TOPICS OF THE DAY..

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11481, 14 January 1903, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY..

In view of the cru ka nutdw Delays in wit.h Loid Hawke'e t«tt' Cricket, which arv shortly u> be pkw|,' in Christchurck, refew*. nuy appropriately be made to ,i complex lately uttered by Mr P. K. Allan, a, vs,, known old time vricbeter, through tkil colimms of the Melbourne •'Argus,' , v j^,■ Ike "deadly lively" manner in vhich crSebto: is played nowadays. "Rarely," he $J clarvs. "do we see anything of briskneu * ' dash, iind .the monotony at times is edmph* exasperating." Mr Allan is not referring .apparently, to the actual play, for the mat*'-, ing in the inter-State matches this mm,) has be.en heavy, but to the irritating deU* wlnich take place at every match and «* each <lay of a match. He complains ib& Iha umpires come out some fire or \% minutes late,, stroll to tlie pitch, and tan v ch&i about the wicket. Five min«|iet"later the team "gtntly meander out," tip lowed after another live minutes by th* btifr' men. "Then the vaiious preliminaries 4 " plating the field, adjusting the the bowler bowling half-a-dozen balls to lit wieketkccper, and the game starts aboutJSor 20 minutes late. First robbery of tif'' man who pays. Then over is called, 4Jk|.-' the fieldsmen gently cross over, more sigfcU/ board, more trial balls for bowler, etc Tip"a sui« fourer goe.s to the fence, and a man gently (mark you, always gently) t»Jp< after the ball. If it is late in th* <ky,!ji*' hardly reaches the dignity of a irot." so the game goes gently on. If a man gikfA out h<s trawls back to the pavilion, tajt#, which, "after a decent interval," hie igfe; oessor gently emerges. Then come* lunj|| with, of ccurse, further unpunctuality Mjj* starting; "that abomination," as Mr AlJtati terms it, the aiternoon tea adjournment/oe^ , cupies twenty, instead of t«n, minutes, a&£ the interval between the end of one imunji: uikl the beginning of the next is donfelt] as long as it ought to be. Mr Allan pif'l in a strong plea for greater punctuality'sott; briskness. Umpires, team, and tietsawi]f should take their places to the mioute, th|? outgoing batsman ehoiid pass the incomefc" making his way to the wicket, boye »ho«Mf ' 'be placed at the boundary to thiow boundaiy aits. "1 remember," lie write,,) "when the fii»t Australian Eleven w«i*i' ; Home in 1378 the, game was being played: W' exactly the same lethargic spirit aa n<rt| obtains here. Unpunotuality und ii*tk*2 ness weio its prominent features. W|j noticed this, and determined, as far as were,concerned, to alter it. Oα the Ntaofcf 1 of 12 we went out of tie gate before the umpires). We were brisk in every other way. The public WWJji delighted. The Press referred to m tjt 'tho.se punctual. Australians-' Our put our opponents on their mettle, sad «•£ 'had real 'live , matches, and made quiklj a revolution in the game." We comnweiMr Allan 'a protest to tine attention of local cricket aulihoritiev for there have-btAl complaints on previous oocasioos of the vnjb; in which time, was wasted. ' ' ' Sl The late Herr Gkrmany's the millionaire iftub| ''Cannon King." master of • Germ*njj! wae the third of Krupp family who has left his mark upoK; German industry. The first was a blactj smith, who worked at a small forge *t,t Essen «ariy in the nineteenth century, m4| who discovered and handed over to eldest son a, process of making cast Under the control of the eon, Alfred Kropftgi the humble forge grew into the worlds,; famous steel works of Essen, an enormous industry. Up to 1885 Alfmjli Krupp had manufactured more than2oo,o(fl| cannon of various kinds for 34 difler«ii| States, and the gums turned out wefc»4 quite equal to the oest English patterns i*,i fre<ruom from accident and precision of firt» j The third Krupp, the one whose death Wβ j recently recorded, succeeded to the of hi* father's business in 1887, and once proceeded to extend its already kug»'|| \ proportionH. At the present time thertUl \ are 150,000 men, women, and children S ployed by the firm, 50,000 being at vorfc|| I at Essen alone. The works cover | acres, and the plant includes 62 miles private railways, and 50 milee of t«leg»pM|| and telephone wires. The London cof»*l|i .epondent of the Melbourne "Age , * his paper with some interesting regarding the deceased "Cannon Herr Kimpp ,was the ric'hesft man in many. For thirty years pait he headed the list of contributors to th* i**' r M| come tax revenue of the country, when he died his personal estate wae oudy estimated at- from fifteen to millions sterling. His share of the p«fito;j|| from the business must have exceeded over £1,000,000 a year. Krupp was in many respects a model .ployer. He contributed £25,000 a. to an old age pension fund for his lOKtj|p ployees, under which retired workmen *•"/■« ceive .pensions of from 40 to 70 per of their yearly wages, and tbe wjdoirf 'U pensions of 50 per cent, of their huebaada* *J wages, in addition to annuities for dren. The firm ako provide houses the' majority of the employees, at nominal rent of. from £2 to £2 10s year. Kindergartens, sdhools, cooksof chxeses, hospitals, invalid homes, homes the aged, and lying-in homes are proviwj||| for the employees and their families fe*j£tjf of cost, and co-operative stores awl special mill and bakery ensure a supply of the necessaries of life. Krupp gave no tes tnan £50,000 * y**%J| towards the social comforts of His .ployees, and his piivate gt-nerosity ws» a- similarly liberal tcalt. _.__,'£^H

: ' .Some fi,cts and ft. London tigu.es. taW f ™» the ' Police. «tn<u*retm/»dfc.pta. ward lW rd » report, , ,5 i ~r , :a ll ■/X'Ctator" with trfi of London, reference to tiie i. Z, Metropolitan police *net :,, roughhT* circle thirty miles • diameter, com- • p V' 9 ig on area of ~iH,tl.gl>ke 688 square! L te . In tin* <li.tr, are congregated « and a half niilliuu*™"*. reprint- ; Sα eee-fiftli of the Mai impulatioa of jfcj,hßd and Wale*. Ti e I K,hw force «aikb!e for the c'trol and protection Of this hujjo > n rol,nd numbers 16.000 ofl«s uud ni F n, but the iull strength of t> fw( -* is **™ avail " e We. Oa the 47T ™ n M '< * Vi V ■ each day, on rt ltaVt - Mid 884 nten ere daily absent n of clwnce. whikDearly 2000 are-" ; d off for t-pocial duties - for tbo Ooverin-tit <-r for private individuals. Tin* deductions leave .-onie •12,700 nu-n /ailable for the control of JUindon. lit- fv<.-n tlu-n the greatest number actti:i!lv«n duty at ar.y given time it only atHji- I* 1 ' tent - of tllLs total - for the poteman is but huiaun, and anuist I'ave timf» (,r idetp and rest. This means that 760? "'en patrol the iletropolw by night, 5000 men by day. A.s for the nork t' y e <i<aie, tin- records for th».vtftr i9Ol show that there were. ' 1901 zvvs, aboat 10,000 persons had 'o to hospitals', ueariy 110,000 pt-r- ---- --eonswere arrested on various charges, arid O T«7 32,000 licensed drivers and conductors ] I>( ' to be watched by the "man in blue." RiUgbly speaking, there is only one policenan available for eVery fifty-eight acres of >nd, or for every 850 persons, and the amount of work to be attended to seems immense in comparison with the Hinallness of the force. Says the "Spectator," commenting on these ligures, "The extraordinary sense of security, which is perhaps the most striking characteristic of the greatest and (with the exception of Constantinople) the most notably unplanned city in the world, is apparently based on the presence of this small force, the members of which are Hot aimed with tiny lethal weapon. London (apart from occasional panics, such as the South Audley street riots produced) feeh itself safe from the attacks of individual or organised criminals, and believes that less than 8000 men can look after an ajrea containing sis and a half millions of people, possessing a rateable value of £46,538,501, and containing wealth that is absolutely incalculable."