NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 199, 20 August 1904, Page 9

NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

Ainoug the. countless examples of featherbrained heirs of the American plutocracy and their inane doings, it is really pleasant to come across an occasional instance where some appreciation is entertained of tiie immense responsibilities which huge wealth entails. Young Mr C. S. Stillnmn is apparently of the latter breed. He is a millionaire in his own right, in addition to being a son nf Mr James Stillman, the Wealthy president of the National City Bank of New Yuri:, but has determined, according to information to hand from San Francisco, tj learn the business of running a railway, rrom the lowest stage upwards. He has. therefore, taken a position in an ordinary employee of the Southern Pacific Itailroad. and now, dressed in overalls and jersey, lie may be seen every day wrestling with passengers' luggage, nnd moving the enormous trunks favoured by American Jadies. At noon lie juris his fellow workers when they are eating their simple meal. Mr Stillman's ease, we may remark, is not an isolated one of an American millionaire tailing lo hard manual labour with the purpose of thoroughly learning the business that brings him in his wealth. A millionaire nephew of Mr Rockefeller worked as an ordinary workman in the oil district till he had mastered lhe arts of boring for oil. and the method of storing, transporting, and refining it. There have also been several other-, who have taken similar hard roads for the sake of getting knowledge. They are examples 'of lhe thoroughness, of the American character which has done so much to give the na-tiou its commercial greatness. Japan is a country of quaint customs hud manners. The system of adoption which is universal 'throughout tiie island., appeals to the Caucasian mind, moulded by generations of western development on distinct lines, as a triile unusual. But as followed in Japan it certainly has certain elements to recommend it. its sole object is to keep a family name from becoming extinct. Indeed, there is scarcely a family in Which it has not at some time or "other been practised. A person who has no male issue adopts a son. and if he has a daughter often gives her to him in marriage. A youth, or even a child, who may be the lieau of the family, often adopts, on the point of dying, a son sometimes older than himself* to succeed him. Railway travelling in certain part- of the Continent is inexpensive. In VViirtemburg. for example, you rau buy a ticket, good for fifteen days, which is ti general paSs over the rai'ways of that kingdom. A third-class ticket of this kind costs about _ 1, which makes travelling very cheap indeed, for with it a passenger can ride as often as lie likes within the fifteen day limit. In Switzerland, where the main lines of travel have recently come into the hands of the Government, a similar pass is issued. A passenger desiring one of these tickets has to have his photograph atlixed to it to identify him and prevent transfer A fifteen-day ticket. third-class, costs •omething over 21 1, but it will take you frantically all over Switzerland. Tho Siberian newspapers chronicle ■dminngly the magnificence displayed a f the christening oi the infant daughter of M. Kuzrnin, a wealthy brewed of Irkutsk:--"Our respected fellow-citizen's first-born wns tak.-n lo the church in a manner befitting its future prospects. Its little mii-menis. made of cloth 0 f gold, were completely covered with an embroidery o; diamonds, sapphires, and tubies, th.- colours of our Christian Usui ftnd round the little one's adoi-ahFe ankles were strings of pearls. . . . The little girl wns baptised in water.' specially brought from the River Jordan by 31. Kuzrniu's courier. After the christening a hundred eiecni'ds were east into the font, rue-li guest being invited to take away a flask of the holy water and p. souvenir gem." Direct appeal to Royalty for the hghting of personal wrongs is still of comparatively common occurrence. A dramatic incident occurred while tiie German Crown l'rinee was riding at the bead .of his company of the Ist Regiment of Grenadier Guards at Potsdam on a Tuesday early last month. While the horses were at a ranter a smartlydressed girl of distinguished appearance. earrymg a baby on her arm, threw herself in front of the Crown Prince's horse. Xhe Prince dismounted and raised the giri, and in reply to his inquiries sh« explained that she was the friendless torphan of a German officer who died the Emperor's uniform, and that a courtier, whom she named, had betrayed and deserted her, leaving her destitute. The Prince promised to report the incident to the Emperor, and meanwhile had the lady placed under the Protection of the local pastor's wife. Several limes during last month curious scenes took place at the little seaside resort of Kultchuk, on the Black Sea. Mixed bathing was introduced this summer, much to the scandal of the surrounding countryside., hundreds of peasants driving in to witness the "lewd behaviour of the Ode-su divils." Father —lchraii, a local priest, is carrying on an anti-mixed bathing propaganda on the beach. Daily at noon he wades into the water up to his armpits and solemnly curses the sea for tolerating such de--1 filement. The following is a°favourite Bentenee in the Puritan priest's address: —-"Arise, waves, and overwhelm these —iChristian men a rut women, whose conduct makes the fishes blush." Failing in his attempt to stop mixed bathing. ■Father Zachraii i« now offering to marry without fee all young men and women Who bathe together, declaring that only by this means 'can they again become of good repute. A pet monkey—a paragon of mischief •"-was a favourite of Sir Harry Johnston when he was Special Commissioner in Uganda. The animal played so many pranks that Sir Harry's neighbours began to think him an excellent person to live away from. There was a wedding breakfast at the house of a resident ■Whose gardens Jacko had raided from time to time, and against whom he bore ■ a grudge. A splar.did repast had been prepared, but just as the party returned to partake of it Jtuvko hopped "in through an open window, .seized the four corners of the tablecloth, .and shook everything, from champagne tjj pickles, into one inextricable heap. Then he sat on the debris, and was addressing the company in monkey fashioU when the gun of the infuriated bridegijooni ended his career.

Higher education for women is denounced as unwise by Dr. Lapthom Smith, of Montreal, in a paper read at the A_*rk_n Madic— Congress. He declared thst Lhe health of American girls, the future mothers of the race, was not nearly r-o good as that of their mothers and grand" mothers, and added: "For this condition we must blame the overeducation ot women In these days. The hlood that is necessary to women's many i_.turaJ functions (is diverted to the bruin, gorging that, white the other parts of the sensitive body wither into disease. If children do come to these highly-educated women, they are usually few in number and physically or mentally deficient. The phosphates that should be in their little bodies have been stolen to fit out the brains of their mothers. Several well-known physician-, v. ho have discussed Dr. Smith's remark-? express the opinion that he is sounding an undue note of alarm. They do not believ.: that the subject is as serious to the homes of America as he asserts Few dandies of the Regency equalled the Marquis of Anglesey in "the magnificence of his private rooms, in his staff of valets, or in his extraordinary selection of clothing. His evening rials were oi a remarkable variety of colours. Sometimes he would appear in blue, sometimes in pink, and sometimes in varying shades of scarlet. His overcoats were, perhaps, his roost remarkable collection. They varied from luodest tweed to Persian lnmb at UOO guineas, aud sables at a still higher figure. They were arranged in rows of 20 apiece in "a little gallery which ran from his dress-ino-room. Many of these still remain in the castle, and even at second-hand represent a very large Hum indeed. Japanese pluck is likely to form the 'object of proverbs in all languages af- I ter this war. A letter from an'ofliter j named Prosiekin show 3 that the Japanese ure artists even in death. ''During our retirement," reads the letter, "we passed a number of wounded Japanese belonging to the force out-flanking us. Seeing one of these apparently writing a letter, I went over to him. lie was sitting in a pool of blood with a badly arranged bandage on his left arm, and a look of suppressed agony on his face. Across his knee, face downwards, was a tattered map. and on this, with, a stick dipped in blood, he was laboriously sketching a held gun on the top of a hill, with a little Japanese infantryman running straight at the niuz/.le. 1 gave the artist a drink of water." The sensational litigation in New York over the disappearance of certaiu of the funds of the late Boer Government has come to an ignominious conclusion. Mr. Webster Davis, who was formerly an Assistant Secretary of State lit Washington, and who gained unenviable notoriety by giving up his position there to go to Pretoria and espouse the Boer cause during the war. caused the arrest of the Boer (ieneral Samuel Pearson and Cornelius Van der liooght, on charges of blackmailing him by demanding sums of money alleged to have belonged to ex-President Kruger. involving many thousands of pounds. After the ease bad been postponed four times the prosecutor sent word that he was ill and could not appear in court, so the quondam generals were released and the case fell through, being struck out once and for all from the cause lists of the court. ! There is a store of romance in lhe life stories of many of Canada's men of fortune. The case of Lord Straihcomi. j who rose from tbe ranks to he a mil- j lionai.ro and a member of the ttruish Tlou.se of Teers, is familiar lo most people, but the romantic career of another of ' Canada's millionaires—Winnipeg's wealthiest man —is not so well known. A poor tinsmith in Die 'ISO's he found; his way to the Hudson Bay territory, about the lime Lord Wolseley arrived [here in connection with lhe rebellion. It was wi.iter. and a very cold wYiD-v even for Canada- Of stoves the i-oin- \ mi—.ariat department had plenty, bill they had no pipes, and as tho .soldiers were 500 miles from civilisation it vis a diflieuliy which could not be easily overcome. Hearing of the tinsmith's presence near the camp. Lord Wolst ley sent for him and made terms with liiru for the supply of some hundreds of pipes, for which he was to be handsomely paid. At this stage, however, oliieials of the Hudson Bay Company stepped in and pointed out that the tinsmith was without material, which lie proposed lo get from old tin cans, and they persuaded Lord Wolseley to transfer the order to the company. To their dismay, however, the officials found that there was not a tinsmith for hundreds of miles around except the one they had deprived of the order, and he absolutely refused to extricate them from their difficulty—"even," a.s lie said, "if he had to 'grub' all the winter.'' In the end Lord Wolseley was glad to give hira the order on better terms than lie ha.i asked for at the outset, and the commission laid the fortune that has now growu into millions sterling. Another of England's historic honKS is coming under the hammer (says an English exchange). This is the Compton Castle estate at Torquay. It is just three hundred anil twenty-one years since the most noted owner, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, lalf-brotber of Sir Walter kale.tgh, sailed from Plymouth on his last voyage. Prior to his occupation —for it dates from the early part cf the fifteenth century —it was the home of the De la Poles. It became the home of the Compton?, and then of the great navigator. Sir Humphrey, wild has b u en described as the worthiest man of the age in which he lived. lie was born at Dartmouth in 153' J. and abandoned, the law for arms, "jarning his knighthood and the governorship of M—is ter for bis services against the Irish rebels in 1570, after distinguishing himself in the expedition to Havre in 1503. His "Discourse on a North-west Passage to India" was published without his knowledge in 15T0. Two years later he obtained a Koyal patent "to discover and occupy remote heathen lands," and his first expedition cost him all his own and his wife's estates. It was a complete failure, but, nothing daunted, he sailed again from Plymouth in June, 1353, and landed in Newfound-land iv August, taking possession for Queen Elizabeth. Off Cape Breton he lost three of his vessels, and sailed for home with the Colden Hind and the Squirrel. He wns on the latter —a boat of only ten tons burden, and on Sept. 9 it went down with all on board. Visitors to Torquay, from which the castle is about three miles distant, know the grand old edifice well. It was originally surrounded by a wall twenty feet in height, which remains almost intact. The chapel is well preserved. The tower at one angle is the last left of four, and near it may be seen the postern-gate.