abnormally large. The majority of the men "down East” appear to have spent the holiday with their, wives and families, which means that they drank far less than If they had gone alone to the public houses. It is now illegal to rake children into an inn, and the result is that many parents, compelled to make the choice, decided to stay outside with the children. . Consequently the Children's Act is already bearing fruit in the direction of sobriety. Large numbers of people on Whit Monday, rather than leave their children, 1 went without their drink. Moreover, those who die patronise the publichouses were far more orderly than th©. holiday crowds of former years. The publicans eay that a drunken man is now regarded as an intolerable nuisance, whether in an East-end bar or a West-end Club, and another interesting point they make is that the man who orders a teetotal drink in a bar is mo longer chaffed or sneered at by his comrades. All this points to a growth of opinion in favour of sobriety. The decline in the consumption of alcohol seems bound to continue. The steady improvement that is going on in the conditions of life to-day makes this almost a certainty. For example, th© lower classes have now so many more opportunities than formerly of spending their money advantageously. The spread of education, has had its effect; cheaper trams, open spaces, music, exhibitions, and other things all tend to increase the opportunities for enjoyment outside public bars. Instead of only the puoiichouse, men have now several places in which to spend their money, and, there, fore, they have less temptation. The decrease is not necessarily so much in actual bulk as. in the amount consumed per head of the population. In/ this counection, also, it should be borne in mind that the population is ever increasing. THE EMPTY WHITE CITY. The White City is coming in for some criticism this year. It calls itself officially “The Imperial International Hlv. hibition"—a very high-sounding title. But “Truth" complains, not without reason, that “at the moment the great majority of the exhibition halls are empty, and no sign of inner activity is anywhere apparent," The White City is much more of a fair than an exhibition this year, and even the sideshows are very much behindhand. On the opening week the only two that were working were the flip-flap -and the Scenic Railway. As for the “International" character of the exhibition, there are sections devoted to Italy, Holland, Russia, China and Persia. The Italian court has some good statuary and pictures, and the Persian some fine specimens of the carpet-making industry; but none of the other foreign courts are at all repnsentative. There is but one star in the Imperial constellation, and that is New Zealand, which has an admirable display. No other self-govern-ing Dominion or colony has sent an exhibit. There is a woman's palace—not nearly so good as last year’s—a palace °i Applied Arts, a palace of Decorative Arts, an Irish section, a collection of historical motor-care, a. machinery-hall and a. collection of Scotland Yard relics , -a-boxit all. Whether the exhibition will be improved and enlarged as the season advances remains to be seen.

JLii© promoters hav© also been severely criticised by the National Union of Clerks over the wages paid to the exhibition clerks, and the hours they are compelled to work. Tho secretary of the Union declares that “the White Slaves of the White City," as he calls them, work from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and sometimes to 3 a.m. Some of them have to go to Mr Imre •Kiralfy's house in Cromwell road, at 10 p.m., to take papers, books, etc., and are kept there until 3 a.m. They: have then to tramp back to the exhibition (a - distance of about two miles) carrying their papers with them, before they, are at liberty to go home: and they are expected to be at the office as usual, at 8.45 a~m. Some of the clerks have to work on Sunday

ii/om 10 a.m. to 7 and 8 p.ra. In return 'fir their labour they eret from 30s to 33s a week. No overtime is paid, and no tea money allowed. The Sunday work 35 not paid extra. No clerk can leave 'trie office under any pretext whatever, except during luncheon time, without first reporting himself to the tinieiCeeper and staling where he is going to; and the authorities claim the right to did details you have a glimpse of tho seamy side ofithe goigiotis White City. SANITATION AT A PROFIT. One of the ino 3 t important problems of modern life is the disposal of sewage *iudgc. Up to now most towns have effected this by irrational and co.-Uiy procremes, (Alt Dr Grossmann, of Handle*ter, maims to bo able to effect it in a rational manner, as to become a .-.ounce of profit. In England a.one he computes that 40J,t0u tons of r.oap are used every year, practically ail of whicn finds it* way into the sewers. It is irom the recovery of lire valuable fatty acids contained in the soap that Dr urossiuana designs to derive pva*t of tho revenue to oe piOauced oy his. process. The other part is obtained from the residue, which posso.-s-s considerable mammal value and can be stored or used on land without dealing a nuisance, ’this residue, which is in the form of a dry powder, contains nitrogen equal to 8 ter cent of sulphate of ammonia, and its value is enhanced by the fact that it contains also 1U per Cent of partially decomposed oiganiu matter. The process briefly described is as follows: j-iie Mtidge caice i» dried by neac, mixed with a little acid, and passed through a specially-designed retort, in widen it is wubjected to a current of superheated steam. The latter carries with it the fatty acids, and these, as well as the steam are condensed in a tower, into which water is injected. Tho condensed fat collects on the surface of a tank, and can be easily and cheaply punlied, when it yields a grease rich in stearic acid, which is a valuable article of commerce, and used in very large quantities. Dr Grossmann estimates the average profit for a town of 100,(JU0 inhabitants at about J£2stO pelannum. A large experimental installation has been intermittently working at the Oldham Corporation sewage works for the last twelve months, and it is now in progress of b,eing extended and converted to continuous work, when tho installation will be able to work up about 1000 _ tons of pressed sludge per annum.