TOPICS OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 1, 4 January 1908, Page 27

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

(From Our Special Correspondents.) LONDON, November 15. COLONIAL JURISDICTION IN ENGLAND. The Lord Chief Justice and Lords Justices Buckley and Kennedy, sitting in the Court of Appeal this week heard the case of Emanuel and others v. Symon, an appeal by the defendant from a judgment- of Mr. Justice Channell, raising a question of some importance in regard to the liability under Colonial judgments of partners resident in this country. Mr. McCall, K.C. for the appellant, said that the judgment of Mr. Justice Channell was for £ 1281, and the only question raised by the appeal was whether the defendant was bound by a judgment which was pronounced by a Court in Western Australia. Defendant was a British subject now carrying on business in the City of London, but for some years before the matters now in question arose, he carried on business in Fremantle. In 1893 he was obliged. for business reasons, to return from this country, where he had settled in 1892, to Fremantle. There he agreed with the plaintiffs, or those who represented them, to purchase a gold mining claim for the purpose of transferring it to a company. In 1890, however, he gave plaintiffs notice that he would withdraw from the partnership as there was no prospect of forming a company. Some time afterwards the shares in this gold mine were fixed, and the evidence showed that there was £O3B to the credit of the partnership. At that time the defendant had settled in England, but in 1901 a writ was issued in Western Australia for the purpose of winding up the partnership and selling the gold mining claim. The writ, by order of the Australian Court, was served on the defendant in London, and in July, 1905, judgment was signed against the defendant in default of appearance. A master was asked to find the amount due to various creditors, and in May, 1903. a final order was made showing a deficiency , of £7087. Plaintiff claimed that defendant was liable for one-sixth of that amount to his partners to enable them to iheet the debts. Respondent’s counsel said that his clients did not pp.se _ themselves entirely upon the Colonial judgment, but claimed in the alternative for an account of the sum due from the defendant, to which they were without doubt entitled. The Court considered that Mr. Justice Channell’s judgment went beyond the authorities, and allowed the appeal with costs. The question of an account .stood over. THE LORD MAYOR’S SHOW. For once in a while the Lord Mayor’s Show was favoured with decent weather, and for once in a while it was not ridiculous.. Usually it is a sorry pageant of commonplace allegorical cars, manned by “ supers ’’ in all sorts of uncomfortable attitudes and costumes. The crowd jeers, business men grumble at the shocking waste of time and money, and the cry is raised for the abolition of a custom that has outgrown its dignity. But on Saturday the new Lord Mayor restored the show to something of its former prestige, and the sunshine and genial mildness of the day set the seal of success upon the function. Londoners of many years’ standing tell me it was the best Lord Mayor’s Show they can ever remember to have seen. An expert pageant-organiser was engaged for the occasion in the person of Mr. Louis N. Parker, and under his direction an imposing cavalcade of the King Edwards ■ of English ■ history, with attendant knights and squires, rode through the streets of London town'. It'was a brilliant’little review of stirring epochs in history; and no pains had been spared to secure accuracy of detail in costume and armour. The-aetors were splendidly mounted, and for the most part carried themselves with dignity and spirit. There were 230 men in the procession, some on foot, but most on horseback, and the pageant was composed of seven groups, that of Edward the Confessor leading the way, with William of Normandy in his train. Leading the second group rode Edward the Crusader, with an escort of mail-clad knights. Then came the second Edward, supported by Piers Gaveston and Hugh Le Despenser, and retainers. A striking, though funereal, figure in the succeeding group was that of Edward the Black Prince, blackplumed, mounted on a black charger, and

encased in black armour, while a conspicuous and curious object in this section was a model of the first British cannon used in warfare. Of the seven kings who bore their part in the well ordered procession, none wore apparel more richly resplendent than little Edward VII., whose stately purple robes marked him out for special admiration, while his retinue made a picture as impressive as anything seen before. The present reign was symbolised by a car designated “ The Harvest of the Peacemaker.” In the centre of this wagon, enthroned amid fruits and cereals, and surrounded by the representatives of British dominions beyond the seas, was the Goddess of Peace, bearing on her sceptre an emblematic dove. As the rich pageant slowly wound through the narrow City streets a vast crowd greeted it with a succession of cheers all along th.! route, and from every window and every balcony handkerchiefs and hats were waved in honour of the glittering caval cade. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Lord Mayor’s Guildhall banquet was the speech delivered by the First Lord of the Admiralty. Sir John Fisher was very cock-a-hoop about the efficiency of the British Navy. “ He looked in vain anywhere to find a fleet equalling it. or even approaching it. It had proved itself nulli sccundus either as to ships, officers, and men. The gunnery of the Fleet had surpassed all records. It was unparalleled, and he was lost in wonder and admiration of the splendid unity of spirit and determination that must have been shown by everybody, from the top to the bottom, to obtain those results. A gentleman of fine feeling has said that the recent Admiralty administration had been tainted with the devil’s own luck. The attitude of the interesting personality indicated was unchanging—he hesitated at nothing to gain his object, and that was what the Board of Admiralty had done. Their object, had been to have an efficient Fleet, a sufficient Fleet, and a Fleet in instant readiness for war, and they had got it—and no one knew more about the subject than he did. Therefore, he turned to his countrymen and said, “ Sleep quietly in your beds, and do not fit 'disturbed by the bogey of invasion.” ' , ? ' Sir John Fisher' proceeded to pour scorn on what ho termed ’• scare-mon-gers,” and deprecated the interference of -leagues” and ol’her critics of the Navy AU the same, it was the leagues amt critics who started the agitation toi reform which placed Sir Jolm Fisher at the head of the Navy, and it is just, as we 11 that they should continue to keep an eye on things. STRANGEST O.' ROYAL WEDDINGS. The wedding of Prince Chudes. of Bourbon and Princess Louise ol• which takes place at Wood No .on, Woicestershire, on Saturday, is planned on SO extravagant a scale that it migl it well be termed a ” freak weddip„. is to cost £30.000, and will be attended by no fewer than 40 princes of Royal blood, and 03 English ami 22 French newspaper representatives. There will be Other guests, but the only people of consequence, if one may judge from the Press accounts, are the Royalties an f the newspaper men invited to chronicle the Royal magnificence. »>. ■ - -- The illusion of a -“ Royal ” wedding has been maintained throughout the details of the whole elaborate function. The Duke of Orleans’, the bride’s brother, would have been King of France if the French had not happened to prefer a Republic to a Monarchy, and at his mansion at Wood Norton all the semblance of a Royal Court is maintained. So also with the wedding’ of Princess Louise. Rather than allow a “King’s” sister to be married in a church open to commoners, the Duke of Orleans had a little chapel specially built in the garden of Wood Norton’, and tor the entertainments in connection with the wedding a banquet hall in lath and plaster lias been rim up for the occasion. It is 80ft. long and 40ft. broad, and is decorated profusely with the fleur-dc-lys, the Royal arms and crown of France. The Duke himself and all the other claimants to tlirones maintain Royal state, and are treated as kings by each other and all ot inferior rank. It is as though they had said to one another, “Let us play at being kings.” though of course each is firmly persuaded that he is a king, and not merely a claimant. The bridegroom IS a son of the last Coinite de Cascrta, who was a son of

King Ferdinand 11. of Naples, and wh» claims to be King of Sicily. Prince Charles of Bourbon is a widower, having married in 1901 the Infanta of Spain, Princess of Asturias and sister of the present King of Spain, by whom he had three children, and who died the day after she gave birth to her only daughter on October 17, 1904. Had King Alfonso’s baby never been born, Prince Charles of Bourbon’s eldest son would be the future King of Spain. Within an hour of the birth of his son, King Alfonso signed away the title of Prince of Asturias from his brother-in-law to the new baby, and by the same decree the latter was invested with all the honours and prerogatives of the heirapparent, which had previously been enjoyed by Prince Charles’s six-year-old son. The Bourbons are an unlucky family, and they all believe implicitly in a family ghost known as the Red Man of the Tuilleries. The spectre has generally made his appearance during a battle, and betokens death to one of the Royal Family, or some terrible slaughter. With the advent of Princess Louise into the family circle it is hoped that the spell of misfortune will at last be broken. Tho bride is the youngest daughter of the late Comte de Paris and the Comtesse de Paris. Like most French girls of noble mrth, the greater part of her life up t- the picsent has bcm spent within the walls of a convent. Her wedding gown has cost £2OOO, and the total cost of the trousseau, which is a gift from Prince Roland Bonaparte to his daughter, will exceed £60,000. It is made on a truly regal plan, and includes nearly . one hundred dresses, of which forty are low-necked gowns. The lingerie alone has cost £ 15,000, according to the newspapers. The Royal dinner party given to-night on the eve of the wedding, by the Duke of Orleans will be one of the most magnificent functions ever witnessed in England l . The Queen of Portugal and Queen Victoria of Spain are to be the guests of honour, and King Alfonso is to sit upon Queen Amelia’s right hand. The flower of the old French nobility will be present, and Ihe marriage contract is to be signed in the presence of all the guests by the King, the Queens, the Duke of Orleans, the Countess of Paris, and the princes and princesses of the Bourbon and Orleans families. Infinite care has been expended on the selection of flowers, which include an immense quantity of orchids, and the jewels and dresses of the lady guests will exceed in splendour anything ever Been in the present century.