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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 92, 4 May 1903, Page 1

A despatch from London to San Francisco on April Ist states that apprehension concerning German designs upon the Sovereignty of the Netherlands continues to he strongly felt at The Hague and Amsterj dam. It has been rumoured for a fortnight that the German Government intended to make the railway labour troubles an excuse for interference on the ground of alleged damage to. commercial interest iti the Empire. It has even been hinted that an actual communication has been received at The Hague from Berlin to the effect that Germany will be unable to tolerate the stoppage of international traffic in the case of a general strike. The general impression in the Netherlands is) that Germany is only waiting for a favourable moment and an. excuse for annexing the country This impression has been growing for several years, especially In view of the fact that if France should be placated by the suggestion to take Belgium, there would be no protector to whom Holland could appeal with any hope of tuccess. The Dutch people, it is -asserted, have no hope that Great Britain would fire a shot in their defence, hence the panic feeling in the Netherlands concerning the threatened strike of railway employees and the drastic measures proposed to avert it. Confidence in the treaty obligations, which guarantee the independence of Holland and Belgium, has fallen to a low ebb, a. fact which in itself is highy significant of the condition of international honour the present moment.

Madame Slapoff ski seemed to accom-. plieh a wonderful feat at tbe Princess Theatre— namely, that of talking and Whistling ab the same time (says Melbourne Punch.) In one part of the opera she gives a prolonged whittle. Whilst : giving this on the occasion, she conn. . menced to speak before tho whistle fin* L isehd. This " give-away " revealed the fact that; the whistle was the work of an unseen understudy . Which reminds me. ' When the famous lady-whistler was ; causing a sensation in England, the idea Btruck a manager ia a country town that there was a little money to be made by "faking ." a siffleuse. He selected cbe r youngest and best-looking of bis girls, i and instructed her in the art. There , was a pood attendance, and the famous lady "Sifflenße appeared, and was creating a furore by her whsitltng "Lo! Hear tbe Gentle Lark*-' The yonng lady's lips went thrsugh the p.oper motions; whilst the manager, seated behind a screon with a tin whistle^ did all tbe work. Unfortunately in the middle of the brilliant cadenza the young lady tiok a sneezing fit, and lo the audience still heard the gentle lark. The show was burst up, and the manager and his company with the unfortunate siffleu.se beat a hurried retreat from the district. Who is the greatest of li ving actresses ? Sarah Bernhardt, many Till tell you, while otbers (says " Munsey's Magazine " for January) will claim tbe distinction for Eloonora Duge, the Italian tragediene. In spito of tlte pinnacle on which Dnse stands to-day, the dominant note of her life is eadnsea. Her childhood was a period of tbe severest toil, going ou night after night to act that she and her family might have bread to eat, and a roof to si el ter (hem. She married an actor, one Veci, buo their life was unhappy, and be left bim. She had one child, wbo has not been allowed to se<» ber mother act. Duse would be heartbroken to have ber daughter go on tbe stage. Wben fame came to her Duse realised the shortcomings of her education— she had had little opportunities for scnooling. She set to work in her leisure .moments, and so well did she succeed that to-day her greatest pleasure is found in associating with literary people. She made her debut at three, and at 13 played Francesoa in one of the many versions of the Da Baraini story, which Bhe is using in a fresh setting to-day. She Jwas only 14 wben sbe enacted Juietin Verona. It was this performance that gave her her tirßt upward impetus towards renown, The hundredth anniversary of the British and. Foreign Bible Society will be celebrated on March 7th, next year, and a special fund of 250,000 guineas is being raised, for the purpose of generally extending the Society's usefulness. The Bible Society originated in the anxiety of a Welsh clergyman to have cheap Bibles printed in the language of the principality. The idea was developed by the secretary of the Religious Tract Society, and an institution wa9 farmed, having for its sole object the translation, revision and circulation of the Scriptures in every part of the inhabited world. During, the hundred years of its existence, the Society has expended thirteen and a half millions sterling ia pursuance of this work, and has issued more than one hundred and eighty million copies of the Bible. To-day some part af the Bible is published in over 400 language of IwblcH 8651 appear on the list of the Society* A large proportion of the institution's work has been carried qtj bX d deliberate financial loss. To save freightage expenses, the Bibles &T0 pplrrted, wherever it is possible,in or near the countries in which they are intended to circulate. In addition to the immense outlay required for paper, printing, and binding large sums have to be paid for the translation and revision of the many foreign versions. The expenditure on this account alone ajmounted last year to nearly £4000 At the present time about one thou sand linguists, missionaries, and native assistants* are organised into committees in different parts of the world, working under the Bible Society's supervision, and mainly at its expense. Often some savage dialect with no alphabet of its own ha® to be formulated and moulded by the missionaries, before translation is possible. The Society has an elaborate system of organised colporteurs, who circulate the Bibles in different lands. Last year the 745 colporteurs belonging to the institution . sold over 1,400,000 and the institution's grants for this service for 1902 totalled £42,500. <, The Society also • supports 620 nasi vh Christian women in the East, who circulate Bibles in connection with nearly fifty different missionary associations. Finally, the Society's whole work is done without regard to sect ot denomination. Captain Abram, of the s.s. Kapiti reports that whilst bound from Patea to Wellington on the 24th inst., when about eight miles from the Patea bar, six white whales were observed gamboling around the bows of the steamer. From what was seen oi them the whales appear to belong to the same to the same class as the French Pass whale ("Pelorus Jack"). Some were almost white, others partly so, showing white streaks, as though they had been scraped with an Iron or steel scraper. They gave a fine exhibition at the bow of the little steamer, leaping almost half out of the water. Their noses were the shape of a beer bottle. The whales, which were about twenty feet Jong, followed the vessel for miles.