The Rhos Herald

OUR LONDON LETTER. lIlT [From Our Special CorrespotvienLj The General Election Trill of course be the tbsorbing topic of discussion until the hurly- Vurly's done. It is considered that great deal of importance will attach to the way the elections go in London. In 1906 there was a great turnover, and the. other side are hoping that the verdict may be nevereed this time. The suggestion was at one time made that all the elections in the metropolis should take place on one day, but the wish that the re- sult would show a very decided swing of the pendulum and give a lead to the country was so obviouely father to the thought that it re- ceived no support, and the polling-days m London will be many and various, as hereto- fore. It is evident, by the vigour with which Ministerialists are conducting the campaign, that they are determined to do their utmost to hold what they won in metropolitan oCQn- stituencies four years ago. One of the most interesting fights is taking place in Battereea, where Mr. John Burns is making a strenuous fight. He proi-iised to astonish Battersea people by the energy which he would throw into the contest, and be will probably succeed in doing so. Bat- tersea has nursed a grievance against its member because he ha-s not appeared amongst them much in public during the past year or I two, but he has explained that he has been too busy with affairs of State d spare any time for his own constituents, and his ex- planation seeme to have been accepted as satisfactory, for they carried him away from his first big meeting on their shoulders. He has to encounter some very bitter opposition from the Socialists, who would rathvr see him anywhere than in Parliament. Every- body agrees that Mr. Burns has doce valuable work at the Local Government Board, and he might have had a valuable and permanent official post long ago if lie had cared to take it. He preferred, however, to remain Presi- p dent of the L.G.B. until he had finished his work there. Whether he will go back to that post remains to be n. It is quite on the cards that he may be made Home Secretary, in succession to Mr. Gladstone, if the Liberals return to power. I Toy-selling must be not an unprofitable ee- cupation, if one may judge from the long lines of men and women who eather on Lud- I gate-hill in the weeks before Christmas every year. Until a few days ago they stood shoulder to shoulder on each side of the road, For the third time the police decided thai: for their own safety and the general conveni- for their own safety and the general conveni- ence they must find other "pitches," and so the melancholy collection of vendors with their wonderful penny toys had to go to less frequented thoroughfares, and consequently to poorer markets. It is a case for sympathy, and the police took action with considerable reluctance, but it is undeniable that the action was necessary. Of late years, with the increase in the motor vehicles the Yoliuse of traffic up and down Ludgate-hill has swellea I enormously, and the position of the toy- merchants standing just off the kerb was dangerous. A skidding motor-omnibus m capable of anything, and the hawkers, divided between the necessities of attracting customers a»d keeping a watchful eye on the traffic, must have had an anxious time. It is always an interesting study to «*- amine the trays of toys which the street- hawkers carry at this time of the year. Their varietv is wonderful, and the skill and møe- J nuity evident in their construction i one's respect for the modest penny and its purchasing power. You may buy for copper an airship which can fly almost ae well as some we have heard of, or a birel which does not fly but just hops around and pretends to pick up worms; geese which wag their heads, and "the saucy boy who shoots out a long red tongue at you. Queer little baby faces cry out "Mamma" most realistic ally, rolls of bread which ehange into hum, fighting-cocks, dancing bears, and an endless assortment of other extraordinary thing*. 1 The toys are mostly made, in England, but Japan sends some, and not the least in- genious. The hawkers purchase their va" at sevenpence or eightpcncc a dozen, so that a good sale is necessary if they are to earn a living wage. It is a strange state of things which per- mits a Salome dance and burlesques of a Salome dance to be given on the stage of a music-hall, but forbids a Salome opera at Covent Garden. This is, however, one of the things which are bound to happen while the theatres are subject to a censorship which does not apply to the variety houses. Tim." while Miss Maud Allan may perform her famous Salome dance, Herr Richard gtraumie opera is banned. That, at any rate, is the announcement recently made. The Censor is no doubt acting according to rule, either hie own or that of his office, but the man in the street is sure to ask why thsse things should be. If the opera "Salome" is unfit for public performance, why should the dance be allowed? It is not often that a vessel vanishes so completely as the Waratah, the Blue Anchor liner which has now been posted at Lloyd's as missing. Even when a. ship goes down with, all bands there is generally some wreckage as evidence of the disaster. In the ease of < the Waratah, though months have tdapsed since the ship and her 207 passengers and j crew weve heard of, nothing has come to j light. There are still some" who find come skred of hope in the fact, but, though tin- i usual, such a case is not' unprecedented. There was the White Star liner Naronie which, on a voyage to New York in j February, 1893, vanished from human ken, and no sign of her fate came to hand mtil i three years later, when a boat was waahed ashore. Again, in 1902 the Huronia sank, and nothing belonging to her has ever been dii- covered. Only ogee in tke lift fifty yearn fefg it happened that a vessel posted at Lloyd's lias turned up again. That case happened Jen years ago, when the Redrock reached New Caledonia a week after the posting. Sympathy, instead of censure, will go out to Mr. William Watson, whose recently pub- lished poem, "The Woman With the Ser- pent's Tongue," has caused so much trouble. Mr. Watson is now in America, and his brother has made a statement to an inter- viewer over there to the effect that the poet is not responsible in his present mental con- dition, and that that condition prevailed when the poem was written. The poem, ac- cording to the sensational accounts of the affair which have appeared in the New York papers, is a composite portrait of a lady, the wife of a distinguished statesman, and her daughter, and it is a decidedly unflattering one. According to the statement of his brother, Mr. William Watson "is dominated at the present moment by a, belief that he has a mission of hostiliy to certain people, and has said terrible things about them which have no manner of justification or de- fence, and which apparently put the author of them beyond the pale of toleration. He, however, is not responsible for these state- ments, which are alien to his nature. They are the outcome of a mental malady, which it is painful to speak about." The public are asked not to judge the poet, but to wait till his health is restored, when he himself will be the first to condemn and regret what he has said. A. E. M.

AN INTERESTING COMPARISON. The time which has elapsed since the first appearance of life on our earth has been variously estimated at 100,000,000 to 200,000,000 years. To tax our powers of com- prehension as little as possible, Dr. H. Schmidt, of Jena, has taken the shortest estimate, and has tried to make understand- able the five great evolutionary periods through which life has passed by comparing them with a day of twenty-four hours. This is the result:— The Archeozoic period (52,000,000 years) is represented by twelve hours thirty minutes; Padeoaoie (344000,000 years), eight hours seven minutes; Mesozoic (11,000,000 years), two hours thirty-eight minutes; Cainozoic (3,000,000 years), forty-three minutes; An- thropozoic (100,000 years), two minutes. If the last period, the age of man, be compared in its sub-divisions by the same scale, it is found that the "historic" portions covers only five seconds, and two seconds are suffi- cient for the Christian era.

WEIGHT OF A CROWD. Interesting experiments have recently been made with a view to discovering the exact weight and pressure of a crowd of people when occupying the grand stand on a race- course or fdotball ground. The experiments were carried out by means of a wooden pen, 6ft. by 6ft. Twenty-four men within it gave pressure per square foot of 841b., twenty- eight men 1301b., and thirty-seven men 1451b., the average weight of the men being about eleven stone. The experimenters were not packed closely, could move their limbe, and stood in any position they chose, the conditions resembling thotfe constantly oc- curring on railway station platforms at busy bourn of the day and on the stairs outside theatre doors. At the end an attempt was made to obtain the eanditions prevailing when a really dense crowd, each man facing the same way, is watching, say, a football match or a great procession. Forty men of average size were therefore placed within the pen, and even when they could with ease raise their arms the resultant pressure per square foot was 17611b. Another test, with slightly heavier men, realised the pressure of 181.31b. per aq nare foot.

PARTY NAMES. — Such words as "Conservative," "Radical," and "Tory have been ringing in our ears fairly frequently of late. The word "Tory" was originally applied as a term of reproach, but was speedily adopted and used with pride. According to an authority of high standing, the word mean* "pursuer," and was originally applied to mose-troopere, who infested the bogs of Ireland, plundering the inhabitants in the name of the King. To those who held out for the extreme prerogatives of the Crown, the term "Tory" was insultingly applied about 1680. r "Radical was also originally a term of reproach, but was soon enthusiastically adopted by a section of the Liberal party. They even went the length of wearing habitually a white hat, nicknamed a "Radical." Worn in the House of Com- mons, the white hat is now considered a sign of Toryism.

ELECTION LAW. If one person applies for a ballot-paper in the name of another, whether living or dead, or of a fictitious person, he ie guilty of per- sonation, which is severely dealt with by the law. He is, in fact, liable to two years' im- prisonment with hard lalxmr, besides losing his right to be elected, to vote, or to hold any public office. If the offender is an agent of a candidate, the latter loses his seat should he be elected. Voting twice at the same election, and aiding or abetting personation, are con- sidered equivalent to personation itself, and carry the same heavy punishment. To guard against personation, each candidate is allowed to have an agent in every polling- station in his constituency to protect his in- terests, the customary fee being half-a- guinea for the twelve hours' work involved.

Many aocietice,were represented at the funeral of Dr. Ludwig Mond, which took place at St. Paneras Cemetery, East Finch ley. The Admiralty acceptances for the supplyof steam coal have been received at Cardiff. It is understood that the orders amount to a million and a quarter tons at prices ranging from 15s. net to Ids. M.f.().b As a result of the recent betting raid at Liverpool, whea SO arrests were made and 7G defendants subsequently bound over, Bernard MeGaarry was fined a60 and costs, or two 8011" ud Junes :G'.Connor £2() or QDÇ, wofttfeg

¡ PAYMENT LABOUR MEMBERS. I The House of Lords has postponed judgment in the case of A niaigi ii)ated Soiiety of Railway Servants and Others v. Osborn," which raised the question of the legality of levies on trade union members for the payment of Parliamentary representatives The oasp was argued before their lordships last .J nlv. The matter has been before the courts eighteen months. In July, 1908, Mr. Justice Neville decided that it was impossible to hold that trade unions were not at liberty to affiliate themselves to whatever political party they pleased. This was appealed against, and on November i:Kth. HJ08, HiP Court of Aj-peal unani- mously reversed the decic.'<i»». The Lord Chancellor now s.,tiici there were members of the House who as<1 the case who were not in London and some of the contents of an opinion by one of their lordships which was q"ite recently circulated entered upon grounds which the House thought "light to be >><'f..>re the other lords who eard the wise before the final f decision was given.

» TRACKED BY FINGER PRINTS. Charged at Willesden with travelling on the North-Western hititway from Manchester to London without pa\ing his fare, 1 Edward Jen- nings" said he was a respectable working man making his way from Mauehesfcer to Brighton to see his wife who was dying. This pitiful tale was believed, and the Bench released hint on his own bail that he might go to Brighton. He had quitted the court when a telegi-ani came from Pectinnd Yard stating that his identity had been established by linger prints as a notorious thief, Edward Atkinson, who had only just been released from a long term of penal servitude. Detectives were able to rearrest him, and he was again brought up. He has been convicted twenty- four times for telony, and had spent twenty-one years in prison since 1882. As a suspected person and for defrauding the railway company, he was tent to prison for four* months.

VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCES. At Old-street Police-court the seven men— I David Donoghue, James Smith, Thomas Brennan, John Wilkinson, Frnnlc Stanley, Hugh Evans, and George Aidotis-eiiirged iu connection with the audacious theft of a safe and its contents valued at £ 1,429 10s., from the post office at 84, Goswell- read were brought up on tematid. It liit4 been stitt ef" that all the men except Stanley were surprised by ths poiitrying to break open the safe in a house at itosebery-avenue. Evidence was given that Stanley had gone to the house for a private pnrpose, and knew nothing of the safe until the police arrested him. He was given a good character. The magistrate said Stanley seemed to have been the victim of a most extraordinary eombina- tion of circumstances. He would be discharged. The other prisoners were committed for trial,

JUST IN TIME. At the London Sessions it was stated by the police that five minutes' more uninterrupted work, would have enabled three burglars who broke into the cotiidting-hotise of the London Horn; and Carriage Repository, Elephant and Castle, to open a safe which contained £1,000 in eaab. Two of the men, when interrupted, got clear away, but Charles Reynolds, 32, an upholsterer, was captured, and was sent to prison for twenty- four months for being concerned in the attack on the safe. The men were seen by a watchman, who called the police. They escaped on to the railway, and ] two of them, who were seen clinging to the girders of the bridge, dropped into the garden and escaped, On Reynolds were found keys that opened nine types of locks.

DEVOTED WIFE'S SUICIDE. At an inquest at St. Pancrae on Harriet Douglas, wife of a compositor, on Batnniaj, it was stated that deceased had remained up night and day nursing her husband, who suf- fered from influenza. She had complained of feeling tired and worn out, and had taken but little food. On Friday morning at six oelock she took up some tea to her husband, and a few minutes later was found lying in a baek room dead with her throat cut. Deceased had written on a slate: "All has gone. I can eee all trouble before me. Good-bye." Under her right elbow was found a razor, open and blood- stained. The husband stated that he knew of 110 trouble his wife had. His impression was that she feared she herself was going to have influ- enza. She had never threatened to take her life. A verdict of "Suicide whilst of unsound mind was returned.

BURNED TO DEATH. William John Purcell, aged sixty-sit-, Navy pensioner, was burned to death 00 Satur- day night at 33, Deverell-street, Great Dever- atimet, Borough, South London, where he lodged in a back room on the first floor- When the brigade had put out the ire. and Marched the burned-out apartment they found the charred body lying on the bed. An over- turned oil stove is supposed to have caused the outbreak. Two other fatalities were recorded in the official reports of the London Fire Brigade os Saturday, Charles William Percy Johnson,, aged five, of 5, Wordsworth-road, "Stoke New- ington, and Henry Johnson, aged two years, af 30. Southampton-street, Caledonian-road, N, dying in hospital from burns sustained in small fires.

LADY BALLOONIST'S TRIP. The Hon. Mrs. Assheton-Harbord, the well- known aeronaut, made a week-end balloon trip to Prussia. Accompanied by Mr. Philipa Gardner and piloted by Mr. C. F. Polloelt, Mrs. Harbord ascended in her balloon Nirvana from Batter sea at 4.20 p.m on Saturday with the intention of competing for the Aero Club challenge cup. The English coast was left at Deal, and.die Belgian coast near Ostend was reached in six and a half, hours from the start, the crossang taking three hours. The nerouants descended at, 7.30 on Sunday morning near Hageu, in Prussia, the distance covered being 330 miles-

Mr. Deakin, the Australian Prime Mjn¡:tíIer: has promised favourably to consider the ques- tion of a Government guarantee of tlfiOM: towards a fund which it is proposed to raise with a view to inviting the British AllOeia.tíøa t&.nVt, iR Australia is, 1913 or Jll,

Xmas. Christmas Cards Christmas Cards Christmas Cards Christmas Cards Finest Selection Finest Selection Finest Selection Finest Selection Tissue Paper Tissue Paper Tissue Paper 9 Tissue Paper Crinkled Paper Crinkled Paper Crinkled Paper Crinkled Paper For The Shop ( For the House In great Variety Very Cheap Business Diaries Business Diaries Pocket Diaries Pocket Diaries Large and Small All Prices For 19X0. ;—* R. MillS & SONS Herald Office, fithos.