TOPICS OF THE DAY. (FROM STAR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.)

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 160, 28 August 1886, Page 1

TOPICS OF THE DAY. (FROM STAR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.)

( ' London, July 2. reels. The FQMTIO4I. situation— Commencement OF THM POIXINQ— THK PEOPLIt'B PALACE AT Milk End— A Novelist's Dream Realised Laying the Foundation Stonjb— The Arotheosis op Patent Medbcink— Royal Hol* LOWAY COXXKQIETOR WOMEJ — THE CtIBTON of the Future— An Unfortunate Afvatr — " Gumboil's Engagement Bkoken OfiM Why?- Dorothy Dene again-^-Death of the Medium Home— His Strange Career —The Northumberland Plate— A Turf Tragedy.

Despite the frantic efforts of the "Pall Mall Gazette" and the "Daily News'* to work up some sort of interest in the general election, which commences to-day, the plain truth is that the greater part of the London public care nothing about it. Even at the National Liberal Club and other headcenties of the " through-thick-and-thin Gladstonites " one finds no enthusiasm. Nine out of ten men will tell you they think the whole Irish business a ghastly and destructive blunder. It has broken up tHe Liberal party, it has broken up what would otherwise have been a particularly gay and prosperous London season, it has led to the breaking of endless heads in Ulster, and if, by way of finale, it breaks up the G. 0. M. himsftlf, no one will feel particularly surprised. The amount of exertion the aged statesman has gone through during the last fortnight is something terrific. And all in vain, too. One can ne^er of course be quite certain what the country thinks. Dreadful mistakes have more than once been made through calculators guaging public opinions by the views of the provincial press. The expectations alike of Gladstonites, Unionists, and" Conservatives will, however, be completely stultified should a majority of the constituencies declare in favour of the i Irish Bill. Save Mr Gladstone himself, and ! possibly Sir W. Y. Harcourt, I doubt if there is a single member of the present Ministry who honestly ' expects to retain office beyond July. The influence of John Bright, which is still paramount in the Midlands and the north of England, should alone turn the scale against Mr Gladstone in several hitherto Liberal strongholds. The People's Palace : A Dream Realised. Two Bomewhat interesting ceremonies have taken place this week altogether outside the Indian and Colonial Show. The first was the layiDg of the foundation stone ot the "People's Palace" at Mile End on Monday by the Prince of Wales, the second the opening of the Holloway College for women on Wednesday by the Queen. The former was especially notable as being the practical outcome of "a novel with a purpose." The latter may be said to have celebrated the apotheosis of patent medicine. The " People's Palace ' is, of course, an embodiment of Mr Walter Besant'a scheme for brightening the lives of the lowermiddle classes who live in that dreary waste of never-ending small streets known as the East End, London. A wealthy man, a Mr Beaumont, read " All Sorts and Conditions of Men." Then he investigated the district himsolfwiththegratifyingresultthathelefta ' large sum of money, now known as the BeaumontTrußt,towards building onMrßesaant's line, a " People's Palace." Some difficulty was at 'first experienced in raising the balance of money required to make a start, but it has.been got over now, and on Monday, amidst great rejoicings, the Prince and Princess of Wales drove all the way to Mile's End aod laid the foundation stone. What a great and good work this l< People's Palace" should do you have only to^ read Mr Bezant's tale to understand His story may be fiction, but his descriptions of the district, the residents, and of the lives they lead, are prosaic fact, a had a talk not long ago with an East End missionary, and he told me that many of the hard-working folk in Steponey had never crossed tbe River in their lives. Tbe sole notion of amusement they had was a visit to the Eleph ant and Castle Theatre or The Paragon Music Hall Urged to find their way on a Sunday afternoon to one of the Parks, they complained it was too far. Six days they toil from morn to night to keep home decent and comfortable. The seventh they are too worn out to care to do aucjht but rest. Mr Besarit, who has probed life in this parr -of London to ita saddest depth, returns to the subject in *' Children of Gibeon," the story he is now running thtough "Longman's Magazine."

An Unfortunate Affair. ■ Society is all agog just now over, what is known as " Miss Lane-Fox's Unfortunate Affair. 1 ' I daresay you may remember that some months ago a man named Edward Rowdon, well-off, well-looking, and said to be quite* sane, was 'brought up charged with threatening vidence to-Mies Lane-Fox a young and pretty girl, -the daughter of Lady Conyers. It transpired in Court that this man, Rowdon, though ' perfectly unacquainted with, the Conyers family, had for months past ■ been persecuting Miss 'Lane-Fox with unwelcome amatory attentions. He followed her everywhere, stopped her in the 'streets, found , out the parties she-was-goingto and- obtained the entree, and finally, when Lady Conyers and her daughter fle ( d to the Continent in despair, trackedjthem, remorselessly from town to town. In 'vain male relatipns of Mias Lane-Fox's alternately implored, reasoned, ,and threatened. K'owdon courted Horsewhipping, avoWing'that the subsequent assault case would publicly , connect his name with Mi?s Lane-F t ox's, which was just' what he wanted. So,, pertinacious did the' ,mari 'become f) in his cruel courtship, 'that many fancied Lady Conyers would at last .be-cqmp^Hed to, ,' be., pivil./to him u for' ,$l6, iak,e of „peioe.^.T hings' we're getting <tflLani; unbearable pja'ss, whenYßbwden" fluokily ( m^de the mistake^wViting a letter 1 threatening shoot J^Liea, Lane Fox unless* shejafforded him jaijtjnterviw. jLady Qonyerslier. qhan9e.^{^^fe^[(|w Was

J' 1 A J t promptly arrested, and an outline of the story told at the Westminster Police Court. Mr Partridge commented severely .on Bowden's unmanly conduct, . bound , him over in heavy bail to be of good behaviour, or in .default,' six months' imprisonment. I Under^the circumstances, none of< the, ajoa- . tory maniac s .friends cared to become surety, and they were quite right, for he would certainly have broken out again directly. He consequently went to gaol for the six months. About a fortnight ago Rowdon came out oi gaol, and, " his great love unquenched," at once recommenced operations. First he communicated with a discharged servant of Lady Conyers, and discovered Miss LaneFox's whereabouts' Secondly, he scut an announcement of his impending marriage with that young lady te the "Morning P»3t." The editor published it in good faith, and it was the first paragraph poor Lady Conyer'a eyes lighted on when . she opened the paper on the morning oi the 15th inst. A warrant was promptly taken out against Rowden for criminal libel, and on Wednesday last Mr Vaughan, who heard the case at Bow-street, committed him for trial, and refused bail. It transpired then amongst other thingß, that Rowden was not really well-offat all, but an uncertificated bankrupt dependent for support on his relations. Mr Geo. Lewis, acting for the prosecutor, boldly insinuated that Rowdon's real object in, persecuting the two ladies was to extort money. The latter repelled the accusation He hae all along averred that he was for sometime secretly engaged to Miss LaneFox, unknown to Lady Conyers. They quarrelled, and the young lady then pretended she didn't know him. On Wednesday, Miss Lane-Fox denied she had ever willingly epoken a word to the prisoner. He followed her once (an uninvited guest) to Lord Salisbury's reception, and actually had the impertinence to ask His Lordship to introduce him to her. She turned her back when she saw him coming towards her, and declined the introduction. Rowdon bad at once to leave the heuse. Miss Violet Lane-Fox is not what you would call a very pretty girl. She has been " out " several years, and must be fully 23 or 24, "Gumboil's" Engagement Broken off. That the marriage of Lord Cairns to the beautiful American heiress, Miss Grant, would never come off, was from the first the opinion of those best acquainted with his volatile lordehip. The engagement has now been abruptly broken off, and society is simply raging with curiosity to know the " reason why." Nothing can, however, be ascertained. The friends of the lady are discreetly silent, and Cairns himself has disappeared. It is said that the advice of the Prince of Wales (a great friend of Misa Grant's) was asked in the matter, and he counselled a friendly dissolution of the betrothal. The marriage was fixed to come off next month, and Mies Grant's trousseau complete. I wonder whom we shall hear he is going to marry next.