MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 116, 16 May 1906, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES.

IMPRESSIONS OF AN EMPRESS.

The "Frankfort gazette" an account of the Kaiserin;s. visit to tlie Exhibition of Home: Industries in Berlin, and it notes the fact that, she spoke for the first time with those who .belong to a movement -Which is" 'eeriainiy • not courtly. The Kaiserin also did something else "for the first time. She learnt the exact meaning of the term sweating; and it filled her with almost incredulous pity. She Ttfas told that the wage for making a boy's, suit, regardless of size, .with, waistcoat,' .trousers' and coal,' was 7d; that dolls, .often, made by children for other children, were ,paid kor. at the rate of |d ah' hour, and ' she' wondered how people could exist on fd an hour. It is certainly harder to live tlmn to die on such a wage; still one has the alternative. The. Empress appears to. have been especially struck by.an .omameatal ribbon, made at a- copfc of: about 2d.-an hour, inscribed with the .worqts, 'Jiail to Thee, Kaiser'—a modern variant of the gladiators' salute. So, for the first time the Kaiserin understood how numbers of b-er-people were working at starvation wag-es; Several times -with Imperial helplessness she asked,-«Wliat can be done?' on which- the- -lady-in-waiting, with characteristic German -feeling,- suggested that the- -Kaiser -should °intervene Vith iron hand.' English cony ment would rather be tha-t a Httle less of the iron hand in ■ the repression of those who are already endeavouring.-to right these wi-ongs- Avould be the best help the Kaiser could give to the sufferers.

JOHN BURNS lIT HIS LIBRARY. Mr. Robert Donald contributes to the "Pall Mall Magazine" a sketch of the ■new President, of tlte Local Government KoaTd, in which- he us a picture of Jolin .Burns' library.- -No member of Parliament has a Letter working-library, and no one has ever sacrificed more for the sake of books. He says: " The books are in three 'small rooms on the first, floor. The first room is -where he works. The -walls are completely lined with, books, all neatly arranged. They are. devoted to the subjects in which he takes an interest—economics, sociology, politics, industry, and labour.. . , . The shelves* also contain a number of reference books, a complete series of r,eporfcs issued by the Parliamentary Comi mittee of the Trades Union Congress— all neatly bound. There is a complete set of the minutes of Baittersea Borough Council, and other, local reports-indi- • eating the owner's interest in local •affairs." Passing to the next room, i<» contents reveal more strikingly the character of Mr. Burns. One side is partly occupied with a, geologist's • case,, not containing geological specimens, 'but • the .letters, documents, and cuttings relating ,-tp-.Mr.-Burns' work, every- shelf being used to represent a year of bis public .life. MrDonald continues;: ff Mr. Burns, has Mr. Gladstone's passion, for keeping tilings. IJe has also, that stateman,'s .system and method... Letters are .most carefully; folded, and labelled, ... 3Uess important letters are-used tp. serrye $§ folders for cuttings and other letters. BaiEj>hlets> when no£ boundj are. placed, inside the covers of^discarded,..-oniinicipaj reports. 1 Mr, Bums lias been impartial: in addition to keeping an account, cf his 'ovirii public career, lie has. a record of the swork and speeches of other labour leaders. He has collected and bound files of all the labour" "and socialist papers ."which.have been issued in England since he took up publin work. They are slowed away in a corner called "the! cemetery.' Blue-books and official re-: turns are all pxoperjy indexed and systematically arranged. . Mr. Burns can find anything he requires iij. i few seconds. His lack of mean's has led to; wonderful resourcefulness in the way in which documents, which would, be more readily jlaced. in pigeon-holes and' drawers, are kept. The whole libraryof municipal literature and reports issued by the County Council lias been kept "for reference, even." 'down to Ih. weekly committee lists for members. Mr. Burns has the lists for eighteen years tied together according to date. 3To "one else has taken the trouble to collect a complete set of all the 'pamphlets, issued on the South African War —in English and Dutch—and few have a .better, set of books on' alcoholism and drink." The third room, a very small one, Is reserved for the classics--—history, peotry, etc. One of Mr; Burns' treasures in the first room is a copy of Adam Smith's " Wealth 'of Natiorisi" which He found buried finder the foundafiibns of an old engine-room at Akassa'in West Africa. This book a turning point in his career. Another treasure is "a small volume published'in 1&53 on the problem of the.' unemployed. In the third room two. 'toe specially valued—one a ■■beautifully bound volume of "Paradise Lost," presented by a "wellJoiown.artist to Mr. Burns -when he was hi prison in 1887, and the other a companion ..voltnne, " Paradise -Regained," presented by the sank , artist -wiiefr Mr. Burns became President of the lacal Government Board.

THE MOST. CURIOUS; TREE/IN !THE WOEJJD. ."..""' • The most,. wonderfxil . tree In The world is the ,one -which, is. t-o be §6en wit,Mn the o-f the Kingstbn Workhouse, Jamaica. It is. several hundred years old, and has a history.that.no other trge the. nvprld . The truiik of the tree is about, thirty-fi ve feVfc iv height, and pvex. tyro hundred feet in cireumfeTenee. • In the buccaneering;.3ays, -when pirating was a very common thing in "West Indian waters, Spanish pirates "see"reted sdine of their most valuable plunder in the numerous hiding : places which they had "made in the. truflkof "this "trfee." Aindngst the. many articles of /antiquity a^d '■ value ■*'sfte*waTds found in the different, ■apartments which the Spaniards had made in the trunk-with their axes and knives, was the mace used by Grqmwell in-the House of .-Commons,- • and w-hieh had- mysteriously appeared ■ i ron* 'St. This mace was atone, time also -used -bythe Joanaica Legislative \Assemibly, and to-day it'.fonstitutcs one:<of...the great-! est-euriosities-in Jamaica., and !ik locked up in. theJ vaults .of, -t-fre 00-lonial Bank .'oi-thafcjislalid, v ; .._..,;:_. . - .*! A iewvyettrs.-ago- the master^'of-the Avorldiouse. ji.sed, jthe^apartments -intiie fae& doynisfaire--T-fOT- idimsejf and- family, and- only vacated, them wien a new chouse had toeen built for their use, _ -_ ■. '■, -■. .■ '".'■'.■.■■ .'.. .