The Star. SATURDAY, NOV. 30, 1895. To—Day.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5427, 30 November 1895, Page 4

The Star. SATURDAY, NOV. 30, 1895. To — Day .

Is it lawful to shave men on the Sunday mornipg ? Not in England, it seems. A considerable amount of trouble has been taken at Leeds to u&ro tho question determined, those v/ho moT/ed in tho matter being certain representatives of the Hairdressers' iSociety. Tho facts of the case tvero that certain chops opened on Sunday morning, that a watch was 'kept, and that numbers of persons were seen to eater unshared and como out ehaved. At first, statutory sanction to lay an information could not be got, but eventually this was granted,' and tho 'cases came before the Stipendiary Magistrate, Two hundred and twenty years ago an Act ot Parliament was passed forbidding the carrying on of any save works of neceeoifcy or mercy on tho Sunday. The contention for the defence waß that shaving; was an act of necessity and pf charity. The magistrate, howevor, who had fortified himself by conoulting a number of authorities, hold that an offence under the Act of Parliament had been permitted and that fines must be inflicted. He could not avoid some reference, however, to the incongruities with which they were confronted, and mentioned as a curious fact that while it was lawful to play cricket on the Sunday, if anyone so desired, it was unlawful to row a boat on the river. Sappy conservative England ! . " The Dossers' Palaco "is one of modern ■ London's accomplished facts. The"doeDer'» . is a homolesa individual, who nightly has j to' find a sleeping place somewhere or J other, and who cannot afford to ba very j particular with regard to the accommodai tion provided. Numbers of schemes have been undertaken, particularly in recent . years, to make provision for the dossers. 1 Some havo been prompted by philanthropic , motives, some have beon business ventures. I However, the DoEser-j' Palace that has been builb by a company, whereof Lord Eowton io tho head, is a business speculation pure and simple, and is intended to y earn a. good return on the invested capital. 1 The building, which is in the King's Cross ' Road, cocsiets of a basement and six floors. j It contain**, huge apartments for eating, . j reading and smoking purposes, and no fewer than six hundred and seventy1. two bedrooms, besides kitchens, waeh- [ houses, drying-roomß and the com- ■ pletest sanitary arrangements. A por- . tion of the roof forms a promenade, 5 whore the men can smoke and read in - summer. Ib is the intention to plant here ehrubs and palniß, and seats will be placed r 'as convenient points. The charge for lodging is sixpeace per night, and the j lodgers can oither cook thoir own food, or toy ib xws c90k.4 (sl»?«ti at cesb piiwi

in tho establishment. Warm baths, including towel and soap, can be had at any time for a penny. In the basement there are tailors', shoemakers', and barbers' shops. We have not the remotest doubt that every bedroom will have an occupant on every night of the year, and that The Dossers' Palace will pay uncommonly I woll. | The Frenoh Chamber of Deputies has declined to appoint a committee to enquire I into the management of the Madagascar j war, and the Government is to apportion I the blame. So much a cable message tells us. What blame P is the question that naturally arisea, and one answer thereto is to be found in a communication that was sent to the London Daily Telegraph by Mr Bennett Burleigh. The correspondent, writing from Antananarivo on August |16, declared that there had not been a day since the resignation of the English officers was an accomplished fact, that a small force of the French, if properly led, could not have taken the road to the capital and marohed in. He says:—"Where their 'intelligence department/ their 'eyea and ears,' and their General oould have been, or been about, it seems impossible to guess. Surely never has there been suoh persistent neglect of opportunity to end a war quickly and triumphantly for an invading army. Ib it that the French have ceased to understand the art of war, as it now is, and the enormouß advantages they possess in arms, material and organisation over the Malagasy P Their conduct of this campaign, which an English brigadier nnder the circumstances would have finished smartly with three thousand men, is extraordinary, and augurs badly for France's chances in the next European war. That which French officers appeared to possess before all compeers, original and prompt initiative in action, seems to have forsaken them, leaving them groups of automata, incapable of movement till certain strings are pulled." Mb BueiiSioh, whose experience as a war correspondent enables him to speak with some authority, holds that if the French did badly the Malagasy did worse j for though an enemy was marching through their country, they let that enemy severely alone. It seems that tbe idea which has possessed them is that the French must ultimately be actuated by a sense of justice, and mußt act honourably. Mr Burleigh makeß it perfectly clear that thia is not the view he would have taken under the circumstances:— " It is an axiom that the best defence is in assuming the offensive. To harry your enemy, letting him taste to the full the pains and penalties of bloodshedding, is what the Malagasy have failed to grasp. Hence, when the French have been struggling through canebrake and swamps and wrestling with fever, these foolish people have left them to tbeir own devices. Had rivers been blocked, convoys cut up, and ambuscade succeeded ambuscade, not a man of the Expeditionary force should have seen the capital this year." It remains to be. seen what code of honour the French will adopt, and with what degree of appreciation it will be recognised by the Malagasy. i |