News, Views and Opinions.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 147, 22 June 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

News, Views and Opinions.

How do men feel on the battlefield? Probably not more than one per cent, of English-speaking people nowadays have been under lire, and naturally the 99 per cent, are curious to know "what it feels like," to go forth to kill and to risk being killed. An English press representative has put this question to several volunteers who have just returned from the front. War, they generally agree, product.'a a sense of joyous abandon, the imminent possibility fln d consciousness of the nearness of death having the effect of ridding the mind of all cares. "It makes you feel a bit funny," said one private, "when you first get under lire. When the bullets begin to ping, ping and you hear the shriek of the explosives you take a deep breath and shiver, like when you jump into cold water." Another one admits that there is a curious sensation, and adds that the chief thing one notices is being awfully hot and thirsty. A trooper of the line, vrho was ■with the last volunteer, also related Ms impressions. "War ia all right," He said,, "as long as the actual fighting 19 on. A man doesn't seem to care whether he gets shot or not. It changes a fellow completely. All he seems to think about is getting close up to the enemy. After a shell from Long Tom you look round after the dust has passed and find that three or four of your comrades and horses have gone down. You think to yourself, '1 wonder who's next.' But" you take no notice; smply press your spurs into your poor horse, grind your teeth, grip like iron, hold up your sword, and go on like mad!"

In Warwickshire customs die hard, and in quite a number of villages spring is ushered in with all the merriness of simple rustic revelry. There is the floral decorated "May Queen" and the dancing round the maypole on the village green. In Warwickshire, however, as in other counties, there are few original maypoles, but one still stands at Warton/an old-fashioned little village between Atherstone and Tamworth. The day is celebratfd here on lines somewhat as of old, with dancing, singing and old-fashioned games. In Tamworth, too, children parade the streets with garlands and "miniature maypoles," which they carry, and sing at the doors of the residents. Warton is one of the few places which still lets the herbage in the lanes by a candle light auction. A candle is cut into five pieces, each is lighted, and then the parish official who conducts the sale, asks for bids. The last offers before the lights go out are the ones accepted. This quaint custom has been observed since the time o:t George m.

The Parliamentary representative of the "Daily News" writes:—"l hear an interesting story of Mr Ivruger. He was visited the other day by an old friend and associate. This gentleman found Mr Kruger, while retaining his old shrewdness, more absorbed than ever in the reading of the Bible and the interpretation of Old Testament texts. He had been specially moved of late by the idea that in the night time he had communications made at times in an audible voice directing him to read this or that chapter and verse. One night he had a message of this character and eagerly sought the Bible to find the passages indicated. They had no reference to the troubles of the South African Eepublic, and Mr Kruger was milch depressed. But the voice .came again directing him to search afresh. Again Mr Kruger had recourse to the Bible, this time to find the words of comfort for which he had asked. The text was: "I have been young and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread." ■

The Duke of Fife is building a handsome residence at Brighton, not far from the new pier, and apropos of this, house comes a capital story of the Duchess. The touch of nature which makes us all kin does not escape Royalty, and our Royal family knows better than most of us the infliction of unwanted callers, says a contemporary. "The Duchess was walking along the parade at Brighton to her house when, as she approached her own door, she saw a carriage waiting. She was evidently not in a mood to receive visitors in general, or else to see these visitors in particular, and as \she reached the house she walked straight past the gate. The callers were informed that the Duchess was out, and when the carriage had gone the King's daughter turned round again and went home.

According to Malay reports the Rajah .of Sarawak has been ordered to send fifty heads as Sarawak's offering on the occasion of the Coronation of King Edward. The Singapore "Press" is in formed that the Rajah has imported" some likely head hunters from North Borneo to take the required heads from his disloyally unwilling people who, though not unwilling to take heads when an organised expedition gives excuse or opportunity for this lapse into savagery, are not sportsmen enough to offer up their own.

Mrs Hooley's pet Pomeranian poodle is wearing gold-crowned teeth. Recently he became fidgety, could not eat the choice morsels prepared for him, and was evidently suffering great pain. The veterinarian was called and he found the dog's teeth had decayed, the result of eating too much candy, the doctor said. The necessary dental work was done with very little difficulty. Now he eats his bone with relish and munches dog biscuits with evident satisfaction. This news must gladden the hearts of creditors who get 1/12 in the ;<£.

It is stated that the Queen will probably go for a cruise among1 the Norwegian fiords early in July in the Royal yacht Osborne; and it is very likely that Her Majesty will previously pay a visit to the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland at their estate in Upper Austria, where she would meet the King- of Denmark, who is going there after his "cure" at Wiesbaden. In this case Queen Alexandra would join the Osborne at Kiel; and after the cruise Her Majesty will go to Denmark on a long visit to King Christian at the Chateau of Fredensborg, where the Dowager Empress of Russia, the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, and the King of the Hellenes are also expected in August.

The announcement that White Lodge (which has been uninhabited since the Duke of Teck died) has been "lent" by the King to Mrs Hartmanii, surprised a great many people, as it was generally thought that some member of the Royal Family would be glad of such a pretty place within easy reach of London. The fact is, however, that houses like White Lodge are expensive to keep up, and all the Royalties who could afford to undertake it are already provided with country residences. There is very little furniture except heavy pieces left at White Lodge, as there was a private sale there last year among the friends and acquaintances of the late Duke and Duchess of Teck, , when everything that was not required by the Duchess of Cornwall or her brothers was disposed of. Mrs Hartnrann, who is of German extraction and possesses a large fortune, has a very luxurious house in Berkeley Square, where "she does a great deal of entertaining, and the King has frequently been her guest there. Her only son, Mr Frederic Hartmaun, who rented Clarendon Park, near Salisbury, for a time, and received the King there for shooting, married one of Sir Villiers Lister's handsome daughters. ■ i • ■

A correspondent writing1 to an English journal from Vancouver on March 24 gives a gloomy picture of the condition of affairs in that country. He says: "In British Columbia working men have to compete with thousands of Japanese and Chinamen, who live like cattle and are virtually slaves. The cost of living for a white man is enormous. A suit of clothes costs from 15 dols. to 35 dols (from £3 to £7); shoes 2 dols. to 6 dols the pair; beef 0.15 dols to O.IS dols per lb; and the rent of a small three-roomed house, S dols to 10 dols a month. Yet working men are not able to earn more than 10 dols to 12 dols a week, and for every man working one is out of employment. They are also at the mercy of the monopolist oil and sugar trusts, and if they wish to travel by rail they have to pay 05 dols (2Jd) per mile, as against Id in England. As to the Klondyke Goldfields (according to this correspondent), nearly all the placer field has been taken up by the capitalists, and men are leaving the country every day broken down by hardships and privation, penniless and discouraged. In conclusion, he remarks that British Columbia is a poor place for working men, and that Klondyke and Cape Nome are traps to catch the unwary for the benefits of the Shylocks."

The annual meeting of the shareholders in the Monte Carlo Casino Company has just been held. The value of the shares -when the new company was formed in 1883 was £20. The present value is £147. Notwithstanding- the fact that there has been a good season, there was a decrease of £3000 in the receipts from the gambling- tables as compared with the previous year. But people are more careful than they were a few years ago, when the "takings" at the tables amounted to £1,000,000. Money has been scarce amongst the English, who have always been considered as the best patrons of the tables. A dividend of 185f. was declared, which added to 251 interest, makes 210f , lOf. less than last year's. The Prince of Monaco is now paid £70,000 per annum, and is also allowed £25,000 for the maintenance of his bodyguard, and the payment of all the expenses of the Coiirt of Monaco. There are no rates and taxes in the Principality. All the costs of municipal government are paid by the Casino, together with the maintenance of the "army," police, law courts, public works, and roads, charitable, educational, and religious institutes. The Bishop and the clergy ara also paid out of the profits of gambling. The salaries amounted to £100,000 per annum. The cost of maintenance of the pardens and the palace of the Prince, with the Palace of Fine Artts was nearly £30,000. The enormous amount of £100,000 was spent upon the theatre and the orchestra. The sum spent upon "public city," or subventions, chiefly to the French Press for not attacking the gambling has been cut down from £30,000 to £20,000.

Business is becoming1 quite fashionable in the "highest" circles. Who would have dreamed years ago of a Cabinet Minister whose name appears on many coal-carts? Yet the name of Lord Londonderry is thus advertised every day. The Earl of. Harrington is connected with the fruit and vegetable trade, and makes no secret of the fact that he has a small shop at Charing Cross. A clerk in the House of Lords, who is also the uncle of a peer, has a partridge-farming business in Hungary. Lord Rendlesham's son and heir is in the wine trade, as was the late Lord Lionel Cecil, halfbrother of the Prime Minister. Lord Walter Gordon Lennox was in the same trade at one time, and Viscount Bridport has a son in the same business in Sicily. Lord Eipon is a milk seller as well as a peer. A relative of the Duke of Wellington has for years kept a flower shop in the West End, and a daughter of the late Lord Frederick Kerr keeps a registry office for servants. A niece of the Earl of Strafford started a shop for fancy smallwares in Belgrave-street not long ago, and one of the most popular tearooms in New Bond-street is "run" by a well-known fashionable lady and her daughters. A certain baronet divides his attention between the "City" and the cigarette trade, and at least one member of the Government has been in the cigar trade. Glance through the peerage and cross out the peerages founded by trade, and how many would be left? The Earldom of Essex was founded by a draper; that of Warwick—now a commercial enterprise in itself—by a wool-stapler; that of Lansdowne by a pedlar who was once so poor that he lived three weeks on walnuts. Even the "Proud Percys" owe their estates to an apothecary. Lord Tenterden, the Chief Justice, once stopped his son outside Canterbury Cathedral, and, pointing to a shed opposite, said, "In that shed your grandfather used to shave for a penny; it is the proudest reflection of my life." It is the same in the other direction. From commerce they come; to commerce they go. A lineal descendant of Edward I. was found in a butcher, a descendant of Simon dft Montfort was a saddler in Tooley-street, and one of Cromwell's great-grandsons used to sell tea on Sbow Hill.