NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 30, 4 February 1905, Page 9

NEWS, VIEWS, AND OPINIONS.

rSsFSsara &%z the present, »<* U Tt the same time dirtam-e ia WF' o to -normoiis that it is impesIndia & c -' - prohibitivp cost, to sble - 5«« tin will ever>- £; villa*. There i ? thus aiTfSwptionaOy opening in I"' h ' Ztnt-Jt a« a useful instruthe organisers A prseat trial huve shown by their jSri* *W they appr-ec-iato to ~h, ' n-w one m England ran boast 07 Z hzs twice roamed a «W present Duchess ot ®* husband wa, th« and who, on ' K iS was fortunate enough to be W : t mother-and even .-reaterf: nf Carrodishs. who liad long \ S w»*ni«d hpr talents an! | S By her o the hand; jSftie of Devonshire the, woman JiiS an honour almost unique in niodeni history. '3 , . fe e is the latest in dog stories. Seedless to say it comes from America, rialmoiitli (Kentucky) a man named WOlhm Colraian. in attempting to cross SSv & v liae at a level crossing had Ms bad wd legs cotapletely severed by £ U. the remaina being hurled along the track for some distance. The Inah "aa-whicli ttxs with him gathered up tie pieces and placed them all together, to it stood smard over them for two tars before the rescuers were able to e>a it sway and secure the borh . Ihis , B ust snrely somethmg or a■, record even in dog stories. '- j • One of the most curious episodes m 1 the liistory of the knightly Orders is the j I mmQW development ot the Royal \ ieI brim Order during the present reip. At the time of the death of Queen \ ic_w ria tie roH of the Order included 11. names, and it was generally thought at tot time that it was getting inconveniently large. At the. present tune, only W years after the accession of King Edward, the Order contains no less than 660 names upon the rotuLu During 1901 more than a hundred addiuon.lerc made, and it has come to be remrdal as * settled thing that whenever Eis Majesty plays the role either of ii jiost or a guest he shall signalise the event by adding new names to the Order. It was founded leas than nine Tears aao as a recognition of services : rendered'to the person of the Sovereign. looming to a Stockholm eorresponiait aosiEiy la<Hes in the town of Haparmda, ia Sweden, have just arrived at aa interesting decision on a point of Street etiquette. They have decided to yeliere men of the aecesshry of doffing their ia±s to kiies in the streets as locs as tie coH weather lasts. It has gone forth that during tEe -winter all that will be expected from men will be a military salute. The ladies took this step as ib* result of studying medical statistics, ¥hick established the tact that in printer tliare are three times Bore men than women stiff from raid, neuralgia, toothaeiie, and infinenza. The ladies iaferred that these maladies were dne, in a large measnre, to the obligation imposed on men to take off ftar hais ia t v ; streets. Be dfiafhis annomiced of a notable fere in Paris society, the Comtesse de Sfflnlamainrt, at the age of 87 years. Be bew practically all the French" eeletrities of the last tiixee-quaxters of the Itth century, and had a wonderful variet of resaiinseeciss. One oi the friends «' ier ycsrcli -sas the Dachesse de Eiche- ""• the widcßS , of the famous courtier. ITk Consiesse de BeanlaincoTrrt thus had Be angular distinction of beina able to ielate anecdotes about Lonis XIV.. told l « by the widow of one who was a fcmiber of that monarch's Court. In Wf Eie she knew Talleyrand, Chopin, tad Meyerbeer, and was a close friend |t the Emperor Napoieon n L long before Stt 1351 ecaip d'etat. She -was the eldest raid oi the Marshal de Castellane and tte Mnt oi the present Marcuis de UsceDane. " British soldier, both officer and -ss-ho thinks that his pay i≤ not «"sTge as it ought to bf, may derive «* satisfaction by comparing it vith * rate enrreat in Japan. A "subaltern "weaskado'sarnry diaws £3 a month ™ the £8 <h Ms British confrere, •«"_e the private soiditr geth three a day. Tne rapous branches j. :" ar as the commissioned ranks S and a cavaljv colonel gsts the same a- an ioiant-y jw " Z 1 " 15 * be reaioniwreii. bowev«r, J2* '•>• Japanese officer rereives an a.lJ°T oa joining ior Ute pur<±ase taT** 01 a ? rivsXii: =*>ktier a frp«? kit -as a free tit. not what masquerades "rtatheßritisij army. * OJsfcinct noveltT in the w of Xf 10 " 8 * , "* *te& has ju« Wii **L "w te3ld the Ohio may dam first pbce. It consists j°* ntanirfacrured iato-ri,?- te no passerurers .ra board | txhif*™.!;- "? w oario besides ,he I Khnl Shlp indeed. * \ SS? nal * m;ii fair of aU Am «- ---* bypb L j J 'ii tur _iiit: - liacb exiuUn j 'e-fivAr!, , s:pat ''- U ' J,:J handled %oft n new - ( -" v « r.i... whole! ""inde-; vi i. lti aenuy of the trip j v v ' Kobt '- Hongkong. I Manila, cXmbo] Mett!™ ga,pore - Capetown. Delagoa by b nn ? the Ohio S^S'(&!- Honohlhl - iEd them* t? **> to f J^ , . 0 ** 00 Wlll e»ten»m «d tb ritf "**!*• ac wding to tIM

The etiquette book is invaJnaHe. It is prepared, for fbe most oat-of-ti.e-wa.v situations and occurrences. From one of the Lxtost of its kind we iearn tha | shonld a fare unhappily break out in the J small hours, the book, if at hand, tells the society woman, or the wue who aspires to be one, exactly haw jto behave. She must wear a robe de ( nuit. which shonld be'of some white .soft materia] rather.than red flannel,,ette, and, except in the last extremity ; i must not slide down the banisters if .; compelled to do this, however, and ,; brought up with what sailors call a round turn 53 at the lower end by the I shoulder of a strange gentleman in his I pyjamas, she sbould acknowledge the service with a slight bow, tmless her life has been actually endangered. In that I cue she may permit herself the hrcnry of a smile and a few words of thanks. A new departure in the eomniawriat J arrangements on Atlantic liners has been decided on by the Hamburg-American J Steamship Company. That company is having two gigantic steamers, of 25,000 and 22,.500 gross tons respectively, built for tie Atlantic track, and in regard to these a contract has been signed "for the establishment on board of " a splendid ' J restaurant a la carte, In addition to the usual table d'hote arrangements. Tick- •; eU for the voyage will "be purchasable, "which will include, as before, the table I d r hote meals, but others will also be sold 1 ■ for the voyage alone, leaving the passen- '! 2-rr free ro pay for what he has, either 'j, a la carte or otherwise. One of these yesI -el? is expected to be ready in the snmj mer of 1905. and the other in April. 1906. I ■ Hitherto reading has been a laborious task for those who have been deprived of ] the gift oi aigiit. But now a new system j has been evolved, a system of printing jarrd writing for the. blind which will en~■l able them to read quicker even than I those with sight can read, and by using (which as a shorthand they may "take a ! verbatim note of a speech side by side ; with a practised stenographer. This rei markable system has been named "Lonj don Point."' and its author is the Rev. •J. Knowles. of Hornsey. The system will enable an intelligent blind person to take down a speech verbatim. Though the scheme does not proceed upon the purely phonetic principje. it does for the blind what Pitman's does for the sighted. It j combines philological with phonetic principles. A grand dinner-party in Japan is a very formidable thing indeed. According to the late Sir Edwin Arnold., the guests am surrounded by twenty or "thirty dishes, of which you may parbiks as often as you please, and just when you j please. You may leave off and chat, he j says, and begin at the beginning again if you like. Even after everyone has had enough, the substantial part of the meal only commences—for the Japanese. The ! wine is removed, and a big white tub is brought in filled with hot boiled rice. Along with it fresh tea arrives once more, j and then each native guest will ea.t two bowls of rice, and then another soaked with tea. It is hard to see where the enjoyment comes in. There is no other town in the wonderful Sahara like Arauan. It cannot be crallfd an ojisLs. for it is in the midst of .he wildest sad waste in the great desert, md scarcely a blade oi grass grows there. Arauan occupies a depression in the lesert. and, though water is obtained only by digging very deep wells, it is an inexhaustible supply. The town is on r he caravan route from Timbuktu, and at Arauan one branch of the road leads to Algeria and the other to Morocco. Zso caravan is so large that it czamot be supplied there with all the water it needs, it is the one commodity of the place. Hie inhabitants nrakp. their living by selling it. The supplies for the people of Artruan have alwayg been brought from Timbuktu, 120 miles to the south. Water pays for everything they possess excepting- the clay of which their houses are built, and this they obtain when they dig dieir deep wells, for the excavations ex- j tend through the sand surface to clay j beds. Some nt the old Romans were wealthy even in thr present day acceptance of the terra when the American millionaire dazzles humanity. It is estimated that Tiberius at his death left the equivalent of £25,000.000. Caligula squandered it all in less than ten months. Julins Caesar was worth nearly £22,000,000 before be got office, and a good deal more afterwards. Croesus is held up even to this day as a fabulously rich man, and yet £1.600,000 would cover his fortune in landed property. In addition to this, however, he had a large sum of money and mrtny slaves. Antony owed £3C0,----000 in the middle of March, hustled, and got enongh money to pay off all his debts by the last "of April. lie squandered more than £1-1,000,000 of the public money. Seneca, the philosopher, turned his philosophy into cash at si rapid rale. His fortune was upwards of £3,000,900. Then there was the soothsayer. Lentnlus. Soothsaying was a profitable business in those days. At least he managed to accumulate a fortune of £3,500,000. Myths never eniGrehr die, as is evidenced by an iaeident now attracting attention" in the French capital. A rumruir tsays the Paris correspondent of the '""Newcastle Ghxoiliele-" , ) got abroad thafc workmen carrying on exc-aratiotts in the sardens of the Tuileries had unearthed" a treasure of £120,000, buried there by Napoleon 111. in JS7O. when his (lowniaii was seen to be imminent. Inquiry th-en elicited the fact that th« cose was one oi a floating myth, which. bad goi into the popailar imagination :mH eroerg-ed from tinw to time in a concrete fomi. Tn 1-S7O a. man got the Minister of Fine Arts to believe that he roald tfcnd the money in. the cellars, and a T.miz of navvies actually worked with pick and shovel for two months at a [ilai p indicated by the diviner with :<■ L-ompaas. Tlv>n the Minister took his common pen*' and his courage in both hands and stopped the performance. There is usually a cle*rn or funnyman in every battalion of the British Army, but this jester does not receive official recogtriuion. and his pranks z-ewrally bring him more punishment : than appliMise. Bv-ery company in a i Rrrssian rpginsent has its specially ap- • pointed clowu. and in this Tespeet we ■ j might, with advantage copy the Russians. The Russian el-own is selected 'bi- rli. , i-ripj-iiin of the company on ue- \ ruii-iii ot his accomplishments. Before j' Ilw beeairn* ;<■ soldier he probably lived! jby his wits in a city. and. possessing at j hiTTTirmr u£ h.U own and a ready tongue. |, ,he won makes for luaiseif the repata-1 i '_km ot a. w;ig in tie regiment. He is. I ; thereiore. appointed ek>vm to his com- : i pony, and in that capacity he niarehes i in iront singing and dancing for the . entertainment of his comrades. He is exempted from carrying arms, so that he may be able to perform the uncouth : Russian dauoes. Then he will strike vrp ■j. verse of a. song, and the whole com- . pany wiU join in the refrain, and for the time they forget their swollen feet, and • the weight of the knapsack which zaUa ' .their ... ' ,