NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 154, 29 June 1907, Page 9

NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

The Bound Room 'of the Mansion ! «*_* Dublin, where the Irish National § -ration met to pronounce its views °*£ Irish Council Bill, is associated C t7some stirring historical and politi*f'S« It was built for the fes-jgrS-W with the visit of 5 Z IV to. Dublin in 1821, and was gfi of a magnificent ball and lunv JTriven by the old unreformed CorSria honour of the King. George jTmarW a particular request that the tarter toast of the "pious, glorious and Mortal memory of William III." Sfnot be given as calculated to £5 JoKtical feeling, which it was gSj£ oi Us visit to assua + g t T - e i h btV however, had no sooner taken hi= JSStnre than the Lord Mayor, who, it ? eP , a i_ offered only a feeble resistance, L held in the chair while the prohibitiftoast was given with all the honours. rtrioffily enough, a few weeks after the S visit tte Lord Mayor of Dublin S State banquet at which Earl Talf*> the Lord-Lieutenant, was a guest «,_ contentious toast was given, and «3 honoured by the Lord-Lieutenant, 1 T 0 taken by surprise and lost his Lace of mind. He was. instantly reI H from the Viceroyalty. The via Boom of the Mansion House was to the =cene of a somewhat awkward 3gi__ between Daniel O'Connell and SBht Hon. T. B. C. Smith, afterof the Rolls, whose fath--'-jfr'Baion Smith, had been the subSof a motion of censure moved by tonnell himself in the House of CornIns and carried, but subsequently re- ! -„___ iMr Smith, as Attorney-General, I lid prosecuted O'Connell in the State ITrial-7 '-and- the Liberator retorted _*..icknamin? him "Alphabet Smith" 0 _ account of his numerous Christian names, and "Vinegar-cruet Smith" by tjasonof his somewhat unpleasant tern- " They met at a Lord Mayor's banSet in the Round Room, shook hands ■jrarmlT, and, as a wag said, almost emtraced. The empressment of O'Connell's eld enemy in tendering his salutations ira. in carious contrast with his habitual hauteur and reserve. Ah-eaay a ■magazine is published in Japan roth the Japanese transliterated into Tinman characters. It is meeting •with hearty support, and it appears to he ooiy a. question of time when the old alphabet"mil have entirely disappeared. Sot ottlv toU Japanese children learn to realmlalf the time now required, hat foreigners will be encouraged to take np systematicaliv the study of the Japanese language. Hitherto the Japanese hare not demanded this concession, but hare accepted the easier task of themselres aconirmg the requisite European tongues.- The time may not be far dis- ■ taut irhen diplomats at tbe Court of Tokio "trill he expected to transact their iiianess in the language of the land.

' A iea-captain who has had much experience of divers told of their fondness la steeping under water. "In the Meditaiaiean. for instance," he said, "the

pfflce is not at all uncommon. I once i fended myself to visit a wreck on •Ml divers were engaged, and there ijtndiiseveral^:_©f ..them::' comfortably ratfsia_ in the cabins! They prefer lajsiiiside the wreck when they want j"j*i'because there is then no danger fcagtound sharks. But it is hard on is employers, because the divers are /aid by the hour, and get very high nges.-'Diving appliances are so perfect Mradaysthat in spite of its risks it is fisditating work, and there is something about it, too, that makes a submarine tapquite a luxury. There is a soft, undalathig motion under water that, with the perfect quiet, is most soothing." 2 writer in a Paris journal has retaiuy raised a paean ot" triumph over rtat he describes as the disappearance fipm the-French capital of the high hat. lie high hat, he says, is being steadily replaced by the "melon," or, as -\ve call iS.in'English, the "bowler." He adds— sad observation goes far to confirm, tbe assertaon—that the same tendency is uable in. London. The proposition is, we iMafc, undeniable. Thousands of men go.Tipbp business in London every mornoggearing "bowlers," who only a few jeats.ago would have felt that they *<oe compromising their social position ty Discarding the high hat. For cerernomal occasions, no doubt, the abeminitioit of civilisation siiilholds the field, lint it will not be easily displaced, be•ease a." bowler"' lacks dignity when sonf.'with any sort of tail coat, and wb a frock coat it is frankly impos- *•. It is, indeed, difficult to believe ftii human ingenuity will not evolve / wne more dignified and • aesthetic head«ess than the "bowler." The high hat fej at least, a certain dignity about it; P ""howler" satisfies the claim neither E digttiry nor .of art.

fe Cora Wilson, of Ohio, will probm, succeed in keeping in her pocket "c sum of nine dollars claimed from balance of account due to him, Mr. Cochrane, dentist, of Columbus. ".seems that Dr. Cochrane had permo himself to kiss the lady thrice H| she was seated in his professional *?■» as his patient, a proceeding which 8j? indignantly resented. Furthermore, «ten; a : bill'-f or twenty dollars came in, ?* refused-to pay more than eleven. ■pirently, -therefore, Miss Wilson val- •« her-losses at three dollars apiece. Baa*, mast or may not be a fair estihaving kissed the lady ourS«J!S **■£ cannot offer an opinion, and, *«r all, these things are matters of '*«• But, anyhow, Miss Wilson canSi';' 13 :the y say, have it both ways; ™ has been trying to get the dentist ucetsd on a charge of assault, which pn|treasonable if she means to set "- We nine dollars against the three fch?" I3lere is evident confusion here "WKn civil and criminal procedure, make her choice befflieH ttem.

is being made that the twS- aathorities contemplate the in*i,s Kn OI a measure imposing one H| compulsory training on young loedS,-^. ll^ 1 ? 63 in military and naval i =. he P rinc 'Ple of compulsory wLr Ceni ? ,i ' *** extension of it to Mt •» and if JSP"* 8 SUpply of aurses *o? military can o „i y be obtained by jg||-Were is nothing moree to be said. fc-X-S"* 0 ' think that in s P ite of the eome fM ** * Germany, it has beiOX that comit iT to fall ■s-thL-w* Retrogressive expedient e nn" for'J* nusit not be such a had '""^iSffl 8 W ° meil - But iow

There was a Bourbon lawsuit heard, in one of the Paris Correctional Courts the other day which attracted a considerable crowd. The main subjects of debate were whether Don Antonio d'Orleans, a grandson of King Louis Philippe, had been struck and made to bleed with a parasol by a former lady friend, Madame Guggenheim, and whether he owed a sum of 50.0001. which she alleged having lent him. The suit and counter-suit, both lawyers declared, were scandalous, and should never have been started. A year ago the Prince happened to be coming out of a shop in the Hue de la Pais, when he was attacked by a lady, who struck him twice with her parasol until he bled. The lady turned out to be a former friend, with whom he had been on very intimate terms for seven years. He brought a suit against her for alleged assault, and she in turn brought a claim against him for oO.OOOf. This sum, she alleges, she lent him, and that it w T as a loan is proved by the fact that his secretary paid 2500f for one year's interest on it. The Court is not likely to arrive at a decision for some time.

Ought we to be ambidextrous? There is quite a widespread uneasiness on the subject in England, though it has not reached, as yet, that stage in all great movements for reform when people begin to let their furniture go. Sir Crichton Browne points out that it would be flying in the face of evolution. There have been innumerable eruptions of ambidextrous enthusiasm, but , the indifferent use of either hand occurs naturally in microcephalic idiots only; and if it be pushed to that consummation which its ardent advicates desire, when the two hands may be able to write on two subjects at the same time, there will have to be a new and special rate imposed for the erection of lunatic asylums. We suggest (says the "Pall Mall Gazette," in discussing the subject), that there is a worse danger. It appears that in right-handed men. or politicians, damage to Broca's convolution —whatever that may be, it happens occasionally—destroys the power of speech : but in left-handed politicians of the sort now in office the power of speech survives. Deliver us from left-handedness!

An amazing story of courtship by telephone was told at the Birmingham Police Court the other day. A pretty girl of twenty, employed in a telephone office at.West Bromwicb,''said she frequently had occasion to ring up a certain office at Albion, and was usually answered by a clerk named Jones. A mutual interest sprang up, and they held long conversations over the telephone. They began to exchange confidences, and Jones stated that he was a single man with good prospects. They continued the acquaintance for several months without seeing one another, but finally an appointment was made, also over the telephone, and they met outside the telephone office. Afterwards they went for walks, and the appointments for these meetings were made by telephone, and there were many conversations over the wire. Later, when complications arose, inquiries were made, still by telephone, and it was discovered that Jones was i a married man with two children.

"The Wearing of the Green," which Dion Boucicsult used to sing in one of his Irish dramas at the old Adelphi Theatre, was sung for the first time in the House of Commons last month on the occasion of the dinner given to the Colonial Premiers by the Irish Nationalist party. It reminds one of the joke practised by the late Sir William Wilde (father of Oscar Wilde) on the then At-torney-General for Ireland, who had prohibited Boueicault from singing this same song when performing in Dublin with his company. It must be remembered that there is no Licenser of Plays in Ireland, btit the "Castle" has often put its foot down in the case of songs with a seditious reputation. Shortly afterwards, Sir William'invited-Boueicault to dinner to meet "a friend." The dramatist came, and sang the terrible tune to the friend, who that morning had officially prohibited it at the old Theatre Royal, being none other than the At-torney-General himself. We read, we hope with appropriate emotion, the story of the brigands' farewell to Mr. Abbott —how -they kissed his hand, and assured him that his ransom would not be squandered in riotous living, but would help to maintain the deserving poor in decent comfort. Evidently a man's heart may be in the right place, even when his hand is in his neighbour's pocket; and, indeed, the annals of Balkan crime are full of illustrations of that fascinating inconsistency. When Colonel Synge was ransomed in the eighties, the chief of the bandits offered him fifty pounds for himself as his commission on the substantial sum which his capture had put in the way of the outlaws. When Miss Stone, the American missionary, returned from durance, she told a pathetic story of an Albanian ruffian —a man of one virtue and a thousand crimes—who spent all the time which he could spare from brigandage in playing with the baby. One used to think that this sort of thing only happened in the topsy-turvy world of Mr. Gilbert; but here, we see, are the touches of nature which make real life and melodrama and comic opera kin.

Mark Twain has strong opinions on the matter of dress. He is eager for the reform of men's attire j he would have us dress in brilliant and striking colours instead of our tame and sober stuffs. " Whenever I go to a theatre," he says, "and see a lot of men rigged out in the most abominable of all clothing—a black dress suit—they remind mc of a flock of crows. I like colour and sentiment in garments. I like the peck-a-boo waist and the short sleeves and low-neck gowns of the' women, for they are usually backed up by clothing of bright colours which relieve the eye. Human beings are afraid to be outside. Whatever the fashion happens to be, they conform to it, whether it be a pleasant fashion or the reverse, they lack the courage to ignore it and go their own way. All human beings woTKd like to dress in loose and comfortable and highly coloured and showy garments, and they had their designs Until a century ago, when a king, or some influential ass, introduced sombre hues and discomfort and ugly designs into (clothing. The meek public surrendered to the outrage, and by conj sequence we are in that' odious captivity to-day and are likely to remain in it for a long time to come. Fortunately, the women are not included in the' dijaster, and so their graces and their beauty still have the enhancing help of delicate fabrics and varied and "beautiful colours. In summer we poor creatures have a respite, and may clothe ourselves in- white garments, loose, soft and in some degree shapely, but in the winter —the sombre winter, the depressing winter, the cheerless winter, when white clothes and bright colours are especially needed to brighten our spirits and lift them np—we all conform to the prevail ing insanity, and go about in dreary black, each -man doing it because the others do and not because he .-wants to."