"THE HOAX OF THE CENTURY."

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 70, 23 March 1910, Page 6

"THE HOAX OF THE CENTURY."

KOEPEXICK JOKE OUTDONE. '! __ XAVAL, OFFICERS ASTOXISHIXGIA" DUPED. iIASQUEEABEES OX ELM& PRF.ADXOUGHT. FRF.MAXTLE, March 16. If an astonishing story told by the London "Standard" is true, a huge practical joke was recently played upon tlir officers of H.M.S. Dreadnought, the flagship of Admiral Sir Win. H. May, Com-mander-in-chief of the Home Fleet, that is entitled to rank as the hoax of the century. The delusion, it appears, succeeded through the extraordinary 'boldness with which it was carried our. It was a burlesque on a large scale. The dramatis parsonae were five young ! •men and a young woman, all of whom are extremely well connected and very well-to-do. The "entertainment" was got up regardless of expense. Three oi the young men and the lady were dressed to impersonate Abyssinian princes, while the other two fulfilled the roles of German interpreter and attache. The costumes and disguise? cost well over £500. j A telegram, purporting to hare been i sent by a high official, reached the ComI mander-m-CJiief of the Home Fleet at I Portland, requesting him to receive "'Prince Makalm and suite." So it was that the visitors were received on board the Dreadnought with all possible ceremony, the ■band playing the Zanzibar National Anthem, and the Zanzibar flag waving from the masthead, as no one knew the Aibyssinian equivalents. The pseudo-princes were shown everything, and expressed their delight to their hosts, the officers, by exclaiming '•'Bunfga. Bunga." -which was interpreted to mean: "Isn't it lovely!" From the start to the finish they were forty m mutes on board, and they left without having aroused the slightest suspicion in anyone's mind. It is stated that some of the masqneraders took part in the famous Sultan of Zanzibar hoax on the ilayor of Cambridge. The Cambridge incident referred to occurred a few years ago, when a number ; jof undergraduates from the University masqueraded as the Sultan of Zanzibar j and suite, and were received and enter-' tamed by the Mayor of Cambridge with 1 j much pomp and ceremony. In that case, • las in the Dreadnought case, tie coming I of the distimniished visitors was an-: i nounced by telegram. j "- i