OUR LONDON LETTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7071, 12 April 1901, Page 1

OUR LONDON LETTER.

. — ■ ♦ — • • ■ , • 7 . ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. THE PBESS AND THE BOYAL TQUB. [FSOU Oflß CoBRESPONDENT.] "LONDON, March 1. There has been much heart-burning in .Press circles anent the reporting of the Duke of Cornwall's tour, the suspicion that • nice thing in " specials " was being quietly arranged ior ihe "Time?" causing the other big dailies to igoort Tioiently. Thus, in the 'House of Commons last night. Mr P. O'Brien asked the. Secretary to the Admiralty "whether it was intended to exclue, with •• one exception, the. correspondents of all the newspapers desiring to be. represented on the occasion from the- ships of war accompanying the Boyal mission to Australia; -whetner. Sir Donald 'Mackenzie Wallace had been deputed to accompany ,the Duke of Cornwall and York as official Reporter ; and whether that gentleman would also represent the "Times," which would thus enjoy privileges denied to the London Press generally. Mr Keir-Hardie put a similar question. Pretyman : Sir D. Mackenzie Wallace will accompany the Duke of Cornwall .on his projected.tour. The First Lord of the Admiralty is in communication with representatives of the Press for the purpose of ascertaining whether it is possible for other representatives to accompany his Royal Highness. The accommodation available is exceedingly limited, and the question is one of difficulty. If the honorable member will put down a question on a. later date I . shall be able to give 'him further information, as soon as the First Lord has come to a decision. Mr P. O'Brien: I shall put a question on Monday. Mr Keiu-Hardie : Is the honourable gen-' tleman aware that on ihe occasion of the funeral of the Queen the representative of the "Times" was admitted to Frogmore Chapel on condition — (Ministerial cries of " Order !" and counter Nationalist shouts of "Hear, hear.") The' Speaker : That question does not arise out of the question on the paper. Mr Keir-Hardie : I was coming to that, Sir. My question is whether, in the event of the "Times" correspondent alone being allowed to accomijany their Boyal Highnesses, he would be under an obligation to supply his reports to some central news' agency, so that all papers would be placed on an equal footing. Mr Pretyman : I understand that Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace does not represent the "Times." (Laughter). From the foregoing it seems clear that the Secretary of the Admiralty's statement *hat no pressmen will be allowed either on the Ophir. or the accompanying cruisers is likely to be modified. As a matter of fact, reporters or no reporters,, there will be reports from the Ophir, whether! the authorities like it or not. If they are wise they •will compound with the Press, and accept as representatives two or three gentlemen ■who can be relied upon to respect the canons of good taste, rather than risk the dramatic accounts of yellow sensationalists masquerading a£ stewards and stewardesses. LIST OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS'S SUITE. The following ladies and gentlemen will form the suite of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and) York on their colonial ■tour: — Lady Mary Lygon, Lady Katharine Coke, the Hod Mrs Derek Keppel, Lord Wenlock, Captain H.S.H. Prince Alexander of Teck, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Arthur Bigge, Lieutenant Sir Charles Cust, 8.N., Major tj* Hon Derek Keppel, Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace, Commander B. God-frey-Fausset, 8.N., Captain Viscounb Crichton, -the Duke of Boxburghe, Canon Dalton, Major James Bor, 8.M.A., Sir John Anderson, K.C.M.G., of the Colonial Office, Dr Manby, Mr Sydney Hall, Chevalier E. D. Martino and (for the journey to Australia only), Colonel Byron. It is understood that Lady Mary Lygon, Lady Katharine Coke, and Mrs Keppel will acb as ladies-in-waiting, Sir Arthur Bigge as Private Secretary for Personal Affairs, Sir John Anderson as Private Secretary for official matters, Sir Charles Gust and the Hon Derek Keppel as equerries, the various officers named as naval and military A.D.C.'s or attaches, Canon Dalton as chaplain, and Dr Manby as medical attendant. Chevalier de Martino was marine painter to Queen Victoria, but whether he joins the Royal suite in a professional capacity is not yet known. Canon Dalton, who will be of the suite accompanying the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall on the Ophir, is the Bey John Keale Dalton, Canon of St George's, Windtor. B« w -is Deputy-Clerk of the Closet

to her late Majesty, tutor to Prince Albert Victor, and Prince George of Wales, and their Governor on board the Bacchante. He is now honorary chaplain to the Duke of Cornwall. He is as 0.M.G., has written seimons for naval cadets, and told the story of the Bacchante's voyage. He was one of the three clergymen who conducted the Queen's funeral at Fvogmore. THE COLONIAL SCOUT AND CHRISTIAN DE WET.. To tfriiich of the Australasian colonies the hero of the following yarn belongs, Mr B&nnet Burleigh, who is responsible for it, fails to state. Nevertheless you will, I think, find the tale sufficiently diverting to reprint. "In the recent pursuit of De Wet," writes the correspondent, "as Knox left an Orange River Colony town, a certain colonial scout, busy cleaning out certain articles, loitered behind. He has since been court-martialed for that fault, but, in view of the following incident, let off with a cautionary remark or two. Leaving his horse in front of a house, he walked towards the outskirts of the little town, either to call on somebody or to^ see that all our people had marched out. He. saw a smart Cape cart arrive in front of a door, j and someone in it call out to the inmates. | Going towards the vehicle, he addressed j .the occupant curtly, saying, 'who are you?' The man, who looked like the or- | dinaary type of Boer, and seemed unarmed, said 'Why should I tell you?' to< the colonial. But there being something about his dress and manner which the scout could not quite understand, he repeated, with , more pertinacity, 'Come-, your name; I want it,' The other, little abashed, but apparently uneasy, replied, 'I don't see that J am bound in any way to' tell you my* name, or who I am.' At this the colonial whipped out, cocked, and presented j his revolver at the strangen in the Cape cart, shouting' imperatively, 'Your name, and who are you!' But, alack, at that moment there came a troop of armed Boers round the corner. The colonial was too late and could not rim, and so was instantly made prisoner. Seeing that the man in the Cape cart seemed to be a person in authority over the Boers, the unabashed colonial remarked, ' Well, my game's up, and as you. need have no hesitation now in telling me who you are, sir, out of curiosity I'd like to know your name still.' ' Very well,' said the Boer, ' I'll tell you. I'm Christian De Wet.' And he smiled grimly and drove on into the town. The colonial subsequently that night escaped, and De Wet, who was i'held up,' escaped." A DEPARTMENT FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF INVENTIONS. ' A civil engineer makes a reasonable suggestion in the " Pall Mall Gazette " as to the encouragement of the inventive genius of this country. He asserts that there is still as much' original inventive talent in the country and far better workmanship than in the age of Stephenson and Brunei, but'that no. opportunity is afforded to advance the inventions and ideas of our mechanics or other competent men who have not the wherewithal to get a comtnerciat recognition of their talents. The adverse attitude of the Admiralty • and- the War Office to inventions offered them is a matter of notoriety,; and everyone admits that if we are "to keep ahead of other nations we must be the 'first to get valuable inventions Whether for peace or war.- ; The engineer sug*gests " the ftppoftf^enr'o^i'Miaister orProvisional Committee to examine the utility of the various patents or suggestions of the • people in various departments, »nd if it were formed by Government, or privately, by competent individuals, with power to assist by public grants or otherwise,^in order to complete or recommend the result of their investigations to the various Government Departments, such recommendations would, doubtless, ensure their recognition. . . . To see advances afforded by other nations of thousands of pounds to test inventions of their countrymen, and to find that England offers no assistance whatever, is most galling to our countrymen. What is required is for a few influential men to take the mat- j ter in hand, and I undertake to say that within a year- we should have the fastest ships, the best submarine boats, and' the most perfect flying-machines and electric developjtnents that can be produced, besides a thousand-and-one inventions that would be of immense value to the community, bear- I ing. in mind that the trade of the country was founded upon the talent of such poor men. as Watt and Stephenson." There is food for reflection in the idea. JAM OR GLUCOSE. The beer poisoning agitation has done good service in calling attention to the adulteration of other substances, notably jam. The value of jam to the army ha:; been proved in the South African war. Hitherto, one has fondly imagined that jam was made out of fruit -boiled down with sugar, or, I should say, ought to be made out of these ingredients only, for the sticky mash that is generally sold here as jam could delude no one into* supposing that it was made only of fruit. The beer agitation has disclosed to the man in the street that jam contains a' large percentage of glucose, and glucose may contain arsenic, and he doesn't like the idea. The Food and Drugs Act Committee of the Sussex County Council has been taking the matter up, and this week prosecuted a grocer for selling strawberry jam containing 12 per cent of starch glucose and thirty-four grains per lb of salicylic acid. The defence was that jam manufacturers had been using those ingredients for jam for over thirty years, and never before in any court in this country had it been suggested that glucose should not be used. In spite of a large amount of expert evidence as to the inocuousness of glucose and salicylic, the Bench convicted, imposing a fine of £1 and costs, and holding that jam was fruit boiled down with either cane or beet sugar. Notice of ap- ■ peal was given.