HERE AND THERE

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 87

HERE AND THERE

— The Cockney Standpoint. — "An Outlarader," in Blackvrood's Magazine, contributes an entertaining paper on th. merits and defects of the "Cockney"' attitude of 'mind of a number of literary men and politicians. The friends oi Mr Barrie will be surprised at finding that a fellow-counitrj'man should li>»ve selected him as the most conspicuous modern instance of the Cockney man of letters. In his earlier and more sneoessful work, such as "Auld Liriht Ldylls" and "A Window in, Thrums," he was professedly a chronicler of small beer." His -country folk were as conventional as the shepherds of Theocritus or the shepherdeeses o-f Watteau. "He ddd not probe deep for the sources of life The passion^ and humours which he so deftly nan died irere^ surface passions, trivial oomedies." His pathos was that of sentiment, aot of tragedy, and bis village studies as a -whole werce curiously artificial, hie cl&racters, save in external things, lake dialect and ha/bits, having nothing; Scotfash about them. In later years he has tried (his band at many Imoks and plays, but "every year /has made it more certain tha* has gift is essentially the Cockney gift, and thai he is successful only when be fcs^ps within the prescribed limits of that guild." Mr G. 3L Chesterton, is taken, as the type of writer Wiio has adopted the Cockney gfcamipoinit against his better nature. "His stook-kr- trade is s€ill the immensities, but he has made it has business to domesticate them. He is never weary of explaining how like an archangel is to the greengrocer at the corner . . . and all the while he has none of the true Cockney prattiness, tbe fireside and 'bedside arts and graces. He harps on trivialities with the thunderous accents of a prophet, and moves among the nick-nacks in his parlour with the clumsiness of a wild animal. Moreover, as a man with a 'message' he is not content witn literature; he must needs have a voice in politics. Accordingly he has exalted his limitations inio a political creed. He as the devotee of ev-eryithing small in th« small state, the small sect, the small coterie." Mr Birrell is given as an example of the Cockney in politics. "We should never have credited liisn with Ccckney faults had foe not gone to Ireland, but Ireland has Efoown that in politics he has all the Cockney limitations. He cannot bring himself to face an unpleasant {fact. He imagines that a Teadv humour and professions of good fellowship can reconcile the secular antagonism of Irish parties. A flagrant defiance of tbe crimiral law is condoned on the ground that popular feeling is in favour of the criminals, and that law must Wp yore w*h ponnkr ?€elin,e\ A few rhetorical phrases, luV 'men before cattle,' are his onfy contributions to the most difficult of our national problems." Cocfcneyiem, the spirit of "datxper urban sivilimtion," is, in "An OutlanderV >t>imon. the cause of " Lftblf En "lander" serafcHwen*, of failure, to understand the meaning of empire, and of weak governaaent in India. — The First Woman to Circumnavigate the World. — Last month Papeete, the principal city >f rahiti, held high carnival in connection H-ifeh the annual French national fete, md honour was done to the memory of De Bougainville, who- was identified with ;he early history of the island, and was :he first Frenehrniin to ciraiHmi*aviga/te th® ?lobe An incident connected with De Bougainville's -rait to Tahiti an 1767 (says ih-e Sydney Mail) deserves recording, kffcer the ships had been more than a rear at ©ea it was disrwered tihat one of iie hands in the expedition, engaged as a nervaait to the bot?.niM. was a -woman. Che commander, on bearing this, vremt on >oard the store cbi-p to make investiwa-ion-s He thought the report incredible, is Bare was already an expert bptanist, md had acquired the name, during his excursions with his master among the mows of the Straits of Magellan (where ie carried provisions, firearms, and bundle rf plants), of being his beast of burden. Che first suspicion of the sex of the )otanist's assistant occurred at Tahiti, « Fhere the natives, with the keen intuition '< if savages, cried out in their dialect, "It : s a -woman," amd- insisted on paying her < he attentions due to one. When De '■ Jougaiwolle went on board tihe ship '■ /•Etoile, Bane, 'bathed in tears, admitted bait she was a woman. She said she was a orphan, bsd served before in men's : lothes, and that the idea of a voyage ( round tlje world had in^amed her ciirio- i Lty De Bougainville does her the jus- l ice to state that she always behaved n board irith the most scrupulous mo- < lesty. Sh-e was not handsome, records i

the "Description," and was 27 years ol age. She was the first woman that evei circumnavigated the world. De Bougainville's most important discovery was, by the way, the Loudsiadie Arcihipelago, in 1768. —The Negro ha the South.— American citizens of African descent, mustering upwards of 12,00 C,000.. are profoundly agitated because of the decision by the United States Inter-State Commerce Commission, which declares that negro passengers on Southern railways and tramcaxe have all the privileges and accommodation, they can peasouablj expect to enjoy in a country where the -white maA greatly outnumbers them. The negroaSj represented by fire bishops of the African Episcopal Church, alleged discrimination as regards privileges and accommodation, which, tbey urged, etunild no longer exisfc in- a country where the Constitution proclaims all men born free must continue. Moreover, the negroes strongly objected, to being trailed along" in a somewhat inferior car called the " Jim Ototr car," attached *o the superior' car designed for the exclusive occupation of the lordly whites. The Gamroiesion decided, nowewer, that "equality" of accommodation does not mean identity of ac ; ccEMoodatkai," aad so tih« Jim Crow car must continue. Mor&ivea*, the negroes complained tftiat they w-ere not given a square deal in the dininer oars upon tbe railway 'traims. The Commission, in effect, decided that inasmuch as negroes are included in tbe "third call for dinner," by which time most of the whites have fed, the negroes have nothing to kick about. The Commission informed -the dusky bishops that they are labouring under grievances which are more imaginary tnan read, and tbalt if the letter of the law is not alwayp -obeerved, the spirit is interpreted generously. The 'InterState CoimndfisJon was confronted with the impoasibie task oi pleasing two big parties — the Soust-herners, who beliere in "keeping the negroes in their place," aad tie Nortberciers, many of wbonl profes dislike for the "Jim Oow law," and believe that the civil rights of their dusky brothers should be moxe generally npheJd bj the courts. , — The Jane Crow Car. — ■ In New Yoxfc ike Metropolitan Railroad Company has been mating experiments with the object of seeing if there is any real demand for separate carriages for women or city railways, aaid reports that as there is not, the cars will be withdrawn., icepectore despatched to investigate all reported that the ladies whom the- company sought to benefit seemed now to regard tbe special cars in the nature of a discrimination against their sex rather than a special concession to them. Just -as Boon as caxs were set aside and lr»lxdled tins" Women's Eights party oeased making their peremptory demands for exclusive, accommodation, and also refused to occupy the accommodation reserved for them, preferring, as before, to Jiang to a strap on v the roof and share the die- « Comforts of the ««>wdsd tais -w-itiK men. In the southern States the exdusiv>e taramcajs for male negroes are called "Jim Crcrtf " cars, and, in derision, these experimental cars for women in New York were being termed "Jane Crow" cars. — A Touch of Sentiment. — America, where nobody seems to have time for anything but hustling after • the almighty dollar, is the kst place where one would expect to find sentiment. Y-et a little ceremony which has just been performed on the Potomac River, and which vras inaugurated about seven years ago, has that pretty touch of sentiment for which our French cousins are so renowned. It consisted of sending out to aea a boat laden with flowers — jred Toses, yellow daisies, red, pink, and white carnations, and banks of fern; a tribute to the victims claimed by the ocean during the preceding year. The boat was started on its course in the presence of great crowds of spectators, who stood bare-headed as they eanp 'For those in peril on the sea," and as the little craft vdth its fragrant- cargo was borne by the tide towards Chesapeake Bay, the warfhips and merchant vessels in the river dipped their flags in respectful salute. . — An Underground Village. — j Deep in the salt mines of the hamlet of yilliezka, in Austrian Poland, some 11 miles from Cracrow, lies a veritable underground village which dates away back to the days when slaves fust opened these mines in 1334. It is a busy subterranean human hive, all the busier in contrast with the sleepy hamlet above. In fact, all the life of the settlement is concentrated below ground. The air is clean and the temperature that of a warm, spring day. The centre of tha mine is situated in a eort, of court which forms a radlway station. Here a.H tbe a-ailway lines which intar»ect tliie. huge mine meet. Man and women go above ground to do their marketing-, and meet in this court on their return to gossip a<nd compare' their bargains. Children pla^ about in tb{ shades of the grottos arid sail boats in the .gutters, running with salt water. These gutters were made hundreds of years aso io get rid of the moisture which runs from the upper floors of the mine, and lead down to tbe very bottom, forming a huge salt lake, the water of which ie gradually pumped off and distilled to obtain salt. So difficult and expensive is it to light up the whole mine that visitors must mates up a parfy of at least 30, and pay" various sums accordant to their number. No less than 260 steps lead down to tlie second floor of the mine, iust oner the salt lake, and it is there that the Chapel of St. Anthony stands. — Leslie's Weekly. i —A Yarn Mill in China.— } According to a Chinese journal, the ' Kuang Vi Snin-ning Mill (Limited), in Changtehfu, Honan province, has a bright future before it, as it is centrally situated ( both for Chihli and Honan. with the railway in its vicinity in the east and the Grand Canal in its rear to the south. It . is the only spinning mill in the five

I * northern provinces, and the cotton it eonc sumes is produced locally in Changtehlu. - The total cost of a bale of yarn worke ■ out at about £10 gold, and in Chengtiag, i Shunteh in Chihli province, and Gh&ngtehfu in Honan some 100,000 bales of yarn are consumed yearly at over £13 10s a f bale. The mill has at present 26.000 . spindles, capable of turning out 70 bales t every 20 horns, working day and night. . Reckoning the time of work at 300 days ; in the year, the output wil) be 21,000 . bales, so tEatit hardly meets the demand [ j even in. the CShihli and Honan provinces. . i When the mill is extended, and with , f lower prices for cotton, the profits of the I mill \rjJl be greatei than its present total , of £60,000, which, is at the rate of £3 [ par bale on 30,000 bales. Of the £150,000 l_ capital fox the concern, £120,000 has-been : subscribed, and the remaining shares 'are ' being issued in Tientsin, as money is \ bneeded to purchase The mill . commenced working at the beginning ot L the present year. — Opium Smoking- in Prance. — ■ Opium-smoking is found to be rife ; - among F:wncb. naval officers tot Brest. . j The police a. few -weeks ago {sayp the J Daily Telegraph correspondent) made . visits of inspection tp the fce&idences oi ■ , about a- dozen women, who had installed i opium dens in their"' 1 boudoits. .- Quan- > tities of letters were seized, which, on , examination by the juge d'instruction, l proved that quite a number of the pupils i | afc the nava-l school on the training ship , j Borda were attracted towards these opium ; dens when they were granted shore leave. , In come of tie letters the naval cadets , i describe, with, an Oriental luxury of de- . , tail, the ephemeral bliss which, they ex- ' perienced from indulgence in the fumes of r j tlie noxious drug. It is highly probable ■ that the affair will reach the dimensions oi a veritable scandal if .the carcumstancss t should be divulged which surrounded the ', death, about a month ago, of a young cafe-ooncer4> singer known as "Chiffosinette," in one of these dens. It is even' affirmed that an officer of high fank, a I magistrate, and other notable personalities are mixed up in this latter affair, which has hitherto, been kept secret.