NEWS AND OPINIONS

Evening Star, Issue 21748, 16 June 1934, Page 2

NEWS AND OPINIONS

ARTEMUS WARD. With regard to the Artcmus Ward centenary article, published elsewhere on this page, it is interesting to note that,the first “ goak ” of the famous humourist, in the lecture at the Egyptian Hall; London, on November 13, 1866, which opened his English tour, was one dealing with New Zealand. A correspondent of ‘ The Times ’ gives his actual \vords as follows: “ You .are .entirely welcome, ladies and gentlemen,; to my little picture shop. [The framed picture, or panorama, wa's to the left on entering.] ■ 1 couldn’t give you a very clear idea of the Mormons—and Utah—and the Plains—and the Rocky Mountains —without opening a picture shop—and therefore I open one., “ I don’t expect to -do things here—hut I have thought that if I could .make money enough tp buy me. a passage to New Zealand I should not have Jived, m vain. “I don’t want to liv.e in vain. I’d rather live in Margate—-or here. But I wish when the Egyptians built this hall they had given it a Tittle more ventilation. . \ “If you should'be-dissatisfied'..with anything here to-night—l will/ admit you all free in New Zealand—if you will come to mo there for the orders. Any respectable cannibal will tell you where T live.” MULTIPLYING COCKNEYS. The old definition of a Cockney is: Olie bom within the sound of Bow Bells, it is a nice problem to decide how this definition is affected by the use of a gramophone record of Bow BClls as a “ stand-by signal ” between items on the wireless. A planter in one of Britain’s most distant dependencies has written to say that his wife presented him with a baby while Bow’s chimes were coming from his loud speaker ;and, please, was his offspring therefore entitled to be considered a Cockney?, A BLACK POSTAL STAMP, v ?’ Ever since the Postmaster-General’s Department decided to issue a series of stamps to celebrate Melbourne’s centenary, the strictest secrecy has been observed regarding the colour of that stamp, which is to be sold at one shilling (says the ‘ Age The colours of the twopenny and threepenny issues were broadcast, and it was made apparent that the stamp of higher value was to be something unique. _ But beyond this information nothing was divulged. It is-now learned in official, circles that the one-shilling stamp will, be black. This dismal colour, rarelv associated with animation of any kind, has never before been used by the Australian postal authorities. Tn fact, In only rare instances has any other country adopted it. So at any rate the issue will be something of a chriosity. Records show that the last black stamp —maybe, it was the only issue—to be turned out in Great Britain was-late in the last century.

TWO CRIPPLES. Discussing tlie succouring and saving of crippled children, Sir William Wheeler,' past' president of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, points out in the London ‘Daily Herald’ that this work isone of the epics' of socialmedical achievement. Two cripples, he says, have played 'a dominant part in . modern history, One is the ex-Kaiser, with his withered arm ; the other,is President Franklin Roosevelt, the victim of, infantile paralysis. The ex-Kaiser exemplifies the tragedy' of deformity; the President, the triumph oyer it. In the case of the ex-Kaiser, it transfigured his whole life and his : whole outlook. It embittered him. Like so ■ many men who suffer from a’ sense of inferiority, he tried to bluster his ’way , to a self-made grandeur. In the case of Roosevelt, he received the advice, the treatment, and the encouragement rrom , the American scientists, who are second to none. His struggle with infirmity ■ moulded, instead of-marring,-his characterf The ex-Kaiser was born too soon. A TEST CRICKET STORY. . Numerous interesting reminiscences . are served up in a record of various British, sports published under the title ’ 1 They’re Off,’ and contributed to' by a number of. sporting journalists. One story relates that Mr Warwick Armstrong, the former captain of the Aus- , tralian test team, confessed that he , once helped to pick England’s eleven. “ The Australians were playing in the west country,” he said, when one of the older country batsmen made a stand. “ I knew that he wasn’t particularly formidable, and that he was a bad field, the sort of chap to give away a lot of runs and miss catches. So I didn’t change the bowling much to " worry him, and he made- about 70. When I got back to the pavilion I noticed that two of the selection committee and some other influential people r were there, so 1 sang out at the top of my voice: ‘ By gad, what a wonderful innings! Best I’ve seen for years. 1 don’t want to run up against him very often.’ They heard. They picked him. We won the next test match.” A DOG RESTAURANT. For three decades Paris had a dog cemetery, situated on an island in the Seine, near Asnieres. The London ‘ Times ’ says that a' dog restaurant, alleged to be the only one in the world, is the latest innovation. It has. just been opened in a cafe in the Champs Elysees. The menu includes soup, “ Caniphos ” (a biscuit of dry vegetables and meat), meat pudding, carrote- green beans, spinach, rice, and noodles. For vegetarian dogs a vegetable dish is obtainable. Soup is free in this restaurant; other dishes range in price from 2f to 4f.

THE INDIAN ROPE TRICK. I suppose that to the end of time there will be people coming along to claim they have seen the Indian Rope Trick (writes “ Janus,” in the ‘ Spectator ’). The correspondence columns of the ‘ Spectator •, and other journals provide confirmation enough of that. But the Occult Committee of the Magic Circle on Monday evening came as near as can by the nature of things be possible to proving that the trick had nevej; been performed and never could be Lord Halifax wrote saying that throughout his vice-royalty he had tried in vain to find someone to perform the rope trick, and if a master of the trick will not appear for a viceroy it is fairly good evidence of his non-existence. Sir Michael O’Dwycr told bow the Nizam of Hyderabad, most powerful of Indian princes, had similarly failed to get the trick performed for him. A colonel who mentioned that he and father and .grandfather had served between them ninety-eight years in India said* that all of them had tried assiduously to come across the rope trick, and all without success. The offer of large money rewards failed to evoke it. That is pretty substantial evidence of a certain kind, and as complement to it the Occult Committee has cross-examined, with disastrous results to their testimony, various witnesses who claim to have seen the trick themselves. And yet at the end of it all there is something left to explain. Assuming that the rope trick never happened, why are there still sober and apparently credible people who are convinced that they saw it happen? Mass-hypnosis is rather a theory of despair, and many sound psychologists disbelieve in mass-hypno-sis altogether.