NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11056, 6 May 1899, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Gossiping about Monte Carlo in his weekly journal, Mr. T. P. O'Connor says: —At tronte et quarante you back a colour, and accordingly there is a dealer who deals the cards, and who turns up red 01 black, as the case may be. If you have staked your money on red, and red turns up, you get double what you have put down ; if on black, and black turns up, the same thing happens. The smallest stake you can put down at trente 'et quarante is a louis —20 francs; the highest, or the maximum, as it is called, is 1200 francs, or £480. It is at the trente et quarante tables that you see the highest play and the greatest excitement. What makes the greatest excitement is when some daring gambler comes, and he is suddenly favoured by a run on either one colour or the other. Sometimes the red turns up 10, 15, 20 times in.succession >' sometimes the black. If the gambler be a daring one, instead of taking up all his winnings, he leaves'as much down of them each time as he can,' and so he goes on winning at an extraordinary-rate if there

m ' 1 be a run on a number. A moment will shrtr '' how this happens. Suppose the gambler ]$!' down the maximum on red ; that is to !3 ?i' £480. The red turns up once; he takes Ms lug own £480, and leaves down the £48oy has won from the bank. Red turns If;'.' again ; he puts the £480 in his pursj^® leaves down the other £480 he has This leaves him £480 to the good.' ? jS;" :' turns up again ; this leaves £960 to ? tij(|®l good. And he still has £480— maid®®! —on the table. Red turns up once moriWfe? twice more; lie has now £1920. The J persists in turning up ; and then he'j^fe after two more victories £3840. You wjjf' see that if there be a tremendous run of p number and if the gambler goes on leiving'ljijj [ stake on the table he soon has £7680. fojA ; thus in the course of a few minutes— {jjjj ®i| deal of the cards does not take more than 1 minute—a man maj have won a vastltfflfl tune ; lie may have bridged the gulf tkj separates poverty from dazzling wealth, •

The gambling rooms, where all these rible and devastating passions are at worjAl are truly wbited sepulchres. There iirltf strict code of decorum. Nobody is alloifdji'i to smoke ; there is no bar ; and thus ; ' usually something like the solemn silcucj |]l ■. a house of prayer. The absorption of gambler has something about it that w«fs' to you the sinister silence of an opium deit But this year Monte Carlo has added to jjjfr wickedness another institution. A pri fa '|| club— least it is called a club—has beat established where none of the smalf restrlo, tions of the public rooms are imposed. can piny for any stakes you like ; there" $ no such thing as a maximum ; and you ' smoke, and you can drink, and you aj : f stop up till any hour of the morning, if have heard some appalling stories of tjj amount of money that has been lost at si®]! of the all-night sittings at this new It has only two restrictions ; no lady ij jl,' - lowed admission, and no youth under 2] { years of age, and you must also be the memi her of some recognised London club, jjjfl : the owners of Monte Carlo get richer ttof - do not seem to become more generous. Then is a popular belief that if a player is" cleaned out" at the tables, the administration if' provide the " viatique "—that is, supply ijjjjf with funds for his return journey. ' jjjjjj* this is one of the traditions of the place, and the stern realities of the present day jsgp; that if a punter is forced to apply to tti'k authorities, he has to submit to many a.!! dignities. He gets a second-class ticket, aifft'. no cash is handed to him at the station | and, on the whole, the prosaic accomao^ tion of a banker is the better alternative. ■ «:

Germany is now actively pushing forwaij the occupation of her sphere of interest 's the Cameroons hinterland. The latest »*',• ports of the operations of the field foKf under Captain Kamptz, confirm the newil; • that the subjugation of Adamawa is contaj. plated. The farthest Haussa outpost in jjjflfjg Cameroons reports that the Ngila Sultanate has already collapsed, and the Emir of Yola! and his vassal, the Sultan of Tibati, iri! shortly share the same fate. Xgaundere,Sm: wards which place French operations ji®. reported to have been extended, will pro., j| bably have to be occupied by German Schibfe truppe. The occupation of Adamawa *. mean a new extension of the German colon},] . and the advance to Lake Tchad would be ; f? onlj a question of time. Lieutenant Pleto'i v expedition into Sanaga territory, which lafe begun, is another important factor in opffiflf? in" up the country. The Koelnische % tung states that the mutiny in Buea, Soufil|?|VCameroons, has been ended, three native so!;'.* diers having beeii sentenced to death, and}-' V others to long terms of imprisonment, [J —: .'M'iA heavy gale is raging in the Sglil" Channel, and is delaying the Queen's departure from France. The Pacific cable report v> has been published. Britain's subsidyii limited to 20 years. Mr. Chamberlain considers that the arrangement is a liberal out, but the Standard thinks it is a mistake w'/S Britain not to participate in the cost of cosjl.'Jy struction. The Peace Conference is tola held in secret, but the resolutions adopted will be communicated to the prea' After some desperate fighting tht American!j have entered the town of San Tomas, 12?® miles north-west of Manila. A native envoy, with an escort, sent by Lord Kitchens to Darfur, has been attacked, and 130 ol ' the escort were killed. Meetings are being : held in England in support of the Irani-;, vaai uitianders' petition to the Queen,' The freedom of the city of London hajjp'. been conferred on Mr, Henniker-Heaton,"