News, Views amid Opinions.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 184, 4 August 1900, Page 1 (Supplement)

News, Views amid Opinions.

That dancing dervish of the nobiliiy, the Earl of Yarmouth, has at length managed to file his accounts in bankruptcy, and his creditors will Bhortly receive 10/ in the: pound. His Lordship's debts are over £5000, and his visible assets rather more than £2000. His bankrupt state was easily explained. He had £300 a year from his pater, lived at the rate of £3000 per annum, and borrowed at the rate of 60 per cent. This was prior to his going on the stage in America, where, 'tis said, he made £50 a week for a time, but later had to be content with the miserable stipend of £25. The creditors have all accepted the cash composition offered, and we understand the money necessary to pay that dividend and all legal costs has been deposited with the Trustees in Bankruptcy.

• The founder of the once-famous Thirteen Club, Mr William Harnett Blanch, has just died at Gravesend. ' This crusader against superstitions Was born at sea while the ship on ■which his parents were making a trip to Australia was actually crossing the Hne. His club founded as a protest v against the common superstitions of humanity is now extinct. Its members ■used to dine on Fridays in sets of 13, entered rooms under ladders, spilled | salt -when they sat down, broke look-ing-glasses, insisted in having crosseyed waiters in attendance, and generally of malice aforethought did all those things which done by accident are supposed to entail bad luck, in , order to prove to the poor fools who were superstitious that they had no for their beliefs! .

Curiously enough the fact that Bronkhorst Spruit, where Lord Roberts stopped last week in his march east' through the Transvaal, was the scene of the first terrible tragedy episode of the war of 1881 seems to have been entirely forgotten. It was here close to where the railway now runs that the curtain was rung up on one of the shortest but most disastrous wars,in British annals. Without any declaration of hostility, the Boers, cohcealed behind the boulders in the neighbourhood of the road, shot down a detachment of the 97th regiment, numbering 279 persons.. Colonel Anptruther was the leader of the ill-fated little band. All but twenty men and 6ne officer' fell within a few minutes. The dead lie buried near the scene of action. ..The story illustrates the barbaric instincts of our opponents m the last war; does not the present show a section at least in an equally unpleasant light?

, Here is a little story of Russian red fope. A gentleman in Moscow ordered a particular kind of horse from one of th c Government breeding- establishments. After.a delay of three weeks he received an official communication,

spread'over much paper, to the effect ..that as he had omitted to forward a stamp for a-reply there could be no answer to his request. This document was signed by several officials. The gentleman apologised and sent the stamp at once. In the course of the nexfc, week he received another commifhication from the breeding estab- - lishtnent to say that a horse such as Jbe required could not "be supplied.

, Mrs .Langtry (may her.shadow never " grow less beautiful) has supplied the •public with a glossary of the slang terms used in her play, "The Degenerates." ; Here are some examples:—My twee, my sweetheart; tweest,, sweetest; deevie, divine; diskie, disgusting; vtremiei tremendous; expie, expensive;( hoy, ; hot; pritt, pretty; teagie, teagown; tellie, telegram; mackie, xnaek- „ intpsh; cossie ,costume; frillkies, :lrilk It will be seen from the fore.going (writes an exchange) that degenerate slang is constructed by re--during a word to a silly diminutive. 'It is a process that appeals pleasingly to.a,frail, uncertain mind in the formative period, or to a prematurely attmted intellect in the earlier stages of decay—before blank idiocy sets in.

The* following "ad," which appeared in an English newspaper recenfly ,looks all serene at the first glance, but on a second perusal seems intended to convey a very unchivalroug reference to a certain fair-one:— "Will the gentleman who embraced! ay wife the other day at the Post ' pfflce b;yf mistake kindly send me, his photograph to place amongst my lisU V of, heroes? If desired, I will place it next to Lord Roberts. Apply, etc." Evidently the: glamour of his courting days has departed, to be succeeded by a regime of rolling-pins and flat-irons so that the very thought of a wifely ■~ embracesends a cold shiver down his .back. '■■ . ';...

The wicked flea, whom every man besides being accused of carrying round "bubonic," has^ npw filled up the measure of his iniquity . ;by spreading- typhoid in the military Camps in South Africa. It may now :, 'become advisable to hold a post-mor--'Vteid on every fleg. which meets a vior -lent -death at;the hands of his victim ' in order to ascertain whether he has teen .unlawfully carrying typhoid germs about his person and inoculat•ing the unsuspicious Tommy on whom vhe hasbeen battening-. The* all-import-,..ant question now is, when a person is bitten by a flea, what is the best thing be done? Should the part be cauterised, or will it be necessary to cut ;off j one's. toe or finger if bitten on -those members 1 Is whisky a good antidote, op will any other ardent spirit be equally efficacious? Should "an effprt.be made to capture the flea (andlsend it to the Sanitary Inspector, ,alive or dead, or should it be preserved in the best of spirits? It seems l-oertain, however, that a fleabite is no Idnger a joke, and some other word , ■will have to be selected .to describe an insignificant misfortune.

, .The present ■ unfriendly feeling to England sometimes gets a Md set- .."'■■ back;' Thus a Gallego (a native of the old Spanish province of Galicia) went .into a store to purchase some agrlculttiral- machinery, and after he had been shown harrows, asked, with a »':::. , grinV "Oh I have you not got' some of . .the new B oer harrows, which they are using -for the British troops, in the /'Transvaal?" "I am sorry to say we /ha.v^.not," replied the British sales- •;. ~3il^n > "you see, we only import American goods, and we shall be pleased to '■■ .^Pfy you with one of the American harrows which were used for harrowi; Spanish troops." The Gallego, /adds;t.he "South American Journal," v ,pinned in a sickly manner, and said nS- wasn't talting anymore 'of that '■'■:■<;.'. ■■. ■■• ■'-: '.. ■■■ ' ■■'. ■.;. . ■

A capital story of faith-healing comes from America. A lady in Florida, suffering from some nervous disease, put herself (by post) in the hands of a faith-healer in San Francisco,, and received instructions to retire to her room every day, and, at noon precisely, to concentrate her thoughts on the faith-healer in San Francisco. The faith-healer would do the same thing at the same hour, and the mysterious influence would heal the disease. Things went >on splendidly for two or three weeks, and the lady's nerves and the healer's banking account both improved steadily. But then some thoughtless person pointed out that noon in Florida is only about 9 a.m. in San Francisco, and therefore that the conditions of faith-healing were not fulfilled. The lady then had a relapse.

Japanese railway men evidently do not live in very w.holesome awe of their directors. A writer in the "Kobe Herald" tells an amusing story of the way in which some engine-drivers ort the Qanyetsu railway in Kiushiu recently ■ scored. off the President of the line, who seems to be as unpopular as it .is possible for a man to be. The President had been to Wakamatsu to settle a dispute between the company and some of its employees. Onl the way back, when the train was at the foot of a mountain near Okinajima, the engine-driver quietly stopped uncoupled his engine and disappeared with it, leaving the President and his friends to pass a cold and snowy night in the train. The next morning another engine made its appearance, but instead of taking the train on to it<? destination, the driver took it back to Wakamatsu and left it there. The sequel has still to be told.

A discovery has been made in Shetland which, "if it proves genuine, will show that cremation as a form of disposal of the deac" was practised in these northern isles in the remote period of the Stone age. A crofter in the parish of Quarff, Shetland, on turning up a moiind on his croft, came upon a stone slab about 18 inches from the surface, and on lifting this slab discovered a stone-lined chamber, in which were a skull and a bowl-shaped vessel of. stone or clay. Further investigations have brought to light more of these stone-lined chambers, and in one of these was a jar with ashes. The ashes seem to support the contention that the dead were disposed of by cremation'in that age. At present the "find" is undergoing the investigation of skilled authorities.

A curious discovery has been made at Damendorf, in Schleswig. Some workmen, while digging peat, found a well-preserved corpse in the peat, clothed in a coarse, woollen material,' with red hair ,and with sandals on thd feet. Dr. Splieth, of Kiel, who was at once informed of the discovery, estimated the age of the body at about 1,50.0 years. A few years ago several coins were also found near the same place, which were believed by experts to belong to the first centuries after Christ.

A remarkable story of heroism in civil life is told in the New Yoi*k "Press." A fire broke out in the east side tenement home of a poor Jewish tailor on the first Seder (Passover) evening. The tailor, his wife, and •children were caught in a trap by thd flames. When the firemen forced an entry into the tailor's bedroom they found against a further wall four unconscious bodies with charred clothing and black faces. Three of them/the wife and two children, -were saved by the poor Jew's heroism. He had stretched his body as a shield in front of his family, and gave his life td rescue theirs. ~ , .

In connection with the various endeavours that have been made to learn something about the fate of Herr Andree's expedition, a particular interest attaches, just now, to the Russo Swed^ ish expedition, which left Spitzbergen on June 1 for survey work. This expedition will make a trip to King- Charles Land, in order to search the island .carefully for traces of Herr Andree. It will be remembered that his much-talked-of Polar buoy was found on the north coast of King Charles Land, at 80 degrees north latitude and 25 degrees east longitude. Though the! microscopic examination of the buoy o-ave no results, it is hoped that other remnants of the ill-fated balloon e\« pedition may be found on the island.

According to the "Jewish World," a teacher in one of the London schools of the Chosen People asked his class, "Whom do you esteem most in history?" Immediately two answers were given simultaneously, "Aloses" — "Baden-Powell." "What?" said the teacher, in surprise, to the boy of nine summers who had given the latter reply; "Baden-Powell is certainly a very able soldier, but surely, you would not place him with Moses?" "Certainly," answered the youngster, with the assurance of conviction. "But," inquired the teacher, "how do you arrive at that?" "Why," answered the boy, triumphantly, "Moses received the Law on the Feast of Pentecost, which this year fell on Whit Monday, and so wo had no extra holiday; but BadenPowell managed to have Maf eking relievedpn a Thursday, for which we had a special holiday."

Everyone knows the story of the Irish lawyer's defence to an action in connection with which his client was sued for damages to a kettle, which the client was alleged .to> have borrowed. "Firstly," pleaded the lawyer, "my client did not borrow the plaintiff's kettle; secondly, if he did borrow the kettle, he returned it in good order; thirdly, if the kettle was broken when my client.returned it, it ■was broken when he borrowed it." A case which came to light at the Railway department this week (says the "Melbourne Age") supplies a parallel. Before the late Mr E. Murphy, M.L.A., died, he bequeathed to Mr McGregor the duty of settling a little matter, which deeply concerned one of his clients. A Bungaree farmer alleged that his cow had wandered upon the railway line through the. Kail way Department's neglect to keep the fence in good order, and was killed by a passing train. He therefore claimed damages. The department firstly, denied any knowledge of the cow. having been killed on the line. Secondly, it contended, if the ,cow were killed on the line it must have jumped the fence, because the fence was in good order; thirdly, if the fence were not in good order, the cow must have broken it down in entering upon the line. The department, therefore, claimed damages for thebroken fence. The member for Ballarat East found the pleadings slightly confusing; He has, nevertheless, fulfilled the behest of his old friend by arranging, matters to the satisfaction of everybody.