OUR ILLUSTRATED LONDON LETTER.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume V, Issue 44, 1 November 1890, Page 9

OUR ILLUSTRATED LONDON LETTER.

SIR EDWARD BRADFORD. The new appointment to the Chief Commissionership of Police has given rise to considerable criticism, but the allegation that Sir Edward Bradford is unknown is as absurd as it is unfounded. Every paper told a year ago of the services of Sir Edward to Prince Albert Victor, when his Royal Highness made his tour through India, and passed through those ‘ narrow escapes ’ which, in the case of humbler personages, would have been the most ordinary experiences. But while Sir Edward took good care of his Royal protegt, he was not so particular about his own skin, and the story of his fight with a tiger, although it may not provide any special reason for his appointment as the head of the Metropolitan Police Force, is interesting to the lovers of romance. Sir Edward had shot the brute, but the charge had not taken fatal effect, and the infuriated beast sprang upon him, knocked him down, and tore a piece out of one of his arms. The next few minutes were a period of painful suspense for Sir Edward. Throwing itself down beside its would-be captor, the animal kept wateh over its victim, and with the probability of a fearful death before him, he lay motionless by its side for twenty minutes, hardly daring to breathe. At length a bullet from the rifle of a native took deadly effect, and Sir Edward was rescued from his perilous position. Like Sir Charles Warren, Sir E. Bradford is an old military man, and gained particular distinction in Mayne’s Horse, both under General Michel and General Napier, being specially thanked in despatches. In 1887 he became Agent Governor of Rajpootana, and Chief Commissioner for Ajmere, and two years later he was appointed Secretary in the Political and Secret Department of the Indian Office, where he has done good service. He is a Knight Commander of the Bath, and an aide-de-camp to the Queen. On the occasion of this hazardous adventure with the tiger, Sir Edward had to be conveyed seventy-six miles to a place where medical aid could be procured, and before the wound could be dressed it had assumed a character which rendered amputation necessary. The deformity, however, will not interfere with his new duties. It is understood that the Duke of Clarence has had large influence in Sir Edward’s appointment. At the Indian Office he had £1,200 a year, and his present salary will be £1,500. SIR REDVERS BULLER. It has turned out as I predicted. Sir Frederick Roberts has been ignored, and the very excuse I suggested—that he is too useful in India—has been put forward to exonerate the Government. Despite the sweet words of the Secretary for War, however, he cannot conceal the fact that the best man has been put aside on very insufficient grounds. If success is henceforth to be a disqualification for promotion, a new element will be introduced into our public life. Sir Redvers Buller, who has been chosen in nis stead, is no

doubt a smart soldier and a good Devonshire man, but he has not the experience of Sir F. Roberts, and the work-in which he w r as engaged in Ireland recently, made him anything but popular among certain classes. He served with the 60th Rifles in China, the Red River Expedition, the Ashantee War, the Kaffir War, and the Zulu War ; and in the last-mentioned campaign he greatly distinguished himself and received the Victoria Cross, for a special act of bravery. Hewascreated aC.B., and afterwards a K.C.M.G. for his services as head of the Intelligence Department in Egypt, and he was subsequently appointed Deputy Ad-jutant-General. It was after this that he went on his mission to the disturbed districts in Ireland. AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY. The August Bank Holiday is essentially the holiday of the masses. At Easter and Whitsuntide, and Yuletide, the town houses of the rich are deserted, Parliament is in recess, and the Law Courts have suspended the administration of justice. How different in this autumn month! The denizens of the courts and the alleys, the tradespeople, the middle classes p,re all on holiday bent, while visions of the fogs of November have not yet scared away our birds of passage ; our jaded senators linger in the gloomy corridors of St. Stephen’s, and our robed judges still dispense ‘indifferent justice,’ as best they can, in the enerva-

ting atmosphere of small, stuffy court rooms. Fain would many of our legislators fly to the moors in anticipation of the Twelfth. ‘ Birds are plentiful,’ say the reports, ‘ and strong on the wing ; disease almost unknown.’ But the Parliamentarian must turn a deaf ear. ‘ Not yet, my dear fellow,’ says the Government whip. Arrears of business have to be made up, and to the dreariness of ordinary sittings has been added the penalty of a Saturday sederunt. The prospect is not enlivening. Sir George Campbell, the member for that important place in the * Kingdom of Fife,’ called Kirkcaldy, has taken the British Constitution under his especial care, and he lias assumed the role of Orator-in-Chief, with a voice as musical as dungeon hinges, and an intonation rivalling that of the very worst of Scotch preachers. It is a dreary outlook. REV. HUGH PRICE HUGHES. It is a strange thing that clergymen trill fight. It seems but yesterday when Mr Spurgeon was at loggerheads with his co Baptists ; the tumult of the Dods’ heresy hunt has scarcely subsided in Scotland. Now we have rumours of wars from the excellent body, the Wesleyans, in which no less a person than the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes is concerned. The facts of this little breeze it is impossible accurately to state, because the Wesleyans conduct their delibeiations in camera, and the only data we have to go on is a statement by an amateur repoiter who wears the cloth, ami Mr Hughes’ denial of the statement. One thing is certain, however : there has lieen a difference, and a difference strong enough to warrant Mr Hughes in deciding to sever his connection with the Wesleyan body. On the other hand, it is not true that Mr Hughes asked for any expression of confidence ; it was the voluntary action of the Conference in this direction that induced him to remain. It is well for the body that it has not lost such a popular advocate of Methodism, and one whose energy is directed in so many different channels. He has been secretary to the

Temperance Committee of the Conference, a member of the Legal Conference, a vice-piesident of the United Kingdom Alliance, and editor of the Methodist Times. But lastly, and above all, he is the industrious head of the new mission in the West End of London, and he is a leading advocate of the re-union of the various branches of the Wesleyan Church. He took a prominent part in the Education Controversy two years ago, and the movement for the purification of our Music Halls last year found in him an active supporter. He recently published some of his St. James’ Hall discourses in a volume, entitled, ‘ Social Christianity.’ MR T. P. O’CONNOR. Mr T. P. O’Connor is credited with having come to London with a penny in his pocket, and many a time was glad to dine off the savoury red herring. Fortune lias not, however, treated him so badly. He has grown fat on the Star, has married well, and is an M. I*. Now the Star proprietors have bought out his interest in that paper for £17,000, which is probably more than he would have received by continuing to shed his effulgence every evening from the purlieus of Stonecutter street. His sackful may, however, be a little burdensome, and may prevent his upward soaring for a time. He is bound hand and foot by a stringent agreement, which prevents him having any con cern with a new daily paper, or contributing to any existing evening paper for a period of three years. Still, he can afford to lie up in lavender for a little while. WILFRID LAWSON AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS. Sir Wilfred Lawson’s erratic muse has strayed into the field of women’s rights, and in rollicking verse the witty baronet has yielded to the soft entreaties of an imposing galaxy of fair ones that he should become Vice-President of the Women’s Franchise League. ‘ Mj' dear Mrs Bright. I think you are right ! So. as to the programme. I go with it quite.' That is the form of Sir Wilfred’s acceptance of the coveted honour. But to lie a Vice-President of innumerable ladies should surely demand dignity ; but what about his third verse 1 ‘ Keep pegging away. And then on some day. When no one expects it. We ll holloa “ Hooray " !' The picture of the fair Amazons of the Franchise League ‘ hollering ’ in their shriekest soprano, with here and there the deep ‘ Hooray ’ of Sir Wilfred, would certainly be a very instructive sight if it did not call for the intervention of the police ! The little reason that lurks under Sir Wilfred’s female suffrage convictions is betrayed further on, when he says : — • I kind of half think That tlic sellers of drink Into holes and dark corners Would soon have to shrink.' But the virtue of Sir Wilfred’s effusion lies in its moral : ‘ YY'ell, well 1 of the future We none of us ken : But one thing I've said. And I say it again : Women cannot, make matters Much worse than the men.'