The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-08
LONDON IS DULL
 AFTER CHRISTMAS Everybody Who Can Afford It
 Is Away ELECTIONS DISCUSSED Grahame- White Is Preparing To Car ry MT Ecclestone, Weighing Five Hundred Pounds, Up
 in His AerOplane
ELECTIONS DISCUSSED

mas and this year it has been partic- ularly bad Everybody who can pos nibly afford 1t is away and the news papers are at their wits end to fill their columns.
 The scarcity of news is the only reas- on why the papers still continue to dis cuss the election, which ended nearly three weeks ago, and the results of which are certain to be the utter rout of the lords and their unionists follow CTS Some of the tory papers have tried to work up a little excitement by de- scribing how their loyal supporters, the orangemen of Ulster, are importing Mausers and cartridges from Germany, free of duty, of course, so here at least is one reason for them to bless our present free trade policy, and are drill ing on the moors during dark nights to prepare for the day when they are to fight those who are mean enough to want to force them to govern their own country. But nobody believes in these scarcs, least of all the papers that print them, and it is really difficult to say whether one should laugh or be angry at these well advertised secret
  ertheless keeping an open eye on these supposedly bloodthirsty arrangement, whose patriotism just now arouses the enthusiasm of the royal conserva- tive press.
 Meanwhile. the English allies in this partnership of disloyalty are still dis cussing their future plans. The special point, which seems to rest heavily on. their nerves. is the question of the crea- tion of peers. Shall they force the gov ernment to create the peers or shall they not?
 Their first idea was to laugh. But the laughter begins to ring very hol- low It has a false note. Five hum dred puppet peerss sounds all very well at first. But if hard words break nc bones, still less do silly phrases. What are most of the present peers but pup pet peers'-puppets in the hands of MT. Balfour and Lord Lansdowne? Is it certain that the new peers will be puppets?" Is Great Britain so sterile of men of worth? What if the new peers should represent liberal house of lords, not only willing to pass the veto bill, but willing to give instant passage to all the great liberal bills. What if they in their turn, served tariff reform budget as the tory peers served the budget in 1909?
 These are chilly thoughts for the tories and show the danger of think ing that great political problems can be solved by foolish jests.
 What if the new peers provided the country with a new aristocracy of merit and ability which would throw the cold aristocracy into the shade? The thing is not impossible.
 The government. at any rate, is quite of fn men of ability and achievement for it's purpose If the existing peers are still obstinate they are quite ready to advise whatever amount of peers creation may be necessary. They would do it reluct- antly but resolutely. They are determ- ined that the silly guffaws of West End drawing rooms shall not turn them from their purpose.
 For the rest, the immediate business of the coalition is to concentrate on one thing only-the veto bill.
 Fully recovered after his unfortunate accident some three weeks ago MT. Grahame- White has promised to take MT. Ecclestone, the heaviest man in England. up in the air In week or fWo Mir Blackstone, who weighs over 800 pounds, has no fear
 q shall go up with MT. Crane White or any other pilot without the slightest hesitation, and be glad of the chance" he told me yesterday. "Im the heaviest man in Britain, and have an ambition to take my big weight into the skies. You may be sure the event will come off"
 The proceeds of the record flight are to be given to the Willesden Cottage hospital. it being MT. Ecclestone's in tention to raise enough money to en- HOW four new beds.
 
 London is to have some great "sur- prises" in the way of outdoor amuse- ments in the coronation year. Within the past few weeks many leading American amusement providers have arrived in London to confer with MT. D. Calvin Brown, director general of Earls Court, and to arrange an inter change of attractions with 'amuse- ment parks" all over the world. One of the foremost of these American mak- ers of fun cities" is MT. F. McClel- Ian of Coney Island. New York's fa- nous pleasure resort.
 MT. Mcclellan holds the opinion that English exhibitions and other summer resorts are not half jolly enough.
 You stolid Enganders," he states, Ire too apt to belittle the advantages bf the purely amusement side of exhibi tons The proposed interchange of attractions will tend to alter this  rill be first and foremost a place of Amusement, with novelties which will F',e Londoners all the excitement they want
 "One of these is called the Giant Coaster--an entirely new form of switchback, which will give people the opportunity of enjoying a swoop down from the height of 100 feet It will rost $10O,O00 to erect. Many other rid Ing devices of novel character are 10 be introduced"
 The hitherto unpublished cantos of Earibaldi's great autobiographical poem have now been issued to the world. The work was written by the great Italian hero during his enforced stay on the island of Capera in 1862. A fair copy of his crabbed handwriting was made by his English lady friend. Mrs. Rob erts, and 1t Is to her devotion and in dustry that Italy is now indebted for af work of massive and Spont taneous genius by Italy's most heroic figure.
 TT poem consists of 30 cantos in blank verse. Its surpassing merit con- lists not so much in technical perfec- ton or the mere artistry of words the work was largely an improvisation, and was dashed off at red-hot speed but in the sustained grandeur and mo- bility of the conception, in which the Bred in epic form. Never. perhaps. in the history of literature has political theme been treated so magnificently.
 The eleventh. canto Is not new to Italian readers. The poet-hero pre- Bented it during his lifetime to the municipality of Ravenna, with instruc- lions that the proceeos should be de-