LONDON CHAT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1973, 8 January 1907, Page 4

LONDON CHAT.

AN EPIDEMIC OF INFLUENZA

LONDON, November 23. Judging l'rom what one hears am! soos all round, our .Royalties seem to bo the only people at the. present time who are not prostrated with hilluenza, which is epidemic in a peculiar acute and trying form, attacking its victims with remarkable suddenness, and leaving them far weaker than the proverbial rat. Almost every body seems to bo “down” with it just now, and that not merely in London and the suburbs —although these parts are undergoing tho severest visitation but also throughout tho country generally. There does not seem any adequate ground for regarding this year’s influenza as infectious, its form seems to he rather that of a virulent epidemic, which often attacks every person in a house at the same time. It constitutes a very serious interruption and hindrance to business of all kinds.

INTERNATIONAL i’OLITJGA L OUTLOOK.

Hardly over can tins intcrnatioi political weather have heini more placid than at present,yet every week brings some fresh attempted sensation. Two “sensations” have been vouchsafed to ns this week, one a manifest “flam” the other a reality which may one day become grim. As to the former, the pending visit ol the Danish Royalties to Germany has, of course, suggested the obyiom theory that Germany and Denmark have entered into, or are about tf enter into, a treaty for the closing ol the Baltic to foreign shipping in cast of war. Nobody would dream of ask ing, save derisively, “Doesn’t Ger many wish she may get it?” for oi course we all know she does. The ah surdity consists in imagining for a moment that such a proceeding woidd be tolerated by the greatest Naval Power in the world, or that any closure of the Baltic would be taken into the slightest, account if the British fleet wanted to go there, while no sane person .can seriously suppose that Denmark would entertain such a suggestion, directed as it must be against England. Also, assuming that it wore really carried out, the inevitable outcome would be tlie absorption of Denmark by Germany—a stop which German rulers and politicians have long yearned to take, but which in •the lace of British opinion they do not dare openly to advocate. Any one who knows anything at all about the matter is perfectly well aware that the first outcome of any loss of British naval preponderance would bo the prompt •ftnnpxation of Denmark and Holland, if not. of Bplgium as well.

ATROCITIES J.N THE CONGO

Talking of Belgium loads me to tlio second current sensation, of which that kingdom is the subject. The civilised world has nearly reached tl)e limits of its patience with the infamous atrocities in constant perpetration in the Congo State with the connivance and for the special profit of the King of the Belgians, if not perpetrated by his direct instructions. I do not suppose that readers even so far away as New Zealand are ignorant of the horrors of the Congo —of the cold-blooded murders, atrocious mutilations, and horrible tortures that are daily inflicted on the unhappy natives, who are sp unfortunate as to live under King Leopold’s rule. In the case of the Congo State there are treaty limitations, and a day or two ago Sir Edward Grey made a speech full of grave suggestiveness, warning Belgium that the state of things which has prevailed so long in the Congo could not be allowed to continue indefinitely, and that the time had arrived when civilised nations would be obliged to intervene to put a stop to “method of barbarism,” Sir Edward Grey did not employ that exact phraseology .the phrase which I have piloted would have been exactly opposite hut seeing that if was the one employed by his chief Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, as describing the proceedings of our own country in South Africa, its use in the present case would have afforded too convenient a text for a very unpleasant “tu quorpie.” The leading Belgian papers to-day comment upon Sir Edward Grey’s utterance in a tone of manifest uneasiness, if not of positive alarm, MATTERS M USICAL,

This week’s musical events Imve not lacked interest, blit have been almost entirely of a ]>ersonal nature. In the first place, Dr. Joachim, once the ,young friend and personal protege or Mendelssohn himself, and perhaps the greatest violinist of all time, has returned to us with powers virtually unimpaired, bringing with him his renowned string quartet, and also the world’s greatest clarioilhttist, Herr Muehlfeld. Tlie.se splendid executants gave the day before Yesterday a concert whose programme consisted entirely of the works of the late Johannes Brahms. Naturally with Meqhlfeld present, the delightful clarionet quintet was included, and was delightfully interpreted. So were tile two sets of charming vocal waltzes sung h.V a competent mixed quartet witliduetpianoforte accompaniment admirably given by Borwick and Tovey. Another welcome appearance has been that of Sarasate, the great Spanish violin),stj who, if lie lias never been Joachim’s rival—owing to his special phase of excellence being different has nevertheless almost shared with him the admiration of the ! public, It is a remarkable fact that the only fault over found with Sara;S«to has been that lie is “too perfect” —not that lie is tame or mechanical, but that he seldom or never provides any element of human individualism. As lie plays once, so lie plays always, and a very eminent Mils. Doc. once remarked to me, “It would almost be 3 treat to hear Sarasate play a false note, for once, or make liis violin squeak; it gets quite monotonous when a Ilian is as perfect and uniform as a mechanical apparatus.” Another personal event of'the week lias been the announcement by Lord Kilniorey that he is initiating steps for flic appropriate celebration, at the Albert Hall next year, of the professional jubilee of Charles Santloy, the unrivalled baritone. Oil the 19tli of this month Mr Santloy has completed the 49tli year of his career as a public singer. In all these years he lias never found anyone to equal him as a typical vocal and dramatic representative of the Prophet ill Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” and not one of the younger men has yet proved able to rival him. When Santloy >ya.« ;if his prime as ail opera singer he “created” the title part in Ambroise Thomas’s lather mild musical illustration of Shakespear’s “Hamlet.” It was recognised at the time by the ablest dramatic critics that Santley’s was the finest “Hamlet” ever seen, putting wholly aside its musical setting. He was then associated with a typical Ophelia in the perron of the lovely blonde and great Swedish artist, Christine Nilsson. “NEITHER SOLID NOP SUBSTANTIAL.” Sir Theodore Martin, who was

| close personal friend of the late Queen, and who still is a remarkably vigorous old gentleman—aged 90— has just, been telling an interviewer what he thinks about the so-called “education” which has done, and is doing, so much injury ±q minds and bodies of the English people, “The entire educational system to-day," he said, “is in the wrong direction. We are not training: the rising generation as the past- generation was trained, find the mental pabulum they are taught to relish is neither

solid or substantial. In on)' pigmentary schools w are giving instruction ill a niultiplciiy of subjects; we are imparting a smattering of knowledge regarding many tilings that will lie of no jiossinie advantage to nine children out of ten ; and, while doing this, we are neglecting those things which are most essential. How few lads to-day can compose an ordinary letter as it should he written ! I daily receive," .continued Sir Theodore, •‘ill-spelled and badly-written communications from all parts of tiie country asking me to assist the writers to secure positions, and few of tile applicants can read properly or do a sum in arithmetic correctly. This is the result of the existing system, which is multiplying the unfit. The mind is being fed with a meal of dainties and superfluities in stead of esential. solid fare. “Wliat of the manners of the rising generation?” pursued Sir Theodore.

“Where is the sweetness and charm, that kindly consideration for and deference to age, that we worn wont to sect It has vanished almost completely, at any rate from the large towns; and I am afraid that the present system may soon banish it from the country also. I have seen the passing of tlm old order of public speaking—the end of the days when the highest class of oratory was all that was possible in the House of Commons, when every period was published and every sentence carefully constructed. Those days are goii'e— the days of Palmerston, Disraeli, of Bright and Gladstone. And what have we in their placeP flow do tlio pages of Hansard to-day compare with those of half a century ago? The literature of to-day!” he exclaimed, “how much of it do you think will endure? It is ephemeral, cheap ,nnd shoddy. Mammoth publishing houses are turning out hooks by the toil and periodicals by the mile, and their heads are piling up huge fortunes as the result of their enterprises, which are submerging people beneath a flood of printed matter that dies almost as soon as it is horn.”