The Rhos Herald

TRAINED TO CIVILITY. 1 The Japanese are trained to civility from babyhood. Before a can speak, it is taught to lift the hand to the forehead on receiving a gift. Should & child fail to make this signal of respect snd gratitude it would be reproved by some' bystander. A recent traveller, who rambled through Japan without a. guide, says that while strolling about a town he stopped to see the children coming from school. They walked sedately a-nd quietly, with books and slates under their arms. The sight of a bearded foreigner startled the first to come, 1 gt they J nu!de a respectful bow and passed on. The next group repeated this civility, and then as fast as the pupIls; came they made a profound reverence. The innate gentleness of the people im- pressed the rambler, lie records that he never saw a single instance among boys of that tyrannical spirit so often observed in other countries, that delights in inflicting pain on weaker companions. Japanese chil- dren are well-behaved, even toward each other.

PORTER GAGGED. The nigftt porter of a, refreshment-hanae in York-road, Lambeth, was seized in the early hours of the morning by two men who applied for lodgings, thrown down, gagged and bound, while the men, who were very respectably dressed, ransacked the premises. They only succeeded, 'however, ia obtaining a sum of money. A milkman on his rounds found the ehop door open at seven o'clock, and he called the j proprietor, who lives- in the neighbourhood. When the two returned to the shop they found f th^porter lying behind the connter, aecJirely tied and gagged.

CONSTABLE'S FIGHT WITH BURGLARS At Macclesfield on Tuesday, a desperate struggle on a railway line between burglars and a policeman was described. Two men broke into the booking-office at Bollington Station, and whilst they were removing the cafe they were surprised by a constable. The burglars attacked the officer with a bludgeon, and the three men foil on to the railway line, where the terrible struggle was continued. The constable's nose was fractured, and a blow in the eye caused serious injury to his Bight. When he recovered consciousness he found himself lying across the metals and the men gone. On Tuesday two men were charged with being the assailants, and were sent for .trial.

— There were 18.074 births and 27,041 deaths in the Straits Settlements last year. Mr. J. E.. Hope, a Mitchell scholar in the 'Guildhall School of Music, has obtained the degree of Mus.Bac. at Oxford University at tlnef age of eighteen.

EPITOME OF NEWS. I on- Zebu flesh will be the delicacy of the coming winter in Paris restaurants. The King of Denmark, travelling under a most strict incognito, has arrived in Vienna. Dr. Moorhouse, formerly Bishop of Man- chester, has sufficiently recovered to leave his house. The general annual meeting of the Ladies' County Golf Association has beer fixed to tke place at the Hotel Windsor, Victoria-street, at two p.m. on Friday, December 10. With 124,000 carcases of lamb a record ship- ment—the steamer Whakarua. has left Mel- bourne, Australia, for London. After colliding with a Belgian steamer in Limehouse Reach, the steamer Ibis ran into and sank several empty barges. As independent Free Trade candidate for Lynn, Mr. T. Gibson Bowles has been adopted by the Lynn Constitutional Free Food Asso- ciation. An explosion has taken place in the Onoura coal-mine, in tne Fukuoka Province. Fifteen are known to have perished and 228 are en- tombed. Charles Been, a stevedore, and Peter Reed, a boilermaker, have been asphyxiated in bed by escaping gas at Southampton. Fire has practically destroyed the theatrical scenery stores of Mr. J. Bell, Cross-street, Clapham. Mr. John Henry Square, who nad been a solicitor for seventy years, has died at Kings- bridge, Devon, aged ninety-two. By a unanimous vote the Lewisham Borough Council has decided to invite the Lord Mayor, Sir John Knill, to sign the roll of honour of Lewisham. The death is announced from Vienna of Herr Taussig, Governor of the Oesterreichische B ode ;lkr edi t ans t a 11 (Austrian Land Credit Bank). Edward Green, aged 70, was committed for trial at Croydon on a burglary cl-, v" and William George Dimmock, aged" 27, of South Croydon, was discharged. For improperly leaving his ship and absenting himself for three days. Frank Payne, gunner of the cruiser Eclipse, was ordered by a Naval court-martial at Portsmouth to be dismissed his ship. A Tottenham Court-road photographer stated at the ClerkenweIl County-court that he took 654 midget photographs on one Sunday. A Cologne ammunition manufacturer has in- vented for the destruction of dirigible balloons a shell which does not explode on striking the ground. Three Scottish fishermen who gave evidence during the hearing of an Admiralty action in the Yarmouth County-court were all named John Buchan. The first sod on the site of the amphitheatre for next year's "Festival of Empire" at the Crystal Palace has been cut by Sir Aston Webb, R.A. In consequence of the probability of a general election early in the new year the United Counties Hunt ball will not take place at Market Harborough. It was stated at the Marylebone Police-court that not a single person sent from that court to a home under the Inebriates Act had been reformed. As he was walking up Villiers-street, Strand, an elderly man dropped dead. His body was taken to the Westminster Mortuary. After 40 years' charge of Lambeth Palace Library, Mr. S. W. Kershaw, who acted as librarian under four Archbishops, is about to retire. Vulcan Match Company of Swetlenhave been in communication with the Barking IMstrict Council relative to the acquisition of land for a factory. Disappointed in the hope of a legacy And de- pressed over her husband's unemployment, Frances Strain poisoned herself at Barosbury- road, Islington. Six Italians were burnt to death in a. fire ai a tenement house at New York. A woman and her baby were killed in jumping from the third story. Queen Alexandra secured at the King's Lynn Poultry Show a first, second, and special in one bantam class a third and highly commended in other classes. The treasurers of the Middlesex Hospital have received from the Skinners' Company s further grant of 50 guineas to the general fund. The Rev. Edmund Warre, D-D, C.B., M.V.O., has been appointed Provost of Eton, in the place of the Rev. James John Hornby, D.D., C.V.O., deceased. A large number of waiters are out of employ- ment at Tnnbridge Wells owing to the circum- stance that many catering firms are engaging women in the place of men. Hurling a bomb at a German shop in the principal quarter of Sao Paulo, Brazil, an Anarchist caused a destructive fire which threatened to consume the quarter. Several' persons were killed. The Prince of Wales has sent to the mayor a sum of Y,250 towards the fund for purchasing the land lying between Windsor Castle and the river to prcsereve the famous view of the eastk; from the Thames. Algernon Fumagilli, the Italian painter, who was found guilty at Birmingham Assizes of attempting to murder Jessie Florey, aged 17, with whom he had been "keeping company," was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. The Toronto "Globe," discussing the ques- tion of a successor to Earl Grey as Governor- Goneral of Canada, says the name of the Duke of Conn aught would be received with enthu- siasm throughout Canada. An outcome of the bankruptcy of Mrs. Hart- mann was the sale at Christie's rooms of deco- rative furniture, objects of art and porcelain, from White Lodge, Richmond Park. There were 338 lots, and good prices were realised. Charged with using threats towards Colonel William Langton Coke, his half-brother, Dewes Laverthorpe Coke, was bound over at Alfreton to keep the peace for six months, or undergo one month's imprisonment in default. At Hackney 14 jurymen were summoned, and when sworn the coroner said that two of the jurymen could go. No one answered, and in allowing all to sit Dr. Wynn Westcott said that evidently they were all anxious to serve. The chairman of the Cardiff Chamber of Com- merce stated that the falling off in the ship- ments of coal at Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, and Port Talbot during October amounted to 249,000 tons, which he attributed entirely to the Eight Hours Act. Major Francis Hood Gregory was found dead in bed at St. Wichall Hall, near Coventry. His mother was a sister of the third Viscount Hood. Major Gregory served in the Indian Ana", He !lJU 73.

OUR LONDON LETTE-R., j [From Our Special Correspondent.] j It is now regarded as certain that Mr. Herbert Gladstone will be the first Governor-General of the South African Union, although he will not be officially ap- pointed for some months yet. The news has not met with a specially cordial reception in South Africa, although there is a general 'I opinion that Mr. Gladstone, who has many admirable qualities, may make a successful Viceroy. Interesting speculations are being made as to his successor in the post of Home Secretary, which he has filled during the past four years, and the most interesting of all is that Mr. John Burns may be promoted to fill this highly important office. In many quarters likely to be well informed Mr. Burns is considered to have the best chance, though other names axe mentioned, includ- ing those of Sir William Robson and Mr. Herbert Samuel. j Probably the mention of Mr. Burns as a likely Home Secretary may astonish a good many people who have not followed closely his record as President of the Local Govern- merit Board. As a matter of fact, Mr. Burns has been a conspicuous success in that office, and has surprised his warmest ad- mirers with the great administrative ability he has brought to bear upon the problems of a very difficult Department. His political opponents also generously acknowledge his success. If he should indeed go to the Home Office he will have put the crown upon one of the most remarkable careers in British poli- cical history. The salary of the Home Secre- tary is £ 5,000 a year, and Mr. Burns started his working life at the engineer's bench. If it should turn out that the prophets are cor- rect, it is not likely that his Socialist critics will forget to point out that it is not so long since Mr. Burns declared that no man's work is worth more than £ 500 a year. The visit of King Manoel has been a great success. His youth and the stories of his gcod nature appealed to the public, and wherever he went he received an enthusi- astic welcome. He made an exceptionally favourable impression, upon everybody with whom he came into contact, and the young monarch himself has expressed a boyisLi pleasure at the warmth of his welcome by all classes. Perhaps more than the State pro- cessions, banquets, and other functions he has enjoyed going about London as an ordi- nary sightseer, walking in the Park, visiting the theatres, and doing a good deal of shop- ping. What touched him most was the obvious friendliness of everybody. "Every- where," he says, "I have been received and treated as a friend. Official and unofficial receptions, State and private functions, have left <;rj my mind an ineffacable memory of the happy times I have spent on these shores." In novels one frequently meets with good old English lords and squires who hate motor-cars as their grandfathers hated rail- ways, who will not have one of the snorting horrors in their grounds, and drive grandly behind a pair of thoroughbred horses. One is bound to admit, however, that one seldom sees these fine old English gentlemen in real life. They have moved with the times, and swift motor-cars have taken the place of the carriage and pair. This change has been particularly evident during the past week to the crowds of people who have watched the peers arriving at the House of Lords to take part in the Budget debate. In almost every case my lord came up in bis motor-car, and the appearance of a carriage and horses was so infrequent as to be quite an event when it did occur. If the car is less picturesque than the carriage it is at all events speedier and more easily controlled, and never before has so large a number of peers arrived at Old Palace Yard with less bustle and com- motion. It will be interesting to see what happens when Mr. William Watson, the poet, and Mr. Richard Le Gallienne, also the poet, meet in America. For there appears to be a pretty little -quarrel between them, and when poets fall out things may be expected to happen, though the things may be only words. Mr. Watson recently published a new volume of poems, and Mr. Le Gal- lienne in New York read them. One of the poems is entitled "The Woman with tho Serpent's Tongue," Who makes love to you to-day, To-morrow gives her guest away." Mr. Le GaIlienne thinks he knows the lady in question, and he, in his turn, has written some verses directed at Mr. Watson, in which he says "Was he a guest who dares to wrong His hostess in so foul a song? 0 Poet, with the Coward's Tongue." He followed this up by a message inviting Mr. Watson to meet him on the other side with boxing-gloves. Mr. Watson denies that the lady of the poem is a portrait, though he admits that he had some specific person in view; and he says that Mr. Le Gallienne cannot possibly know who gave him the sug- gestion. He is going to New York, but has no intention of taking boxing-gloves with him. For some time, he says, a campaign against him has been engineered in part of the American Press, and he is going over to face the music. d There are more ways than one of going round the world, but to make the journey in a barrel is one of the ways which I, at any rate, have no desire to take, in spite of the charm of novelty which it certainly pos- sesses. It is the way chosen by two young I Venetian blacksmiths, who, starting from their home in June, have already got as far as London on their travels. The vehicle they have chosen has two compartments, in one of which one of the travellers sits in a swivel seat whille the other pushes the bar- I 1ft,. When the latter gets tired of pushing he goes inside and the- other takes a turn. J They have appeared at the Palace Theatre this 'w.ek and given an account of their ex- periences. Their average rate of progress up to now has been seventeen miles a, day, and they have twelve years in which to ac- complish the feat which they have set them- selves, the .r^eessful performance of which will make C.1m the richer by £ 2,000. They started penniless, and are suporting them- selves by the sale of post-cards and by telling their a tab of a tub." Critics may say that "Beethoven," the new production t His Majesty's, is not really a pi iv at all. ouly a series of tableaux, a musical or what not; they will hardly persuade "itse public not to go and see Sir Herbert Tree in what is one of the mcst remarkable performances that even he has r ev givcn. us. At no other theatre, and pebbly by no other manager or actor, would Bli.:1 a wonderful production be possible. Sir Herbert Tree s make-up is in itself an extraordinary feat, and his powerful acting will appeal with special force to those who are familiar with the tragic life-story of the great composer. The play does, of course, make a special appeal to musicians; others may think there is too much music in it. A. E. M.

HONOUR AMONG THIEVES. The death on Monday of Mr. E. J. T. Webb, one of the best known legal men in Portsmouth, recalls some strange incidents in his life. Some years ago he successfully defended a man charged with burglary, and a few days later there came by post a valu- able gold hunter watch, with an inscription to the effect that it wag a gift from a cer- tain London society, presumably of doubt- ful practices, as an acknowledgment of the clever defence of one of their number. Some ful practices, as an acknowledgment of the clever defence of one of their number. Some years later Mr. Webb had the watch stoleb from his waistcoat pocket at a race meeting, but three days later the watch came back to him by post with a letter of apology, statue that "we never rob one of our pals." I'

HOW TO JUDGE DISTANCES. If you devote your Saturdays to golfing, shooting, or taking photograplis you have, in aM probability, met the'prbblem of judging distances. Bear in mind these few simple rules, and your difficulty will be lessened. With the naked eye, if you have average sight, you can see the whites of people's eyes at thirty yards; at eighty yards you can just sec their eyes. When all parts of their body are dis- tinguishable, they are 100 yards a way; when the outlines of their faces are just visible, I tie distance is 200 yards; and when a face ap- pears as a separate dot you should be 4(!0 yards away. Six hundred yards away, a group of people can be distinguished singly; but at a further distance than this no detail of the human form can be determined. Yet at 1,200 yards you should be able to tell a man on horseback from a man on foot; at 2,000 yards lie is simply a dot on the land- scape. The majority of people, too, are unable to determine the wind's velocity. When the smoke from a chimney moves in a straight, vertical column, it means that a one to two- miles-an-hour breeze is blowing. A three- i miles-an-hour wind will jii;4 stir the leaves on the trees. Twenty-five miles an hour will sway the trunks; at forty the small branches will break; and it takes a. miles-a-minute gale to snap the trunks. of big trees.

DEAD S3 A BATHING. A dip in the Dead is enough to damp the enthusiasm of the ivost ardent bather. I Directly the plunge is taken, the would-be swimmer goes bobbing about helplessly like a wretched cork. In the effort to regain Ms footing, and to get back to shore,. feet and shins are barked by the jagged stonee and pebbles, and when land is reached at last the dipper becomes aware of a horrible tingling and burning sen- sation in eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, and almost every pore of the akin, caused by the brine and bitumen, which have penetrated everywhere. Unless great care is take% the feather in the Dead Sea is liable to an eruption which breaks out all over his body, ami which is commonly known as the "Dead Sea rash." The best antidote to this is to rush as quickly as possible to the River Jordan, awl take a second plunge therein. The soft and muddy waters of that sacred, but dirty stream will effectually remove the salt that has encrusted the body.

HISTORIC DEBATE ENDS. Bv 350 votes aga .nst 75 the House of Lord* on Tuesday nign. carried .Lord Lansdovuie's amendment to ihe Budget— "That ihid House is not justified in giving its consent to this Bill until it has been sub- mitted to the judgment of the country." The debate had lasled six days, and the speeches on both sides reached a high level. Ihe occasion will become historic, for the passing of the amendment means the rejec- tion of the Finance Bill, and such a step on the part of the House of Lords is unprece- dented. The debate was resumed on Tuebuay by the Archbishop of York, who made his maiden speech against the amendment. He said there was a handwriting on the wall that the time was coming, if it had not come, when the whole position of a Second Chamber in the Constitution of this coun- try would be submitted to the judgment of the people. There never was a time when there was a greater need for a Second Chamber. Would not the weight, with which that House, approached that discu^son be t infinitely greater if proof had been given I that iii (.L-^iid-iig its priiilegs in legisla- tion it was scrupulously careful not to trench in the matter of taxation upon the i.riv.lcgr? of t!.c r He could not but ft-1 that the cffect of the amendment if ear- ned would be. not only to gravely endanger Ihe claim of the House to control legis.a- t-iou, but also to disturb, it might be for a long time, that 'ua.a^co of the Estates oi jhe Realm on which the orderly government of this eountrv depended. BEGINNING OF A STRUGGLE. Lord Curzon said they had been told that if they threw out this Bill they would be only at the beginning of a conflict of which no one could foresee the end. It was quite likely that they were at the commencement of a long and arduous struggle, and that the component parts of the Constitution might lmcrg0 from that struggle in altered form. There were t onu who would not shrink front -that consequence. There were some who -would warmly welcome it. He confidently "believed that there would emerge from this controversy an unmistakable mandate front the country, not perhaps at the first election, but at some subsequent election, an un- mistakable mandate from the people that a Second Chamber was an absolutely essential feature in our Constitution, and that that Second Chamber should ro'- V; a mere phantom rendered ■c.l..i.vlly in.potent and ridiculous by a paralysis of its powers and scarcely worthy to deliberate because it could only delay, but that it should Ibe a Second Chamber representing the stability, character, and Slate, and one which would be independent, and fear- less, and strong. ISSUE BEFOR" THE COUNTRY. f Lord Courtney of Penwilli said, for the first time in its history, the House of Lords was going to reject a Bill. Their lordship* Were precipitating tor the first time a dissolu- tion. In rejecting the Finance Biil their lordships compelled at once an appeal to the country, and in so doing they were acting in a manner for which no precedent could be cited. The amendment said the judgment of the country was to be consulted on the Bill. It was part of the mischief their lordships had created that they could not really consult the judgment of the country on this particular Bill. They could not ask the country to say "Yes "or "No" on the merits of the Finance Bill. The issue before the country would be something very much larger and broader ilian that. What the country would be asked to vote upon would be what should be tho limita- tions of the power of the House of Lords, and in what degree should that House co-operate in the future with the other House in passing the laws of the country. That was the very serious question which their lordships had put in a haphazard way before the people. Earl Cawdor declared uncompromisingly for rejection. He asked what would be the effect if the House gave way? If they passed the Bill they would destroy all their powers. A second Chamber was to guard the people against unwise, dangerous, and extravagant legislation. They need not trouble much about consequences. So long as they were satisfied in their own minds that they were doing right, they, could afford to let conse- quences take care of themselves, The people had a right to have their say on this far-reach- ing political and social Budget. The people must be masters in their own house, and they must be masters of an autocratic Government. THE TWO HOUSES. Winding up the debate for the Govern ment, Lord Crewe said their lordships were making a most tragic blunder. They were not afraid of that if they were' afraid of anything, it was. of being thought -aTraid. The position of Liberal members in that Hougee was becoming almost an impossible one. He could not recall a case during the tirJfe he had been in the House when any- thing they said had. the slightest effect. There bad been a gradual encroachment on the part of the Opposition with regard to their attitude as. to the powers of that House, particularly in the way they treated Government Bills. The action of their lordships broadened the position on which the two Houses stood for 20 years. They had jogged along as ac- quaintances; but af-ter that night they would hardly be on speaking terms. At the conclusion of Lord Crewe's speech the momentous division was taken.