GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9022, 7 April 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

SINGULAR ADVENTURE WITII HER M a« jesty's buokhocnds. The Queen'e buckhounds met in pleasanh weather recently at Salt-hill, near Slouch for a run in the Bucks country, the pV suit of the first quarry terminating with n. very extraordinary incident. The field in eluded the Earl of Coventry, Lord Charles Beresf ord, and others. The stag Savernake on being released upon Mr. Cantrell's farm' made for Wexham and Datchet, and, crossing tfre Thames, cantered along the road opposite the castle to the vicinity of the South-Western railway. After enterin? the Home Park the quarry turned back and leaped the fence into the ornamental ground in front of the Queen's waitin» room, where it remained quietly till huntsmen attempted to secure it, when fo suddenly jumped through a glass aid* window into the apartment used by He> Majesty and the royal family. Hero t>h> animal, which had cut itself slightly, Wa , ultimately captured. The sport was' con tinued with another deer. " provision" fob the prince's dauciitep? A difficult and delicate question concern' ing the royal family is, writes a London correspondent, now under the considerate of the Government. The daughters of the Prince for Wales are of marriageable a » e and the question is the familiar one of par' liamentary provision. There are some wh' think the matter had better be settled with out delay, while others are in favour O f allowing it to wait until there is sotn matrimonial engagement, and that then i? should be brought before the House J Commons in the usual form of a Message from the Crown. Mr. Gladstone, wjj o j! highly versed in all questions of royal pro" ceoure, is understood to hold that a Selech Committee should be at once appp o int ec j * consider recommendations to Parliamentwith regard to what he has termed seen dary provisions for members of the t ov i family, and the Government has accepji this policy in principal. It is not likely that Parliament will consent to make prn. vision of the younger members of the royal family other than the children of the Prince of Wales, .or that even this will b» done without prospective reference to the next settlement of the Civil List. A judge's will in- chancery. Mr. Justice North, in the Chancery Division, heard a case which added another instance to the record of flaws in the testamentary dispositions of legal experts who draw up their wills with their own hand , ; Mr. James John Lonsdale, the late Recorder of Folkestone and judge of the county court, who died on November 11, ISSO wrote out his will himself, and by it left' his personal estate, which was valued at £11,000, to a number of persons. Anion* other property he had a house in Pail Villiage, Regent's Park which in his will he bequeathed "to my said," omitting the name which should have followed. Mr. Lock contended that the intention of Lonsdale was to add the words "dear wife," and argued that other ports of the will in. dicated that the bequest was intended for his wife, who was a Miss Hogg, and the daughter of the friend of Shelley, the poet. Mr. Justice North said it was impossible to discover the legatee to whom the testator intended to leave the house. The bequest was inoperative, and the house would form part of the residue of Judge Lonsdale's estate. AN INEBRIATED DONKEY. Surely it is more than time (writes a correspondent of a London paper) that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals looked after the proprietor and showman of the unfortunate donkey which may be daily seen in various parts of London while in a wretched condition of intoxication. Full descriptions of the outrageous performance are now being given by the London correspondents of various provincial papers, and it seems to us not to be to the credit of the humane Londoner that such vicious ideas should be propagated to his disadvantage, as the statement that he finds intense enjoyment in gazing at the antics of a poor emaciated brute made drunk with gin. Street Arabs ami vulgar boys may like to see a donkey careering tipsily about, but what can be thought of the men and women who drop coppers into the capacious hat of the worse than asa who soaks his beast of burden. What would the late Lord Shaftesbury have thought of this bibulous coster ? A MURDEROUS SEA-FLOWER. One of the exquisite wonders of the sea ia called the opelet, and is about as large aa the German aster, looking, indeed, very much like one. Imagine a very large double aster with ever so many petals of light green, glossy as satin, and each one tipped with rose-colour. These lovely petals do not lie quietly in their place, like those of the aster in your garden, but wave about in the fater, while the opeleb generally clings to a rock. How innocent and lovely it looks on its rocky bed? Who would suspect that it would eat anything frosser than dew or sunlight ? But those eautiful waving arms, as you call them, have other uses besides looking pretty. They have to provide food for a large mouth which is hidden deep down amongst! them—so well hidden that one can scarcely find it. Well do they perform their duty, for the instant a foolish little fish touches one of the rosy lips he is struck with poison as fatal to him as lightning. He imme' diately becomes numb, and in a moment; stops struggling ; and then the other beautiful arms wrap themselves about him, and he is drawn into the huge, greedy mouth, and is seen no more. JEWS IN LONDON. We are able this week to establish on thi testimony of official figures the fact thai) there has been no increase in the numbers of London Jews due to immigration during the year 1887: The fact that the burials conducted by the synagogue officials are less by thirty-two than those of the preceding year is proof conclusive that no large immigration has taken place during the past year. And on comparing the death roll of 1887 with that of 1882 it is made all most certain that only 1500 families have been added to the Jewish population of London during the past six years. An average addition to a little over 200 families per annum to the teeming millions of the East End, does not seem sufficient to justify the recent outcry againsi foreign immigration, so far at least as Jews are concerned. We are able to add that the statistics which will shortly be published by the Jewish Board of Guardians will amply substantiate the conclusions we have drawn from the burial returns as to the marked decrease of Jewish immigrants to London during the past year.—Jewish Chronicle.

PROTE3TA> T T POWEKS AND THE VATICAK. Denying a report which had been circulated to the effect that President Cleveland had sent an envoy to the Pope with a present for His Holiness, and that the envoy had been ignored by the American Legation in Rome, Mr. Bayard, the American Secretary of State, said—and his words convey a stern rebuke to the English Ministers—" The only Government in Italy with which we have political relations is that of King Humbert. Considering that England professes to be on friendly terms with the King of Italy, and that the relationship existing between the King and the Pope are bo terribly strained, it would have been in better taste had our Government, like that of the United States, avoided giving any offence at the Italian Court in connection with the Pope's jubilee. T!" Americans have a very large Konit a Catholic population, and therefore there is no excuse for our interference which woaW not have applied equally in the case of the United States. The advisers of the Queen compare very unfavourably in this matter with the Presidents's counsellors. —Rock. THE JUDGE'S WATCH. It is remarkable what ready wit and histrionic ability are brought to bear upon frauds of the following character. Everybody will remember the episodes of Dr. Bird's fur-lined coat and Mrs. BernardBeere'e cloak. A similar story and a very good one is told at his own expense by one of the judges. He was trying a case in which a witness swore that he could not fix the exact time of a particular event because he had left his watch at home accidentallyThe cross-examining counsel was rather sceptical about this, whereby the judge said :—" There is nothing unusual in that. Why, only this morning I left my watch on the dressing table, and did not recollect lO till before entering Court I wanted to fina out the time." \Vhen his lordship g°J home he found that a messenger had visited the'house, mentioned the judge's forgetfulness, described where the watch was, and asked for it to take it to the owner. Then the judge remembered what he had said to open Court,—Table.