CORRESPONDENCE.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 10887, 12 February 1901, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS I "'Enquirer."—The quickest possible time, ' under ordinary existing conditions, that ;v, cable message could reach Christ- ! church from London is stated by the '' local telegraph authorities to be about ; five hours. Provided the lines were ab- ' solately clear, a message could be sent ? in a. few minutes. . ] G. K. S., Hokitika.—You are not quite j correct in saying that King Edward, j when Prince oi Wales, had ont-e to ' apologise to the House of Commons for f his connection with the baccarat case. ' He gave evidence in that case when it : was before the Court in June. 1891. and drew down upon himself the censure of the Press and a large number of dissenting bodies for having allowed ; 'himself to become involved in the affair. '. The matter was brought before thej : House of Commons by Mr Summers and ; Mr Stanhope, Secretary for War, in ; the course of his reply to a question, i said: —"His Royal Highness autho- i rises mc to say "on his behalf that he sees that an error of judgment- was i committed [by him] in not requiring J Sir William Gordon-Cumming at once j to submit his case to the commanding ! officer in accordance with the Queen's ! regulations. In tjhis view of the case I certainly concur, but I should like to i add the expression of my personal opinion that if any one of us had unfortunately and suddenly heard that a close friend of our own—who, more- | over, had gained distinction by his services to his country—had been accused of dishonourable conduct, we should na- | turally have hesitated before taking any j course which would bring immediate and irretrievable ruin upon liis whole future career." J.H.—Use a wineglass full of kerosene to an ordinary pail tilled with a strong solution of soft soap in water. Paint the stems and branches with this mixture. .) As your trees appear to >be badly affected i the operation wiL) probably need repeating twice or thrice.