LONDON CHAT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2052, 12 April 1907, Page 4

LONDON CHAT.

OPENING OP THE NEW THU HO CATHEDRAL.

LONDON, February 22. Since their return to England tlio King null Queen have been fulling tilings very quietly, continuing the courso of domesticity anil private visiting which, in theory, they pursued in Paris. The Prince and Princess of Wales, however, are at present. engaged once "more in heading some special festivities in the Far West'. On the previous occasion, 31 years ago, they wont, it will be remembered, in connection with the opening of the completed new cathedral at Truro. In the present' case they have gone to open the recent'lyeonstructod extension of the Stoat Koyham Dock at Dovonport. Of tho ceremony itself little need be said. The Prince and Princess embarked in the Admiralty steamer Vivid, which steamed up the noble expanse of tho Hamoav.e to the entrance of tho now and gigantic docks, which is approached by a lock so vast that it can admit tho largest ship of war in tho world, tho Dreadnought, over its sill at the lowest spring tide. A twisted silk ribbon ol rod, white and blue spanned the entrance from side to side; as tho Vivid glided on a sharp blade, which had been fixed on her forcstay, severed the ribbon, which flew apart right and left, this being the signal tor the tremendous thunder of the Royal salute fired by all the numerous men-of-war in the Hamoaze, a memorial stone being simultaneously unveiled. Then came the customary speeches and presentations, anil the formal naming the new dock, “The Prince oi Wales Basin.” The Heir-Apparent at the sarao time exiiressed his beliei that Dovonport was now “the largest and most important military port m tho colony—if not in tho world.” Unfortunately tho pleasantness of the affair was badly marred through tho continuance of the bitterly cold north-westerly gale, accompanied by sharp squalls of rain, hail and sleet. But no one could bo blamed for the inclemency of the weather, and everybody endeavored to ma'ke the “best of a had .fob.” THE GERMAN OPERA SEASON. Just as all musical and artistic pooplo were congratulating themselves on the brilliant success, musical, artistic, and financial, of tho recent winter season of German opera at Covent Garden, that season suddenly and most unexpectedly ended in mysterious and disastrous and as yet unexplained collapse. The original season of four weeks had been extended by two more, one of which had passed. For tho concluding week full programmes and casts had been announced and large bookings had taken place. And to-morrow night was to have witnessed the close amid a blaze of triumph of a great and splendidly-conducted enterprise. But last Monday morning, when the members of the cgjfnpany attended to receive their salaries, none were .forthcoming, nor could any of the authorities be discovered, save the permanent caretakers of the theatre. Inquiries for M. Ernest Van Dyck, the famous Wagnerian tenor, who was the general manager of the enterprise, were informed that lie left lor the Continent that morning. This appeareil hardly consistent with the published official announcement that owing to his serious illness it had become necessary to close the season abruptly and to omit the second intended week of extension. There was also a promise to return all moneys already paid for booked seats. No promise appears to have been made as to the payment of the salaries owing, and I uderstand that many members of the company were reduced to dire strait's, being unable even to pay their bills incurred lor board and lodging on the strength of the money due to them. London is still without an explanation of this sudden and extraordinary collapse of an undertaking which had not boon merely exceptionally brilliant and successful, both musically and artistically, but also commercially, if the invariably crowded houses could be taken as a criterion. But tho collapse was destined to have consequences of the most terribly pathetic and tragic character. Many of the members of tho disbanded company, finding it hopeless to stay on in London in expectation of receiving the money due to them—being, indeed, ill most cases unable to do so through lack of funds—arranged to return to their homes in Germany by the cheapest route—that via Harwich and the Hook of Holland. They accordingly took their departure the night before last by the Great Easter boat-train to Harwich, where they embarked in tho company’s fine steamer Berlin, for the Continent. Elsewhere I deal with the* terrible voyage that followed and its still more terrible and fatal conclusion. Suffice it' here to say that every one of those unhappy opera-singers went to a watery grave on the very threshold of their port of destination. Their total number is stated to be no fewer than 35 persons of both sexes. As it happened, only one of the principal operatic artists was among them, but she is one whoso loss to the world of musical art is to bo greatly regretted. She w as 11 certain Miss Schoene, who, when Madame Aclite had ceased to appear, owing, it was alleged at the time to a severe cold, but as is now suspected from an affection of the chest—Miss Schoene took her place as Elsa in “Lohengrin” and Elizabeth in “Tannhauser,” in both of which parts she achieved an immediate and brilliant success. She had many points in common with Aclite, including personal beauty, girlish charm and grace, and a peculiarly sweet and fresh young voice, most artistically used. Great things were expected of her in the near future. Those expectations, alas! can never now be realised.

METEOROLOGICAL HISTORY

English meteorological history has lew parallels for the terrific tempest which has raged over this country as well as a large part of Europe during the greater part of the current week. It has been technically a true cyclone of extraordinary magnitude and violence. Its advent was so sudden that it came as a general surprise. It was only a few veteran watchers of the skies and glass who suspected last Tuesday afternoon that an exceptionally heavy gale was at hand. It was, indeed, more a certain sinister aspect of the clouds, added to the reports from abroad of a falling glass, that suggested the proximity ot the storm. For the barometer, locally, had hardly begun any serious descent when the storm was upon us. To add to its grim and menacing character, the hurricane burst upon us almost exactly at midnight. During the whole ol that' night and the following day and night it raged with amazing fury, and even now, on Friday, it is only lulling by degrees. Borne of its freaks have been very remarkable. It is not usual in London, with its lofty buildings, and its comparatively narrow and sheltered streets, to see windows and shopfronts blown bodily in. But that occurred in several eases oil the present occasion. In Fleet street, not many yards from the London office of the New Zealand Associated Press, a heavy mass of stone coping was blown bodily over, and fell with a terrific crash upon the footpath, fortunately without hitting any passerby, else as one observer rather unpleasantly remarked, “There would have been a nasty mess of raspberry jam.” There was also a great destruction of old. and valued trees in various parks and gardens; in the suburbs and country the devastation was enormous. One provincial bank was simply crumpled up like a Cliiu-

esc lantern; a vast drillsliod was forcibly ontored by the wind through tli.) .smashed windows and doors, tlio immediate soquel being that the wliolo roof was hurled bodily skyward, descending in a confused mixture of broken glass, splintered wood and twisted iron. Happily no ono was seriously injured in that mishap, but many lives have been lost throughout the country and around the coasts by falling treos, wrecked buildings, and shipwreck. One incident may illustrate the appalling force of the gale. The London anil North-Western main line to Holyhead, the principal communication between London and Ireland, runs for the 81 miles from Chester to the Menai Strait, almost due west along the southern shore of the Dee Estuary ; it is thoreiore badly exposed to tlio full force ol the westerly and north-westerly gales which are so frequent there. When the gale was at its height, in the small hours of Wednesday morning, the Irish mail train, hauled by two powerful engines, was so seriously impeded by the force of the wind that its speed was brought down irom 50 to 5 miles an hour, a mere walking pace, and the consumption of steam was so excessive in order to make any headway at all that special stops had to bo made for wafer— a sufficiency not being obtainable irom the track-troughs from which the locomotives take it up for speed. But the. second Irish boat -train, about two hours later, had a still worse experience, being actually brought to a dead stand by the sheer l'ury of the wind, although tlio engine, a powerful and relatively new one, was exerting itself to the utmost to mako headway. It was only when a temporary lull occurred that the driver was able to induce his loeonlotive to make another effort. As for Hie experiences of tlio passengers who embarked from both of those trains in the crossChannel steamers for Ireland tlio unhappy victims prefer to draw a veil over their sufferings. I deem it c6nsidorate not to raise its edge. MENINGITIS. That very unpleasant and peculiarly fatal disease, cercbro spinal meningitis, not content with the lavages it has performed in Northern Ireland and Western Scotland, or with the entrance it has effected to Liverpool, has now come to London, and has already three deaths to its credit. So far the doctors appear quite unable to grapple with it, or to arrive at any theory of causation, or to devise

any remedy. They believe it not- to be infectious or contagious, but they (ind it invariably accompanied by the prcsenco_of a special microbe in the fluid of the spinal column —and there their discoveries and knowledge both end. Where the microbe comes from, or how it enters the human body they seem unable even to guess. But so far as one can judge from results the mysterious entrance of a single microbe into the body of a living person appears to be about as fatal as the bite of a cobra, and almost as rapidly so. Death, in many, cases, seems to result in a few hours after the first symptoms of the disease appear. In these circumstances it is not surprising that a good deal of anxiety, and oven apprehension, should be felt that so mysterious and fatal a complaint appears to have established itself definitely among such a vast population as that of London. .MR. KEIR HARDIE’S OPINIONS. Mr. Kcir Hardie—whose first name is commonly pronounced as if it wore spelled with a “q” and a “u” instead of a “k”—has been airing his advanced opinions at Cambridge.

He does not seem to have made much impression upon the .Cantabs, but whether lie intended it or not he certainly has been the means of leading them to exhibit themselves in their most unfavorable aspect. His visit was made the occasion for what is called in the presumably gentlemanly institution, namely, the army, the navy, and the university “rag.” I need not explain that this, put into simple English, means a revolting and disgraceful display of blackguardism, bullying, and cowardice. The “raggers” arc always careful to practise their brutalities only when they are in overwhelming strength and numbers, so that they are presumably secure from immediate reprisals. In this case they conceived themselves perfectly safe, being assembled in liyge numbers, in offering the grossest insults and outrage to a man who, even if he advocates views repugnant to their own, was at least a respectable person and a responsible member of Parliament-. He was, moreover, in the position of a guest. The fact' that this rendered their conduct all the more cowardly and contemptible seemed to enhance its zest to these unworthy members of a distinguished learned society. And so they not only hurled at the speaker all sorts of vulgar insults, but also pelted him with various offensive missiles, including small glass tubes containing corrosive acid, or filth of various kinds, or compressed gases derived from filth, such as sulphuretted and phospheretted hydrogen which yield the pleasant odors of animal decomposition. Mr. Hardie personally showed me the burns of the acid on his clothing and watchchain, and the cut made by a phial which was actually flung at him by one of those young brutes. Ho is keeping the phial as a keepsake. And these ruffians are supposed to represent' the creme de la creme of good English society.—N.Z. Herald.