LONDON CHAT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2152, 23 May 1895, Page 50

LONDON CHAT.

(Fbom Our Special Correspondent.) London, March 8. INFLUENZA. Frost and snow still, which to the public in general has been an unmitigated misfortune. It has protracted the water famine from which so large a number of London's population are suffering such grave inconvenience, and it has aggravated the conditions which make the prevailing influenza epidemic so serious and deadly ... What has carried off so many victims in spite of the alleged " mildness " of the pre-ent type of influenza, has been its sequela, or rather its afcte-n'.iau<s— bronchitis and pneumonia. And both of these fatal complaints are necOßSHi'ily exacerbated in a formidabb degree by the excessively low temperature and- cutting winds. Heuea the death rate has gone up frigh' fully, and the amount of sickness is something porbntous. Some of the public offices and institutions are brought almoifc to a rtmdifcill by the large proportion of their staff* on the sick Jisfc, and in many districts the medical practitioners hive fcbeir hands more thau full. So tfce ill wind blows them Rood at any rate. LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS. Next to this terrible t-p'dermc the trienuial election of the LoDrlon Coui>fcy CoudcU has be?n th<J topic of the week. It has turned out very curiously. In the firnt place, so far as the elective constitution of the council is concerned, it has abWufo-Iy annihilated the large majority which the Progn 69ive^ had in the last council. The result, strange to say, i« a, "tie," the corrected numbers being— Moderates 59, Progressives 59. In the" last council the Pro^reßnives had a majority of 4-8. But the actual voting has been still more decisively adverse to the Progres-iw-s. In round numbers tbe Moderates polled 26,000 votis more fcbau tbe P»ogre*»iv«vi, the respective numbers being 283,000 to 262,000. Thia is a very substantial vicU>ry, although through inefficient tactics the Moderates have failed to secure a majority of members actually returuci. They were timid and badly generated, and so threw away seats for luck of courage to contest them. They 6ee, now that it is too late, that they could easily have won at least three more s<?ats had they tun two CiiididaUjs in every district. But they were afraid of vote's being " split," and so they have only scored a "tie" ia Bpifceof a voting majority of 26,000. Clearly there has been bad generalship somewhere. What ban caured this extreme revulsion or feeing? One m'ght have suppoted that just now toe Progressive policy would have had special attrnctionK for Londoners who are feoling so bitterly tlw lnisuaanagflmeni; of the water companies and the inadequacy of the share borne by the ground landlords in the general burdens The Progressives aim at rcdre-eing bo f h of thesa wrongs, and yefc they have beeu badly beatan, having lost the whole of th-ir m»jorifcy of 48, and being able to wrest only a single seat from their opponents, whereas the latter won 25 from them. It is true the Progressives have managed to put up the rates by 3£d in the pouud during their term of power, still they have much to show for it. Why are they so treated ? Well, the answer is that they have committed the fatal mistake of mixing up municipal with parliamentary politics. They persisted in treating Progressivitm as identical with Radicalism in figh'iog for a Progressive victory, on the ground that it would mean a Radical victory also. On former occasions the Opposition side h»d streuuouely urged their own people to avoid this error and to vote on muuicipal grounds alone, relying on the pro r es Bed intention of the other side to do likewise. But they were "sold" For while the Conservatives voted for the "best men" on municipal grounds, irrespective of political creed, and so put in many Liberals, tho Liberals gave their votes solely on a political bdßis, and thus, with the aid of their opponents, secured a krg.' majority, of which they loudly boosted as a great Liberal triumph won in London itself t and a clear sign of the substantial revulsion of feeling that; had taken pUce in the metropolis itself in favour of Liberalism, including Home Rule. The C >iit-eivativeß had been ciuigttfc one. bub were determined uot to be trapped thus asccoad time. So they organised carefully for a straight party fight and won all along the line, svre where they lacked the courage to give buttle. London has by a majority of 26 000 voted Unionist and Conservative, as well as Moderate. Thi» is v»ry significant. One curious feature of this remarkable struggle is that not one-half of the .voters used their vote*. The actual voting was only W per

cent, of the voting power. Nothing can exoeed the bitterness of the comments made on the reoult of the election by the losing side. They are wild with rage. They ddolare they do not mind losing a few West Bud seats, but that what does gall them is the fact that the great majority of the working class and of the l%bourin<* districts bad turned against them This they stigmatised as "grosa, scandalous, and incredible." . But let one of their prominent men (Mr Hugh Price Hughes) speak for himself aud for hia party. Addressing a large meebing at Sfc James is Hall yesterday, lie said :-" The defeat of the Procressives was due to the gross, incredible, and scandalous ingratitude of the workmg men of London. He h»d expected the loss of a few seats, perhaps 10 or 12, in the fashionable West End because human nature did not like being forced to do its duty, and the whole policy of the Progressive parfcy liul beea to compel the wealthy and privileged Wtst Eud to do its duty to the poor nnd unprivileged E-»st aud South. But why St. George's in-»hc-E«t, aud democratic constituencies like MileEail, Kutberhithe, aud Greenwich should reject tho men whose sole object had been to make life for them more tolerable, he could not for the life of him understand. Even in Bermond«ey, Befchnal Green, Bow and Bromley, and Fiusbury the Progressives were returned with greatly reduced majorities ; while in Batfcarsea itself, the one working man who was by far the ablest, most influential, and successful representative that London labour ever had (Julio Burns) was actually put second on the poll by an immense reduction of votes, hundreds of workiug men in BaWcrsea voting against the man who had given his life to the working classes. It was, indeed, one ef the darkest and most humiliating epochs in the history of London." This is a fair sp^cim;n of the prevalent tone of Progressive cammeufc. Ifc is a wild shriek of defeat nnd despair. But they take some comfort in the thought that by means of the votes of the eight Progressive aldermen, as against two Moderates, they can secure the election of a Progressive chairman, whoso casting vote, "T. P." points out, would enable that side to elect the eight new aldermen, and bo secure still a working majority in the council. If this bo done it will of course mean that the new counoil will r< present a parfcy in a minority of 26,000 at the polls. It is anticipated that Mr Dickinson, one of the most prominent aud able of the j defeated Progressives, may be chosen as chair- \ man of the uew counoil by a majority gained through the votes of the aldermen. But even the most ardent Progressives admit that, in spite of the possibility of their being able by these various devices lo "cook up" a nominal majority, there is now no chance of their being able to carry through Parliament their pet measures for the unification of LondoD, for the purchase of the water companies, and for " bet'erment." These dearly will have to wait a while, at all events. IRISH IAND BlLt,^ There has not b^en much excitement in the House of Commons. The chief incident has been tbe introduction by Mr John Morlay and the first reading of a new Irish Land Bill, which vr sts absolutely in the tenant tne ownership of his own improvements (for which no renb can be charged), fixes tbe duration of the judicial rent; at 10 y> ara, and enables evicted tenants lo purchase their holdiugs by means of Government loans. ANOTHER "BLACK MAN" CANDIDATE. An interesting movement is on foot to promote the return of an lodiaa member for one of the London coustituoucifts at the next general election. A preliminary meeting was held of the M»hometan Indians resident in London a few days ago, when Me Rafinddin Ahmad was selected by a considerable tnaj >rity as the caudi^a^-e to be put forward. Unfortunately the choico was not unanimous, and two influential mwubera of tho London Hoeir-fcy of Indian Mahometans have openly declared their disapproval of the choice nndo. One of these is the president (Mr Ivadntu'lab), a very clevor young barrister of the Temple, and another is Mr Ab >ul G*iani, au equ+lly able young phy-icinn I have the pleasure of knowing both of them intimately, and 1 do not hesitate to say that either would be a most creditable parliamentary representative of any constituency. Niifcher, however, baa at present any ambition tha f . way, but both fcUiuk that Mr Ratiuddiu Ahmad lacks the standing requisite. I have afso the advantage of his p Ttonal acquaintance ft l d ho has always smbiuoJ t) me a vory able acid ca.Mb'o man, while hs is unquestionably an exfc'lenfc speaker. ! It was he. by th« wuy, who, when speaking I of that meeting to deprecate premature coudemnatiou of Mahiiuae^ans on account of tbe alleged Armenian atrocities, made that r<-m*rk-able o-aN»rical appeal : "To tho citizous of that grwafc Kmpire on which the guv nnvwr sets and of the great cifcy on which ifc seldom n's-s ! " He is a professor by rank and ia properly called ' " Moulvio " (or MaHlav'c — ifc is sprit both ways, bufc ueu&ily pronounced Maulvie). not " Mr," Rofiuddin Ahmad. The Daily Chronicle remarked of him that he "spenks and writes English in a way many Briti^h-b^rn scribblers m'ghfc envy," aud the Sfc Jamba's Gazette says he "ran make a speech in English on a platform beUer than many Englishmen." Nor does he lack higher teftimonials. The late Dr Jowett wrote shortly before his death : "I never met a more intelligent and acoomplifihed Oriental than Maulnvie R>fiu<ldin Ahmad"; a->d Professor Huxley wrote to him lately : "If India sent representatives to Pmliamont I chould be glad to sco y>u as one of thun." Thu9 you will observe the movement is assuming considerable weight, ai.d af 'er the su-cc-ssful result of the experiment of returning Mr D. Naoroji— the "black man "as Lord Salisbury with such extraordinary folly aud indiscretion termed him — to the House of Commons, I shall not be afc all surprised if this means of securing direct parliiim onfcary.representation for the great Indian Empire be again given effect to by the elec'ion of the Mahometan professor, in spite of tho dissent of a few of his compatriots, who seem to have nothing very definite against him. Naturally tbe idea is suggested of a similar representation of England's great Colonial Empire. And this so far as New Zealand is concerned is by no means improbable. Sir George Grey could most likely have a seafc if he chose. Mr Arthur CJayden will " try again " MISCELLANEOUS. A novel attitude was taken up by Sir John Bridge, the Bow street magistrate, in a case wbich came bufore him recni)tly. A young man who had been ejected from a bar for rowdineßß returned and did a good deal of wilful damage. Ho proved to be a good-for-nothing ruffian with wcU-fcxio psreu's The m'*g«*fcrafcj remarked that lh hhnii 'it cc of sue 1 ! w>; hlms reprobah'<; --(jokd viy h -Hy for tb." naldle classes of thi* c-viiit-y. Bufc liis difficulty was what pu:<i<-arn'-nt to inflict tbafc would not fall chiefly oh the parents. "If I fine you, ifc comes out of the father's pocket ; if I Rend you to prison, it comes out of the mother's heart," said Sir John. "Men like you are too heartless to feel the degradation of imprisonment, or the disgrace of ciusing your father to spend money whi<-h ought to go to your ulsters or other members of the family." However, on the whole, Sir John thought it better to go for the father and so

inflicted a fine of £10, in the evident hope, ii one paper observed, that the father might 6o impelled lo "take it out of" his worthless sonj carcase in the shape of a good sound hammsfi* ing. This has euggested the natural refleaCrOii — why not flog, or birch, or cane these jeprctbates who cannot otherwise be "got aft*? 16 might do them good. At any rate, it would probably inspire a wholesome dread of doing' mischief to other persons or things. And this in itself would be well worth attaining. As Ibis the notion that it would "brutaliee" bub& follows— pooh ! . Mr Hall Caine's novel " ThoManxm*n n dbe» not seem to meet with invariably favourable acceptance. It has beon excluded from one London suburban library, the chairman (o clergyman) describing itas "a disgraceful book," and a lady member of the committee as Ir o shameful work." Poor Mr Hall Came I Xtti I daresay he will survive this censure ! A new work on the Paalter, by Mr Gladstone, is in the press, and should be out to morrow. I hoar it iB quite up to its author's usual admirablo stylo of Scriptural comraeittary. It is certain to be road with muck interest in the oolony as well as here. Canon Gore, the successor of the Ute Canon Prothoroa at Weatminster, has bognn his ftrafi month's "residence" at the- abbey, and preaches thero every Sunday afternoon this month. Crowds attend to judge for themselves whether he is tin alarmiDg hecttfc which p.ome of the critics of hia part iv " Lax Muadi " havq declared him to be. But so far he has said nothing startling in the pulpit which onoq accommodated Dean Stanley. Indeed after DBau Stanley it would taks something very broad church iodesd to be sensational. L^st Saturday at noon I attended a most solemn, touching, and impressive service iv t.'io dear old abbey. It was the funeral of tho W.tj precentor, the Rev. S. Flood-Jones, who had. been officially connected wifcn fchafc v&Mtubfo fane for more than 30 years. Ifc waa a /sry simple ceremony. Archdeacon Farrair ..hP Canon Duckworth read impressively the/ it • ■>' i and the soutences respectively. Th« fea^urM 0 £ the service was a most exquisite ar.d Hififon. touching po»f»rmanoe of that uv st ben.»fc»tul and pathetic of all dirgO3, tho q'aan*t" -d chorus " Blest nro the departed," from SpjC' 1 * ora'orio "Die L^tzten Dinge,"uw»Hy njiati'un. > l&ted as " The LMit Judgment." This, m snug by that superb choir in that glorious old abbey, in loving memory of its "master of tho mas'cir," was one of those emotional musical experiences whose recollection is irw-fface»ble. An excellent choice has been made of a successor to the late R«v. Precentor Flood-J^ncs, of Wt stminsttr Abbey, tho vac.iut apporatment having been couf erred on the Rev. Dr Troutbeck, senior canon, who has held officu in the abbey for nearly 30 years. Dr Troutbeck'a name is well known ts every New Zealand musician as the librettist or translator of many popular oratorio?, cantatas, and operas, published by Novello and Co. Adclmit Patti is creating as great a furore as ever at Nice just now. She sang in Gounod's ♦* Romeo" l«8t night the part of Juliette, winch she studied under Gounod hinmelf, and in wbich she has never had an equal— and I s»y this even recollecting Melba's charming singing iv that role l«st s-:*Ron. Ifc is an immense "score" on Sir Auguitu* H*rris's part, having secured hf v for this neHi>orr at Covent Garden, the scene of so many p»sb triumphs. I rather fancy she means to " wipe the eye " (if I may be pardoned the vulgarism) of Melba, Calve, Eames, and all the rest of the new stars. And I believe she'll do it, too ! Nobody knows bow to " fetch " the public 80 well as Patfct does, and this timn sbe -'means business." Wh»t prices will be paid for seivts on the " Patti " nights I tremble to thiuk. According to pre« teat arrangements (though this has not yet been publicly announced) the 41 Diva" will *ing in the " Barbiere," " TravUta," "Romeo," "Don Giovanni," "Faust," " Aida," and perhapn " Cciepmo " She is to sing one song at the PhilhiTin-roic Society's concert next month, and alroady there is a ru>h for the seats. Wh*t a gold mine the voice and charms of a PafcM are to their lucky possessor. Paosurs-by nw? a "swoll" set of fUte afc the West End were alarmed the night before last. A white- robed figure flashed by them uttering wild shrieks of "li.flueuza!" It turned out tbat that was what wa» the nutter with her. She had ifi, and while delirious tlrVcfced her escape from her nurses The spectators were re!i-ved to flivi tbab the vision was not a ghostly portent of fheir coaii-e f* to - Much mdign»tion has been excited in Inverness by the reveUtion that a large nom^roE 1 the kilted members of tho London Swttmh Volunteers are German waiters, who " wear kilfcs of gorgeous design on all festive occasions." The good Scots of Inveru-ss are deeply scandaliiod at this misuse of their uafcioual dr<-F6 But the indignation of the " London Scofctii-h " and its clonel at the imputation M fiercer still. He denounced the statement as " faUe and insulting." So the pcovott of lurerness, who made the bUtement, has apologned and declared it was " only his fan." But I cannot for the life of me see what ioealt there is in saying that the London Scottish contain monben be'ongmg to the premier military nation of Europe. Holland is aboufc to beat vi in another doparbnvufc of trade— that of the laundry Next week a large Dutch washing contract will come into op ration. Ifc appears that thfl Dutch contractors can do the work muca more cheaply than English laundrfß3es, and at least as expedifciomiy, if not more so. The Queen has givon instruc'iona that afc all Stat.' functions the moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is to r^nk next in precedence af'er the bi'hops of the Church of England. Ho is to have precedence of batons, of privy councillors, and of tho Speaker of the House of Commons. This new departure has caused some talk, especially ia view of certain disoitablinhmeufc proposals. Apparently the compound priuciple as applied to locomotives is dead on all English railwaya, excepting the London and North-Western, for which Mr Webb still continues to build hia huge three-cylindered compounds. He has just turned out at Ciewe 10 monster compound engiuos, for the coal traffic, of the eight-wheel-coupled typo, which are said to save a handsome percn'age of fuel. But all tho twocylmdered compounds seem doomed. Even on the North- Eastern line, where the Worsdell " single " compounds were brought out; with such a loud fi >urish of trumpets— amtzing tales being told of tbeir s^ead and haulage capacities,they are all being converted into non-com-pound engines, a» all the Worsdell compounds on the Great Eastern have been for a long time past. They seem to have proved a nevero disappointment aud a somewhat costly experimeut. , . , It seemed a splendid thing last week for the beautiful gardens in the large and famous square known as Liucoln's Inn Fields to be acquired by the County Council and thrown opeu to the publio for ever. Yet already those lovely garden?, which are in reality quite a little park, with many fine old tre9S and velveW turf, are in a fair way to be rapidly and permanently ruined. The gardens are oftea largely occupied by numbers of foul-mouthed roughs playing "roundeii" or "football," to

Che tenor of women and children and other jfiervous visitors. & Lincoln's Inn Fields have some sad memories, put none sadder than that of ono most horrible and ehooking tragedy that was enacted Jn their midst just about 300 years ag->, when seven brave and gallant young Englishmen Were slowly tortured to death and cut into pieces while alive by the order of an Englishwoman. Yes ; that was bo, though it is usually glossed over by courtier-historians. Antony ißabington and his associates for planning the •'release of poor Queen Mary of Scotland from her [illegal imprisonment by Queen Elizabeth had (been found guilty of high treason and senjfcenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Elizabeth thought this punishment far to slight arid wished to substitute a more "lingering 'deathe with sharper paynes." However, it was explained tbat the sentence allowed ample 'scope for unlimited torments if the needful instructions were given to the executioner. •Elizabeth was delighted and wrote a special order that the execution should be " protracted to the extremitie of payne ! " That mandate was terribly obeyed. The hanging was a mere formality, the culprits being simply raised and then instantly lowered unhurt. But then each jrf the victims after being bound on a large "jyooden slab was partially flayed alive, gradually disembowelled, and slowly cut into pieces while 'yet living, the process being prolonged to the utmost possible extent — as one chronicler approvipgly puts it,'" while the full susceptibility to agony was unimpaired and with due precautions for the protraction of the pain." So "perished Antony Babington and six of his friends, and so would have perished the other jseven next day, but for the fierce public indignation excited by the first day's atrocities. And this was in civilised England, in the days of tfehakeßpearet fehakeBpeare and Raleigb, and by the express 'order of the sovereign who is commonly known as "Good Queen Bess." When we denounce Eed Indian tortures, Chinese horrors, or Armenian atrocities, let us not forget what was done .in Lincoln's Inn Fields only three centuries ago, and blush for our country I It has been remarked that in spite of all the talk of wealthy Americaines marrying needy English or Continental noblemen, comparatively few of the American brides of Eoglish peers have been specially rich. Lady Randolph Churchill had by no means a large dowry. Neither had the Duchess of Marlborough, or Lady Harcourt, or the dowager Duchess of Marlborough. Lady Vernon and Mrs Dudley Leigh (who will come day be Lady Leigh) are said to have each about £5000 a year. Lady Craven •will ultimately come into a large fortune, but she is an exception to the rule. On the other hand, an American carried off the richest Englishwoman of the century, Lady Burdett-Coutts, to whom Lord Roaebery's first wife (nee de Rothschild) came a very good second. Mr B*lfour's book on " The Foundations of Belief "has undoubtedly been the book of the past month. As usual, someone has turned up to accuse the writer of having stolen his ideas. This time it is Dr Beattie Crozier, who publishes his plaint in the Chronicle. Football continues to claim many victims to ••omdonts," come fatal. The latest slap at |he Rugby game is rather good. A society belle unexpectedly decided to marry the captain of the local football team. Ho was not very attractive, and people wondered why. At last a girl friend asked her. She replied that it was because she thought she should look so pretty aa a young widow ! Last night was the occasion of an annual musical event in London, the inaugural concert of the renowned Philharmonic Society — for which rnott of the world's greatest composers, including Beethoven, have written to order, and which has been conducted by Mendelssohn, Spohr, Wagner, and a crowd of other musical giants, to cay nothing of Tschaikowsky, Saintgae'DS, and Grieg in my own presence last year r-t»king place at the Queen's Hall. The conductor made his first appearance in that oapacity as " Sir Alexander Mackenzie," and was received with a storm of cheers. He gave the first place in the programme to a new work by a young Scottish composer, Mr Frederick Lamond, whp has hitherto _ been known only as a fine pianitt, but who distinctly made his mark as a composer last night with his overture "The Scottish Highlands," a very striking and thoroughly modern composition, in which all the orchestral accessories once deemed 11 extras " are most freely and at times startlingly employed— big drum, cymbals, tambourine, triangle, and harp included. But the real features of the concert were twofold. In the first place the new and marvellous pianict, Emil Saner, made his first appearance at a philharmonic concert and as a concerto player with orchestra. He played perhaps the two most popular of all piano concertos, which also h«.ve few if any superiors in beauty— the Mendelssohn in G minor and the Weber " Con-cert-stuck." It was a magnificent display of executive skill— its power, grace, delicacy, and expressiveness were unsurpassable. I never heard anything to equal the clearness and crispness, combined with perfect smoothness, of his scales, both » and/; and his double glissando in the Weber piece was quite astonishing. To hear such a performer in thoße glorious woiks, as-ociated with that superb orchestra, was indeed a memorable experience. The public onthusfasm was tremendous, and almost passed reasonable bounds. The second feature was a splendid interpretation of Beethoven's great C minor symphony. Sir Alexander Mackeuz:e adopted the modern quickened reading of the opening theme kuc wn as the "Fate" motive, with the usual result that the first three notes always sounded like triplet. On the other hand, Sir Alexander took the scherzo a good deal more slowly than I have previously heard it played. Perhaps it thus gained in clearness and sonority, but it seemed to me to lose somewhat of lightness and brightness. However, it was a grand performance ; the concluding triumphal march was in itself a mighty memory. The solo vocalist at last night's philharmonic concert ■was a lady who visited New Zealand recently, Madame Clementine Sap:o. She S3ng only one Bong, Felicien David's " Chatmant OiEeau," from " Les Paries de Bresil," and sang it very nicely. Influenza once more ! Its latest fraak is to make a man down Tooting way kill his wife and six children and then himself. Throatcutting was the method adopted in each case Dr Forbes Winslow says he is not a bib surprised at it ; influenza is so terribly depressing ! I do hope that no depressed influenza patient will *' happen " my way with a razor on board,