LONDON CHAT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2210, 9 July 1896, Page 54

LONDON CHAT.

(Fxwi Oub Own Correspondent.) London, May 16. THE JAMESON EAID. Politically that most unhappy pieca of torn* foolery— that most idiotic of "blunders worse than crimes," and of crimes the most imbecile —the Jameson raid, continues to be the most troublesome and sinister feature in contemporary history. One would think that the new Laureate— l myself cannot accept the prefix "poeb"— must feel very siok indeed when he recollects those ridiculous and disloyal verses which he was in such an unlucky hurry to dash off for The Times, and in which he set grammar, rhyme, and common sense alike at flat defiance. He must be vety " soray " belauded that "foray." Many other worthy and impulsive people who alfo deified Jameson and Co. are foeliog awfully nrserable and sßhamed jusb now to find oub how grossly they were duped. What "riles" "them the most horribly is their having been taken in by all that disgusting cant about "women and children in peril." Ib has been made as dear as possible that no living soul was in the remotest danger except the innocent Dutch victims of the rifles and Maxims of Jameson and his fellow filibuster*, and that the Pecksniffian : letter, which was meanly tendered as an excuse for the rascally act was a pure fabrication got up tojuitify the " flotation " of that fraudulent "company," the Jameson enterprise. The snivelling cant of the whole thing nickes one quite ill. Thote telegrams were a veritable revelation, and a most unwelcome one to many people. Their publication was a master stroke on the part of President- Eruger, who is entirely lord of the situation, and, indeed, has been so throughout. When the promoters of the Jameson raid were organising tbeir scheme of wholesale burglary, in absolute secrecy as they fondly imagined, old Oom Ptul was watching every move, in the fullest knowledge* of oach step that was taken and contemplated, and perfectly propared to meet and dftfeat ib. I hear that the persons concerned feel the frightful humiliation of the exposure even more than the failure— the exposure, that is, of the way they were over-reached and intermitted by the " Dutch peasant " whom they wero plotting to catch at a disadvantage. But for ihia they would feel comfort in the thought that tho crime exposed was one which success might have been held to condone ; as ib is, they have failed, suffered exposure, and become ridiculous. While Mr Chamberlain's references in the House of Commons to Mr Cecil Rhodes')? past services as a reason wby judgment should be suspended as to his conduct were perfectly justifiable and were well warranted by the tacts, many thoughtful people deem them unwisj in the circumstances as likely to be misunderstood — especially in the Transvaal, where past services nob unnaturally neem irrelevant as extenuation of alleged complicity in crime. An immediate consequence has followed in the severe sentences on the Johannesburg "Reformers." These have caußed genuine consternation, winch the death seoteoces did net. The latter made a sensation for the moment, though ever} body knew that they would not be Qacried out. " Bat these seatencts of five years'' imprisonment for the leaders and one year for the others stand on quite a d fferent footing, because in all probability they will ba carried oul* unless commutation 6hall be purchased by concisions on England's part, which Mr Chamberlain has emphatically declared to be oub of the question. Enormous influence and pressure will assuredly be brought to bear on behaf of the offenders, but the above is what the whole situation really resolves itself into. And it is a fix ! - A single false step on the part of Mr Chamberlain may involve a fearful racial war of extermination in South Africa. The arrival of Sir Hercules Robinson is awaited with deep interest and anxiety. Much confldoisce is reposed in the judgment of your ex-Governor, aud much will depend on the counsel he gives. IN DOMESTIC POLITICS. The Government are scoring heavily, using against the Opposition ihe weapon devised by the latter when they wero in power, " the guillotine." Mr Bilfour fixed a definite time as to the limib of the debate on the Education Bill, acd inexorably maintained it. Then the second reading was carried by the gigantic majority of 267 in a Honse of 585 members present. This majority, I believe, is quite unprecedented on a Ministerial party measure of the first importance against which the whole weight of the regular Oppositi6n forces was thrown. It is due, of course, mainly to the support of the Roman Catholic Radicals, including the Irith National party, who voted en bloc for the second reading. Mr ;T. P. O'Connor "spreads himself" largely in his 'paper, the. Sun, in explanation of this vote and that of his confreres, but de claijes their intention of resisting those portions of the bill ' which do not specially aid the Roman Catholics. He and his patty are dreadfully afraid of alienating the Nonconformist Radicals, who are bitterly adverse to the bill a whole, and denounce him and his associates for "paltering with the accursed thing." Bat "Tay Pay " and his political brethren dared not vote against the bill. Nevertheless, the Radical patty are exceedingly bitter against them for their defection ab 6uch a crisis. So there is a rift within the lute. CYCLING. Cycling continues to be the rage of the hour. Huge fortunes have been realised in a few months by cycle makers and by inventors of improvements in cycles. Even aged men take largely to the "bike," and Us feminine votaries multiply daily, I rejoice to add that the miscalled "rational" dress, which transforms a. pretty girl into a deformed monkey and a stout frump into something too awful to describe or same, is rarely met with in London. Fair cyclists in the London parks wisely content themselves with the true rational dress— a well-made, tailorbuilt skirt and neat coat or jacket or blouse, with appropriate accesiories,— and so clad they ride with admirable grace. It it only the awkward squad, who do nob understand how to manage their- skirts, who find them inconvenient, and bring the more modest and feminine style of dress into disrepute, bat the numerical strength of this squad is decreasing daily, aud the clumsy few are outnumbered by the more skilful many ; hence the cycle tracks in the parks are spectacles of beauty on every fine morning. At the same time, the cycle is » deadly nuisance in a crowded street, and the time is fast approaching when more stringent regulations will have to be made in this conueotion, even in the interests of the cyclists them- ■ selves. ' ' • [ THE BEADING CHILD MTJBDEBS. The child murder case at Reading turns out to be more revolting than was at first supposed. One of the witnesses, Mrs Dyer's daughter, h»s depicted a scene where the mother brought » child to her houee cud , placed it on a sof ato sleep. At £(&«& («%»«&

(he daughter left the room, and in her absence the old woman strangled the sleeping infant. The daughter, her husband, and the mother then sat down to sapper, the corpse still on the sofa, under a shawl} and was referred to by all three as being " asleep." Early nexb morning Mrs Dyer disposed ot 1 ths body. The vron.*u has made a written confession, taking ail the blame upon herself. Her daughter, released from custody, is a witness against her, and her son-in-law has been sent to -prison for deserting two of his own children in a West of Eogknd town. Mrs Dyer is now believed to have murdered nearly 15 children, most of them illegitimates, left with her at the rate of £10 a head. In most cases she disposed of the poor creatures within n. few hours of their being entrusted to her. It is to b9 said in her favour that the woman has more than once been in a lunatic asylum.