THE KING OF SIAM AT HARROW.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 211, 11 September 1897, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE KING OF SIAM AT HARROW.

King Chulalonkorn, of Siam, is a merry little monarch of much intelligence and many moods. The said moods appear rather disconcerting ..jto his English entourage, who never seem quite certain where they have ,3nm. Thus on Friday at Portsmouth illis Majesty was throughout buoy- • .i.nt and gay as a grig, all smiles and -affability. But on Saturday, at Har- - row, on the contrary, he Avas dull and ibored, yawning- openly in Dr. Weltlon's face, and displaying none of that rampant interest in education = alleged to be his special forte. If, however, this pocket potentate failed somewhat to live up to his reputaYtion at Harrow, he at least gave the ',: headmaster and his pupils plenty to 'talk about. The primary object of . the visit to the school, Avas of course #_to see his young son Prince Pura ; Chatra who is being educated there, i The meeting proved delightful to wit- ■" ness. Alighting from the carriage hin haste, the King fairly rushed into Ythe boy's arms, and kissed him on ~/both cheeks. Then the lad saluted :his elder brothers who accompanied £/His Majesty with "Hullo, lioav are .. you." The Hey. J. E. C. Welldon ! stood by awaiting his turn—not (the "Daily News" thinks) to be kissed jbut to have his presence acknowledged. "Headmaster—eh? headmaster?" ■ queried His Majesty, jerking his . £humb m Mr -Welldon's direction and

addressing the young Prince. The lad returned an affirmative nod and then —it is only just to record—the King gave the headmaster's hand a very human grip. Mr Welldon Avas for inviting his visitors Avithin, that they might enjoy a moment's repose after their journey, but before reaching the staircase, the King turned back,. In front of the house on either side of the roadAvay avus a guard of honour formed by the volunteer corps that is composed of Harrow boys. Standing on the kerb, the King addressed them in this Avise: "You may march past me here —Oh! yes, if you like. I'm ready." This was not in the authorised programme and the officer in command Avas momentarily taken aback. HoAvever, there stood a little frock-coated, silk-hatted, AAiiite-waistcoated hg-ure aA\^aiting the realization of his Avish. So with an "Attention! Right turn! March!" and all the rest of it, the thing aa-us done.

Then there avus much whistling and gesticulation, in Avhich His Majesty graciously joined, to bring back the carriages. Down on the playing fields a cricket match avus in pro-gress—-betAveen lavo "houses" of the school —and the King had consented to witness the game.

Next His Majesty made a cursory inspection of the school buildings.

THE LOCI A OF BARNEY B A R N A T 0.

Barney Barnato is not, perhaps, quite the sort of hero one would have expected the " Contemporary Review" to apotheosise, and it Avas with some surprise I perused Mr Harry Raymond's article on the defunct financier in the current issue. Mr Raymond evidently felt a sincere regard for Barney's shrewd commonsense, and numerous specimens are given of his logia. "If you are going to fight," Mr Barnato often remarked,

"always get the first "blow. If a man is going to hit you, hit him first and say. 'If you try that I'll hit you again.' , It is of no use your standing off and saying 'If you hit me I'll hit you back.' D'ye understand ?"' "Yes, I understand," I answered, "but you are quoting Kingsley in ' Westward Ho !' " Who was Kingsley and Westward Ho !" he sharply queried. After I hasd explained and quoted the passage from Drake's letter to Amyas Leigh, he said, "Ah, I did not knoAv anything of Kingsley, but when he wrote that he knew what life was, and he was right and I am right, though it is queer for me to get a supporter in one of your parsons. ;If he was a true, man he would also have to agTee with our law of 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ;' but being a Christian, of course, he couldn't do that. Pah ! never let a man wrong you without getting square, no matter how long you wait, and never wrong a man if "you can help it, because he will wait his time to get back on you and at the Avorst fiossibte moment. I don't care whether it is Jew or Gentile, it is all the same." SPANISH POLICE METHODS. There is at present in Liverpool a Spaniard, Gana by name, who tells a story that makes it seem probable that the methods of extracting confession common at the time of the Inquisition are not things of the past, but exist at the present day in Spain. The story, as told by this man Gana, is of such a revoltingnature that one is fain, for the sake of our much boasted present - day Eurox>ean civilisation, not to accept it as true. In telling his stoiy to a Yiddish meeting at Liverpool, the Spaniard began with the Barcelona anarchist outrages which are of sufficiently recent date to be fresh in most people's memories. The troxible in Barcelona, he said, began with the throwing of a bomb while a religious procession was passing through the street. Hundreds were immediately arrested by the police, not only anarchists, but working-men. No one knew who made the bomb, and the authorities Avere not very particular about finding- out the real perpetrator of the outrage. What they did want were convictions, and to gain these they set about extracting confessions from Gana and those arrested with him. The first gentle inducement to tell what they did, or did* not, know was making them run up and down with their hands tied behind their backs for four days and four nights. Whenever any of them shoAved signs of stopping from fatigue and Aveakness, they Avere beaten with Avhips till they made a further effort. By the third day G ana's hands Avere sAvollen like great balls, OAving to the tightly bound cords and, having been driven as far as his strength would bear, he fell fainting to the ground. When he came to himself he found they were drawing out his toe nails with forceps. liepeated requests Avere made for him to tell Avho threw the bomb, but he aserts that he did not knoAv and stoutly refused to say. Afterwards a gag Avas put in his mouth and pulled from behind, a kind of torture the pain of which it is hard to realise. This not proving effectual in gaining a confession from him, hot irons Avere applied to various parts of his body, and then other tortures folloAved Avith machines Avhich it is really impossible to describe, suffice it to say that the attendant pain Avas so great that it could only be endured for a feAV seconds before its victim fell fainting to the ground. The prisoners were kept separate, and did not see each other put to the question, but the horrible shrieks of agony and cries for mercy Avere plainly heard all over the prison, and this in itself Avas most unnerving, for it set those Avho for the time Avere left alone avoiidering Avhat form their next torture Avould take. All this time Gana Avas brought before no tribunal nor given any trial of any sort. After some months he was liberated and ordered to cross the frontier Avithin a certain space of time. Such is the story told bj' the Spaniard, and it is hardly necessary to say that the man, after Avhat he has passed through, Avid be assisted in every possible Avay by socialist societies in England. THE AUSTRALIAN SWIMMEKS. The contest for the Half-mile SAvimming Championship of England.Avhich eventuated at Southport last Satnrday, Avas looked forward to with exceptional interest owing to the fact that the likely competitors included J. 11. Derbyshire, the 500 yards champion; J. H. Tycrs, the holder; Percy Cavill, the Australian champion; and A. A. Green, the South of England swimmer, Avho has been giving such an excellent account of himself of

late. The amateur championships last year Avere practically little more than Avalk-overs for Tyers, and the advent of Cavill with his time of 13miu. 27 2-sth sec. for the half-mile was the main redeeming factor in this contest this year. On the clay Tyers refused to compete, but besides Cavill, Green ,and Derbyshire there were five aspirants for fame in J. Stevens,

E. Robinson, W. Piatt, N. Potter, and A. Tyldesley. In the drawing for places Green secured second, Cavul fourth .and Derbyshire sixth place. On the giving of the signal Cavill touched the water first, and after making the first turn held the lead with Derbyshire, but Avhen half the distance had been covered the latter was leading by twelve yards from Tyldesley, who Avas some three-quar-ters of a length ahead of Cavill. Cavill had been steering most erratic, and although he pulled up on Derbyshire after the half distance it Avas seen that he could not Avin. Green, who had improved his position rapidly .challenged Cavill a short distance before the finish, and in the spurt home gained second place, being Gin. ahead of the Australian, while- the pair Avere fully ten yards behind Derbyshire. The winner's time was 13min. 3S 4-sth sec.

Percy Cavill Avas naturally very much disappointed at his display, and there is not the least doubt but that had he not swerved all over the course he would have been close up to Derbyshire at the finish. The latter was, however, not much distressed on emerging from the water, and had he been pressed might have been able to do considerably better than he did. Green, of the Otter S.C., SAvam ill great form, and Avas deservedly applauded for his successful set-to Avith the Australian over the last of the course.

OAving to a misunderstanding- of some description Ernest Cavill Avas left in the lurch by the Antipodeans who had undertaken to put up the stake of £200 for the match with Joey Nuttall. However, the stake has been guaranteed by Mr R. Topping-, and the race will be decided some time in September.either at Roundhay Park or the Doncaster Baths on the Leger night. At present Cavill is iv Perth, having received an engagement at the instance of the ex-amateur champion of Scotland, James Bissland, who is the superintendent of the Corporation baths ta Perth. As I have already stated, Jack Heilings and Percy Cavill take part in the West of England matches. Their further movements have been so far decided as to make it pretty safe to say that they Avill afterwards visit the Jersey Club Carnival and then journey to Scotland for a number of matches Avith Messrs Martin and Russell, the Scottish champions. Percy Cavill Avill meet the latter in distances over a quarter, and Heilings Avill be matched against Martin iv races up to 100 yards. There is some talk of a gala being organised as a send-off rfo the Australian swimmers should they have to return to NeAV South Wales before October 2nd, the date on Avhich the 100 yards championship Avill probably be decided. Heilings and P. Cavill Avish to be back home in time to make the trip to New Zealand, AAiiere the Australasian championships Avill be held this year. There is a sug-gestio to have the 100 yards championship of England early in September, so as to ensure Heilings as a competitor.

The other New South Wales amateur swimmer now on this side of the Avorld, V. Lindberg I mean' leaves England to-day for Sweden to take part in various races organised by the Swedish Association.