NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 129, 1 June 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

The King of Denmark., who has ;]ust entered upon his eighty-fourth, year, is the father of the Dowager-Em-press of Russia, the Queen Consort of England, the King of the Hellenes and the Duchess of Cumberland, His eldest son, the Crown Prince Freder-

ick, married Princess Louise- of Swe-

den and Norway, who had a fortune

of seventy-five millions of francs, which has 'been doubled daring the last thirty years by good management and judicious investment". King Christian's youngest son, Prince WaiHemar, also married an heiress, his Tvife being the daughter of the Due and Duchesse ih- Chart res. The King of Denmark was born Prince Christian of Glucksburpr, and he inherited the throne under the Treaty of 3552, his late wife Queen Louise, who was a daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse,- being a granddaughter, through the female line, of King Frederick. The male line of the old JJoval Family of Denmark became extinct in lSG.'i.

An excellent Curfew story comes from New York. Assemblyman Hatch, ttho hails from Hornesville, placed before the House a Bill providing for curfew bells to be tolled throughout the State after nine o'clock at night, after which no children should be allowed on the streets. The Assembly, however, so amended the measure that it provided for a curfew to be rung only in Hornesville, and only for the purpose of prescribing the time for, Mr. Hatch to go to bed. Tf the Bill .is passed by the Upper House and signed by the Governor it will become a statute of the State.

While allowing a full measure of vnnity to American women, we must still regard the following story as being beyond belief: American women do not like to put their shoes outside their doors at hotels, for fear that their neighbours passing along the corridor should make remarks on the size of their foot-gear. So they keep a pair of shoes several sizes too small for them, and, after carefully putting a few specks of mud or a little dust on them, leave them outside their door for other women to envy their small size. The shoes which they have been wearing they clean themselves, and never trust to the hotel-porter.

The latest development' of degeneracy in Spanish trail-fighting is for the toreador to wrap himself in a whfte sheet, and, mounted on a low pedestal in the centre of the arena, to await the bull's charge in statuelike rigidity. The animal stops short, first surprised, and then indifferent to what seems an inanimate object. Then, espying- his opportunity, the "toreador" makes his escape to the barrier. But the ruse is never tried twice with the same bull. The exponent of this "sport" is a man named Tanaredo.

The postal authorities at Brussels nave lately noticed that the mailbags despatched to the Congo were not being duly returned, and after a lot of trouble they have discovered the reason. It appears that the coloured postmen in the Congo Free State make presents of the mailbagS to their wives or fiancees. These ladies simply cut out the bottom; and by drawing what is left over their heads, and with the assistance of a piece of string, they have an ultra modern ready-made costume. The fact that the sacks are furnished with an etiorinous black seal bearing- the legend "Brussels-Centre" does not disconcert them in the least.

The French authorities have simplified matters very much for the benefit of cyclists. The old days of hindrances and difficulties are over. It is no longer .necessary to leave a deposit of so many francs with the Customs authorities on landing in France, or to quarrel over its often reluctant repayment on leaving the country. It is no longer even necessary to be a member of a touringclub in order to claim exemption from payment of Customs duty. All that is now required is to ask for and obtain a certificate known as a_ "permis de circulation," which is issued at a port or frontier town where the traveller may enter France. No bother is made about granting this certificate on the payment of a fee of 60 centimes, or sixpence in English money; and it is available for a period of three months. During that time the tourist cyclist can roam Bbout exempt from any tax.

Mr Beecham, of pills fame, is one Of the men who have made a fortune out of a phrase. He was, so the story runs, standing at a street corner at St. Helens with a trayful of pills, tthen a woman came up to him and Baid that the pills had done her so much good that they were worth a guinea a box. The phrase pleased Mr Beecham, and it is not his fault if there is a single human being in the ■world who has not heard it or read it since. He has spent a. fortune in adTertising it, but the money has all come back. There is more in a phrase than many people imagine. An American bookseller has spent thousands of pounds; a year for years past advertising the phrase—Empty your pocket into your head, and it has been worth more than tons and tons of ordinary advertisements would have been.

A shopkeeper, the head of a large firm of drapers, one evening recently, after business hours, caused his saleswomen to be assembled before him. "There are amongst you," lie said to them, "several individuals whom I &vow to be guilty of theft from our establishment. I have the names of «very one of the culprits, but I neither wish to mention them here nor to hand them over to the police. Meanwhile my firm cannot continue to employ thieves, and I ask those •Wong- yon whom it may concern not to enter my premises any morning •iter to-night. If you dare, after ', this, to put in an appearance, I shall hand you at once over to a detective *ho will be in the house." Upon this the girls -were allowed to go home. Next morning eighteen of them did •ofc come.