Topics of the Day.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 9, 2 March 1910, Page 48

Topics of the Day.

By Our London Correspondent.

A “WILD PEERS” PROPERTY. LONDON, January 14. ZTVOME of the “Wild Peers” who have been making so much J noise during the current election campaign will be very

sorry for it. Their tender solicitude for thr people’s wet fare has caused the common folk to take quite a keen interest in th< private affairs of their lordships, and we are now learning a good deal more about them—especially in their capacity as landlords—than we should ever have known had they kept out of the political limelight.

Amongst the who are right in the public eye just now is the Earl of Feversham. This peer is the owner of some 4O.(N)O acres in North Yorkshire, his estate comprising the town of Heimsley and a large number of villages. Against Lord Feversham a terrible indictment has been brought by Dr. Wheaton, an inspector of the Local Government Board, who recently examined the Earl’s cottage property in and around Helmslev.

Dr. Wheaton's description of the condition of these dwellings disclosed an appalling state of affairs. Nearly all the dwellings are more or less dilapidated, and the walls damp, through there being no rainwater spouting. There is no paving or impermeable covering of the ground around them, so that the rainwater from the roofs saturates the* ground. The roofs are often of thatch, whirl, is much decayed, and allows of the entrv of rain.

A large number of houses are without bark doors, or back windows, so that there is not through ventilation. The windows arr very small, and often will not open. The walls of the dwellings are gr<atl' dilapidated in many and ii s-veral instances Dr. Wheaton saw hoiis!*- .-upied. portions of the walls of v>' i fur fallen down or are failing, and

ar? undoubtedly dangerous to the inmates. In several in-t «nees he noticed untrained cowsheds and pigstye- under the same roof as the dwelling, so that emanations from the animals entered the house through the walls, ami liquid filth from them ->ik into the ground forming the floor. Many of the bvdroouis are window less, ami without any means of ventilation beyond that afforded by the door, ami hobs in th< thatch or cracks in the walls. As might l>e expected, nuisances abound in the district, and disease, chiefly rheumatism and consumption, rife. One of the principal causes of nuisance is the keeping of animals, and the accumulation of manure from them. In only three instances did Dr. Wheaton note a puitablr manure pit provided, and in no instan<e was a covered one oven. Manure from tattle, horses, and pigs u heaped up

at the point nearest the buildings from which it has to be removed. Here it remains, much of it being washed away by rain into the roadside channels and

ditches. Other causes of nuisance are rubble drains, untrapped catchpits, and ditches containing stagnant house sewage in proximity to the dwellings. The owner of these insanitary dwellings and their unsavoury surroundings is aptly named—Lord Feversham. “ A EUBEAN PORCUPINE.” We have in London a fair share of the most depraved and brutal types of humanity, but the worst class of our “hocligans ” cannot hold a cand'e to the Parisian ruffians known as “ Apaches,” for bloodthirstiness. Our hooligans will on occasion boot and belt an inoffensive wayfarer or policeman into the very jaws of death, but it is very se'dom they bring into play knives and revolvers. In Paris it is different. There no sblf-respecting Apache would dream of taking the warpath unless he was in possession of lethal weapons of some kind, t'ie favourites being shoemakers’ knives and revolvers. The result is that the number of police officers kil’ed and maimed whilst in the execution of their duty has been quite alarming in recent years. The latest victim of the Apaches’ ferocity was a gendarme named Deray, who met his death whilst gallantly’ tackling a murderous beast named Jean Liabeux. This bloodthirsty ruffian, who has spent a goodly part of his 25 years of life in prison for various offences, was recently released from gaol, and on Saturd ry evening announced to his comrades that he was going on the warpath with the intention o' killing as- many policemen as he cou'd find.

He was armed with a heavy’ six-cham-bered revolver, and with a shoemaker’s knife with an edge like a razor. In erder to make the knive more effective he UaA

mounted it on a long piece of wood. On both his arms, from the wrist to the shoulder, he had fastened a series of leather br.i <1 t-. thickly studded on the outer side witli sharp -teel points. The ruffian jokingly alluded to himself, and not without reason, as the “ human porcupine.” His threat against the pol.ee was overheard by a man who had an old scoro against Liabeux to wipe off. He gave information to the police, and two plainclothes officers named Deray and Fournes were detailed to arrest. They met LiaLeux as he was leaving a low cafe, an 1 immediately seized him by both arms. It was here that the porcupine-like protection did him service, for their hands being cruelly torn by the sharp-pointed steel, both policemen, with a cry of pain, released their hold. 1 iabeux thereupon drew his revolver and knife, and drove the latter up to the hilt into the unfortunate Deray. This policeman, despite

his injuries, elung to the Apache. A terrible struggle now took place, the: Apache using his knife freely upon Deray and Fournes, who could not get an effective held on the man owing to his spiked armlets.

In response to their cries for help, other officers rushed up, but ere they could overpower Liabeux he had shot Dcray twice in the stomach, and had practically disabled Fournes, whom he put out of action by slashing him across the throat with the knife. LTtimately he ■was disarmed and beaten to his knees by blows from sword bayonets, but before he was secured he contrived to inflict knifa. cuts on one or two of his captors. Then the crowd which had locked on, not daring to interfere, seeing that the Apache was bound and powerless, proceeded to jump up.vn his prostrate

and about a score of policemen were needed to get the prisoner alive to the station.

Toor Deray, who had received a d zen knife stabs, and two bullets in his stomach, died next, day, but not before M. Lepine had pinned the gold medal for valour on his breast. FourneS, who in addition to a terrible cut across his throat had a score of knife gashes on his arms and body, still lives. He al=o has been decorated with the medal for bravery. THE PASSING OF THE COSTEd. A picturesque feature of London’s street traffic, which has occasioned much comment among visitors from overseas, is about to disappear. The eity costermonger is doomed. The order has gone forth that hereafter the peripatetic vendors of fruits, “chestnuts,” “all ’ot,” ice-cream, hot drinks, or summer “coolers,” and itinerant traders of all kinds, shall no longer ply tbeir business in the main streets of the city between the hours of 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.

It was bound to come. Whatever useful purpose these street traders may have served, their numbers have increased to such an extent that their barrows form a serious impediment to vehicular traffic, and constitute an additional danger to pedestrians crossing ♦he road. I have counted as many as eighteen barrows in a space of not more than a hundred yards in Fleet-street. The police keep these itinerant traders on the move as far as possible, but even so they greatly impede the passage of the ordinary wheeled traffic. The decision to banish the costers from the main streets will, of course, entail considerable hardship upon many hom-t, hardworking men. who, after having earned a living “pushin’ a birrer,” must turn their hands to something else, for, of course, their business cannot be profitably carried on in streets other than main arteries. One’s pity for the itinerants as a whole is, however, considerably mitigated by the knowledge that a very large and increasing proportion of these street traders are importations from abroad, and are generally of the lowest classdirty in their habits, prone to cheat, and, in short, just the sort of people the Old Country can best do without. From a hygienic point of view also, there is a good deal to be said in favour of the banishment from the city sleets of the vendors of cheap ice-

cream, hokey-pokey and similar cobS* tions. The sellers of these things haff mainly from the neighbourhood of Saffron Hill, their confections are made of the cheapest materials, and more oftew than not under conditions highly favourable to the culture of the bacillus of typhoid, diphtheria, and things of that kind. <

And a better means of disseminating disease than the method of trad® adopted by these unwashed itinerants copld searc-ely be devised. Their stock-tn-trad:; usually consists of lumps of sickly yellow and pink ice in zinc eatis; ■which may perhaps be washed out one® in a way, half-a-dozen glasses with as many dirty-looking little metal spoonv, half-a-gallon of water, and a piece of rag, which is not usually remarkable for its snowy hue. That half-gallon of water is the sole washing-up medium provided for a long day’s trade. A dip in the water and a perfunctory wip® with the rag is all the glasses get, though they are handled by scores, and their contents licked out by all sorts and conditions of juveniles.