GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9581, 4 August 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

KEIGHTKfISO an old gentle ma*. The force of imagination (says Mr. Walter Besant) is well illustrated in the following story :— certain country gentleman enter taioed a great and just horror of damp floors. He v&s also nearly blind. Now ib came to pass that; a church newly bnilfe had to be opened for Divine worship. To the squire : was allotted a place in the chancel, which was paved with encaustic tiles. - The old gentleman gazed upon them in the glimmering twilight of his' decayed vision; he saw the shininess of them, and he thought he was over a floor newly washed and imperfectly mopped; he wenb home with a violent cold. THE POLITICAL WOMAN. The inevitable is beginning to assert itself in New Zealand, 1 says "Hebe" in th« Gentlewoman. Having led the way in the matter of woman suffrage, the Britain oi the southern seas promises ere long to go one step further, and afford us au object lesson in the practicability of the lady member. In other words, the female forwards of New Zealand are already pre. paring the ground for an agitation, having for its object the right of women to become legislators as well as voters. And why not J New Zealand boasts a lady mayor, haj lady electors, and marries ladies in knickerbockers. The lady member is not a startling advance on these accomplishments. Perhaps Mrs. Sheppard, who has done so much for woman suffrage in the colony and who is now in London, can tell us what chance there is of New Zealand experimenting in real petticoat government. The possibilities which the prospect opeut up are beyond the dreams of romance. FIRE AT A MATCH FACTORY. A serious fire occurred lately at the Tedeschi match factory in Naples. The conflagration was caused by two employee?, who had a dispute which ended by pelting each other with boxes of matches. The lucifers became ignited, and set the whole building in a blaze. A terrible panic pr& vailed among the workpeople, who were mostly women, and a large number threw themselves from the lower windows in their terror. Several sustained severe bruises. The fire was not got under , control until after five hours' exertion on the part of tb« brigade, whose efforts were ably seconded by the troops summoned to the scene. Thg damage is estimated at 25,000 lire. STORIES OP BISMARCK. An interesting story is told of Prince Bismarck in the Deutsche Revue. When Crispi wa3 on a visit to Bismarck at Friedrichsruhe, and the family were at lunch, the princess went up to Bismarck and set his necktie straight, it being all awry. Bismarck said : " For fifty years I have been always battling with ray necktie. The bow will never remain in its place, but will always turn to the same side. As there mast be a reason for everything, I explain this phenomenon by my habit of moving my head, and by the bristles of my beard. Indeed, when I wore a full beard my cravati never turned in this way. I wore a beard during my serious illness, and even afterwards. But my wife would not hear of id any more, and insisted that I should shave I obeyed her wish—but the beard was so com for table before." "It might be comfortable," interrupted the princess, " but ifa did not suit you at ail it was horrible.'! Horrible or not," returned Bismarck you gentlemen," turning to his guests, " would have done as I did; I sacrificed the ornament on the altar of domestic peace !" At the conference between M.Jules Favre and Prince Bismarck with regard to tbo armistice of January, 1871, on Jules Favra learning the amount of six " milliards of francs," as the war indemnity demanded by Germany, he was in consternation. His hair stood on end, and he exclaimed " that it was an unheard-of sum, and that there ; had nob been as many minutes sinco the birth of our Saviour J" To which Counl Bismarck cynically replied, " That he had provided for that, and that the financier charged to treat this question would date from the creation." (It was Herrßleichroder, a Jew.) In referring to his retirement at a club gatheringrecently, Bismarck disavowed any feeling of mortification." What, he asked, should induce me' to re-cuter the service ? I remained in office 10 years longer than I wished, solely from a sense of duty. I could nob bequeath 'to anybody the accumulation of experience and confidence I had acquired in my relations at home and abroad, and my sense of honour commanded me to stay at my post, however inconvenient it might be. Now that lam released from the honourable duty, I do nob know what on earth could induce me to return to the house of bondage. I care little for outward marks of distinctionranks, titles, orders; I Was satiated with them long ago. I never was ambitious of rjwer. lam perfectly satisfied to be what am. My secret desire was always to obey rather than to command. What should I do in the world, now that lamßo ? Many a Minister before me has been in a similar position. THE " MIKADO" IX JAPAN. The late Minister to Japan, Mr. Hugh Fraser, whose death .is announced,, had always a ready fund of anecdote about the people with whom he lived so long. One of his stories was that one day, chatting with an old Japanese grandee, who chanced to belong to the rigid conservative Imperial school, and who disdained to array himsell in the garb of western civilisation, this patrician native of the "land of the Chrysanthemum" remarked, "Do you English really take your idea of Japan from that play the ' Mikado' ?" Mr. Fraser answered that he fancied the large bulk of the British public did so. " Well," responded the subject of the Mikado, "I think if there, be one thing in the world more dolefully ridiculous than seeing a true Japanese in English garb, it is to see your English men and women masquerading as our people—English men and women are much too clumsy." This same grandee took a leading part in prohibiting the opera being played at Yokohama, under the august name of The Mikado;" it was therefore entitled " Three Little Maids from School." * , A BATTLE STORY. Sir John Astley tells the following incident of the battle of Alma:—" A capital chap, named George Duff, who was our best* wicket-keeper, was just in front of me, and when a big shot came bounding along ] sang out to him, * Duff, you are keeping wicket, you ought to have taken that.' He turned, and smiling quietly, said, 'No,sir, it had a bib too much pace on. I thought you was long-stop, so I left it for you.' It was wonderful ready of him, was it' nob, when you remenber what we were about, and where we were ! Poor Duff! He never played cricket any more. . . . Poor fellow. He was in a terrible plight. One of his thighs was horribly smashed, and he had lost a"lot of ; blood; but he said in a very low voice, 'It's all up with me, captain.' I shook his hand, and realised that it was; bub it fairly upset roe." FIGHTING WITH PIRATES. The following telegram has been received in i Paris 1 from the French' authorities in TonkinOn Slay 19 a detachment o! Civil: Guard, supported- by our military post of Nha Nam, attacked in the mountainous region of the Yen the haunts of the pirate chief Da Tham. That chief, as well as numerous pirates, was killed. Their stronghold was destroyed. In this affair the leader of the Civil Guard was killed and six French soldiers were slightly wounded. The resident of . the province • received a wound of no gravity in the thigh. A reconnoissance under the command of Captain Leray, comprising. 117 guns, foil in on the right bank of the Upper Red River with a band of 250 pirates under the chief Hong Man. Five' pirates were ; killed. On our side, we had three natives, killed, one lieutenant and four Europeans wounded. The short line of railway, between Bac Le and Song Hoa was opened to the public on May 85,1 , • . . BAMS. - - There is a considerable diversity of opinion among < naval officers as to theadvisability of constructing vessels whose I chief if nob only function will be to ram, but ' while there ' are many officers opposed to building each, there are of a certainty a large number of distinguished naval officers who favour j the construction of ten or a dozen rams as auxiliaries'to our squadrons. After all, * compromise is the essence* ol everything in this country, even warship construction, and since that y construction must be largely , if not ; altogether tentative until ; , the i nexb great naval war occurs to clear up matters a bit, we ask is it wise for , the Admiralty to altogether ignore in their [ programme this demand for ranis! , ;