BRITISH AND FOREIGN

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 437, 20 February 1909, Page 10

BRITISH AND FOREIGN

CURRENT TOPICS. ! ; .Lord Roseb'ery discoursocfcon thrift in an interesting way. on .Monday last,, whenho' : attended tho = annual meeting of the Edinburgh Savings Bank. Quoting Shakespeare, :-2. : he 1 declared (so "The .Times' I '', reports)-that .".•'viv " thrift ie Messed,not merely because of tho -■V'..■■-./1 ! accumulation of- qubstanoo, but: because, of tlio foundation and. strengthening of. char? ■ aoter." ■ Ho goes on to say that to such a. degreo has the. absence of thrift proceeded ' that it is no\v a subject-of joy to tho.eoono- . - ...' mist that Parliamentary'', votes. bro" passed under the guillotine, because,when;any voto .. comes up for idisiussion,. thoro -is-ilo question •a>.v - of its- diminution!-but s hundred voices for its ; v fu •; V. increase j andj therefore, although politicians arc apt to oomplam of so many votes and so t . ; . much: expenditure being,, passed -under- tho: • . rigid rules of'siienco imposed by.the guillo- • ; x tine,' tho economist r sbcfetly rcjoioes that such is tho case. 1 do think that it is wise for those who havo tho. government- of-.our. affairs- ''. 'to remember that 'great empires only live as .': long as thoy arc thrifty. The moment .that . . 'they begin to' Waste', or disperse their rc- • souroos tho day of their , end is . at liandj and that if a fact abundantly proved in history—proved Jlp.-,tc .the -iiilt, -1 think,-- by > all the exampleß'whiclt I ha«! given y6u. And, though ;•!; do- not pretend to-preach! thrift ironi any 1 exalted standpoint, I do beg those 'who aroherepresent, and ..those; outside V . thoso wills whom my words- may roach.-to . . .. Tomomber that thrift is tho surest arid tho : stro.ngests foundation of an empire—so sure, !' so strong, and- so.necessary..that.no great , - . ©rnpiro can long exist that disrcga'rds : it.". ,'' Pension Day. • Tho first of ■ January, 1909, was a day ef' rejoicing- to - some - hundreds of thousands of i ■i poor-pcrsbns-of<both-'soxes-'throiighout: tho-! .-. united Kingdom. It was tho first Pension i - . Day, seven. olclpck in the morning i onwards.sall-.ths post offices of tho country wero busily engaged in: paying out their first I weekly grants td therecipients of thonatjonnl - . : bounty;.-; The arrangements had been oaftfully , made in : and reflect much credit on .the organising : ability of tho Treasury and i v. 7 -'the Postal Departments, and everything went ... . without * hitch ; -(says'tho "Standard or the / : .Empire",).: Tbo newspapers havo been full oftho pathetic and interesting scones which were • '-' '• witnessed..when.'the broken'vetorans of-" the'army of labour came up to reccivo their long-deferred-payments. The bitter weather which .'. '. preceded-itha. opening days-of'.tho. Now'. Year gavo an padded .pathos to the occasion, and ~ : . added , special l fitness, to'.tho- protection^wfiiclt. ■ > : tho ; week!y grant-now. gives to'many poor old •. . parsons ({against tho. stress •of -want, and . . • weather.^■' l What seenjs;to. havo:. struck the / journalistic commentators v most ''Was 'the ex-' :- < tromo-resp(!Ctabllity..of tho great majority of I f,4 the annuitants. • Thcro is.undoubtedly a mass >.'■ of gnmyj-'miserable, utterly hopeless and do-1 plorable ..poverty in which" all-sense of the I '' - decency vof life' is lost, and that Jdnd of, poverty -,lias been too much /m evidence in I ,v:.j: tho streets of -London-of.lato. But; another kind of poverty there is whicli is equally l ..- deservingof .sympathy, .though, it? oMina.. -j-too littid• of it:. tho'. poverty of'' thfc:'fcoor i people who Jive up to the defiant ',Briti?h .v. . and fioriicliowioni the merest | ;i4lpil -, . ■ chanty or tho Poor Law. To many thousands > • eion will .bo .an ..immeasurable- boon,. and will. Jiring a ray of much-needod brightness to the , shadowod close of innumerable lives which I :i/ •■ : havo been passed in honourable, toil and too I £•' .ofton in strugglingijpsnUry.'l-M' 't' : How to Speak In Public. ' ,

.i'v- , Mr. :"W; T.. Stead*has Eome very. interestmgi • : .things to say on thfe''great, public y-;;;; - he has heard, and on ."the art. of public speak- ■ ■ - IDEin tho January "Windsor Magazine..' . /lr ihe. Irish," "are much the most eloQUOhtv of - Even in America, Mr. W. J. " Bryan is of Irish descent. In the eighteenth Century : tho great Parliamentary orators waro Irishmen. Bilrke,<Sheridan,.Grftttan, ,Curran, and, Flood . were all Irish. In the -nineteenth; Pluukett, Shiel, O'ConilollJ.Mageo, A. M. Sullivan, and Siv^;;;Sexfon, -.all:,stand;iin,;the front ;In;the ;■.!: ; present Parliament,'' Mr. RedntOnd;- Ml 1 ; 1 Tj' P.'O Connor, and-T. M. Bealy are the, moat cffectivo speakers. Mr. Bright, by common' ; consent, was the greatest orator of the last ■ hnlf-centuiy. Unlike Joseph Cowfeu, he cul- • style of severe simplicity.' It was 7 but seldom, and only in his hotter youth, that ; ho .ventured upon.thfi d&ring metaphors which g;v;V^ vac only one Buch -flight, ■ for iriatancoj as that in wlnch Mr. Blight stilled the House of Commons by deckling 'the Angel of Doath -ilias.bcon abroad throughout the land. Yon / ';. llifiy almo3ti;ear ! th<i boating - of- :< his Swings'.' V-/ "Hero liro 'practical words of advice ■ . based upon-considerable-experience/ ; as a .: . / ■ speaker, ' sajs Mr',.Stead, "atul still moro as B,:listener Sever ;' speaks itMt- Kav- • ing something to cav. . (2) Always sit down, • when you hive saM it. 1(3) Reiiiembep; speech' ■■■: r:is; dumb' Show when-it is not audible. -(4) • Think definitely;-' pwmouneo clearly, stand - . naturally, aiid do.-not speak -too' fast:• (5): ? 6':. i '.- Welcome; artioulate • interruption, '■ ho: matter; 1 how hostile (G) Two things should never be -i-,;-;.- lost—your.toraper and the thread of your dis- -: h cou rso.'. (7); .Uemombef tliat 'tho 'eyes are as eloquent as.ithe tongue; (B)'Never hesitate to ■ ,^'Z'let' yourselfigo, 1 ,at tho:right;:time:w :(9)\Never . . • . read your speech, but always have the heads of your discourse handy f ,(10) And never for- -. ' ". . . get Cardinal .Manning's saying: 'Be full of your subjeoji and forget yourself.'" j Dr. Rash Beharl -■ -V f - - '-Dr. Kasli Behan Ghose,- C.1.iE.,. who has presided ovtfr the Indian Naitioiial Congfc's's-at' Madras this iveek, is a Bengali lanjer and . scholar of gi'eat distinction," says the : minster." "His. eminence as . a.'jurist'' was S': .-;, X. the';: G6verfime'ht'.' ; .two' : years. .- .. ago,.when;he-.waS"'appointed member of .the small committee entrusted witlr the import- • ant task of,, Revising the Civil Proeodure Code.' In.the Caloutta High Court ho has long heldthe premier, position among tho, vakils—the liavo not. been called-to the ;r, Bar v , Dr.-. Ghos<s has been. connected ,'V< : :i; ; Versity f6r 30• years; and .is now scrying• third torn oii tua.Vioe'rov'a Lecifilativo Uoim— c 'l- His kiio\v,ledgci "61 i English literature: is scarcely less vextenaivd ..and, exact, .than his ~, knowledge of,-Jawy and no Indian of, his. day : can jJP^roacb 1 ' lnm m mastery of biting

Personality after Death. 1 ,1-., "For. the .psst; 15years I have,boen con- • :Vinced--by; tlioj-pifessuro.'of a eontiniiallv vaccumulating'mass of'first-hand evidence of the , truth of'tho pSraistchce\ of 'personality;: after death, ihtiifCourse,with': . the.departed.. ;But I always said, 'I will wait . untii someone.inmy. own t family has passed-- . beyond the gtilVol'befora I' finally.dcclare 'my f ; ; conviction on this subject,lV. writes Mr. W. T. . Stead, in an ( article entitled ."How. ! Know : . that,..the; Dead Return,?? -in., the- January v:,;''P6rtnigMly v; - this :month:o£®enember';l ; saw my-eldest'-son, . ' .whomlliad .trainee! in'ithe fond.'hopo that would bo my successor, dio.,at*tho early'ago ; of thirty-three'. .Tho tie between us was: of , the closest. No one could-deceive mo by fabncated spurious messages'.from ray: beloved Bon. Twolvo.imonths liavo now passed, :; in almost every .-week' of which I have' beeri ; cheored and comforted by'messages ffom'rny •: boy, who >is nearer and dearer to mo: than ever before.: .The,.preceding 'twelve months I' had been much abroad. ,1 hoard loss frequently. from him in: mat.year ..thanl. have, heard from him i.stnce,.Jio. passed, out..of. .our sight, ■ I liavo'-not:tak«rhi»>'coilimunications' bv my. own hand. I knew him so well that ; what, I wrote might - liavo" been tho unconscious echocs'of converse .in the past." Fd : has communicated with methrough.the hands of two slight acquaintances, and . they '.have been one ami ; all,as cloarly,stamped'withthe impress of.'his own: character^ftnd'mode . ■v.of: thought as'ally of .the letters he tfrote to .. me dtirihfr his sojourn ,on earthy:.' /After .this, I can;doubt rio''nibre.For ine'Hho. problem .. s is . solved,; tho: truth is, established, and: ! airf to bavc< this opportunity of testifying : : publicly ; to.-all. thp«,world thnt,"so ■ concerned, doubt on this subject is henceforth impossible."