ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11825, 30 November 1901, Page 6 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

[FEOM THE SOCIETY PAPERS.} The hauteur of ladies in post offices is proverbial, but everyone is not aware that the Juno-like mien which they affect has been in vogue lor many a long year, even thai it bloomed as proudly in the sixties as it does to-dav. Once when the great Lord John Manners was going on a journey into the country he stopped at a Elision Road post office to buy five shillings worth of stamps. The assistants were, however, too busy talking to serve -him. Fearing to lose his train, he at hist said, " Comecome now ; I'm in a hurry." A lady whose eyes would hardly unclose for boredom replied, icily, " Kindly complain to the Postmaster-General/' " 1 am,*' said Lord John Manners, quietly. " the Postmaster-General." His story ends there! So did the lady's engagement. Nevertheless, that proud race, the post office l.idies, remains as untamed as ever.

Many people imagine that Royal servants receive" higher wages than others. But this is not the ease. In point of fact, tit"wages are considerably lower than are those given by the aristocracy or wealthy commoners. The balance is regained by the system of pensions which obtains in the Sovereign's household. When old age or sickness ends the period of service a substantial annuity rewards the faithful retainer. In former times a courtly custom of extreme extravagance was the one that forbade a candle once lighted ever to be used again. Thus, if a candle or cand'es were lighted t'.r two minutes, and then extinguished, they were thrown aside, never more to appear in Royal apartments, and becomingof course—the perquisite of some household official. But this rule is said to have been repealed in the later yeais of Queen Victoria's reign. Rumours abound to the effect that reductions have been made in the salaries, as will a-s in the number, of the higher r-inks of the Royal Household. Lords-in-waiting, ladies-in-waiting, bedchamber women, maids of honour, gro<Jms-in-waiting. gentlemen ushers— and all are said to be in receipt of smaller stipends than those bestowed by the late Queen- King tdward is jovial and generous, but he is practical, has a splendid head for business, and desires to make his expenditure correspond with his revenues. Will not these Royal economies point a moral, or afford a consolation, to many of the sorely embarrassed Kmong modern "splendid paupers''"'

The use of English at various Courts is quite common nowadays (remarks a contemporary), especially at the Russian Court, where, since it became known that the Czar and Czaritsa always used it among themselves, many members of the Royal Household of speaking and writing it. This is curious, because at one time aIT our Royalties spoke German, and at Tel-el-Kebir it was noticed that whenever the Duke of Connaught grew excited he reave his orders in that language.

Apsley House, the London residence of the famous Iron Duke, is to be opened to visitors one day in each week. The iron shutters, which were made for all the win dows after Apsley House was mobbed at the time of the duke's opposition to the Reform Bill in 1831, have at last been removed. The house is full of historical interest, and many valuable relics of the great duke can be seen in the Waterloo Gallerya magnificent audience-chamber, called after the famous battle.

When the King and Queen reached' Balmoral His Majesty, in reply to an address from the tenants of the Royal estates, said they were glad to be back in the Highland home they had always loved. They would at all times manifest to them the amity and kindness which the late beloved Queen had evinced. His Majesty then called for a cup and drank to the health of the tenants.

Princess Victoria, the only unmarried daughter of the King, is so shy and retiring that lit,tle is known of her outside the Royal circle. Nevertheless, she is the cleverest and most intellectual of all the children of Queen Alexandra. One accomplishment she possesses, unusual in Royal lides. is skill with the foil. The quality of " thoroughness," which Her Royal Highness inherits from her late grandmother, has much to do with her proficiency in the art of fencing. The intense love of home shared by all the daughters of Queen Alexandra is perhaps responsible for Princess Victoria's apparent desire to remain single. Marriage would mean a new life in a new country, and the knowledge that her sister, Princess Charles of Denmark, finds life very dull away from England is notiikely to make Princess Victoria eager to enter the state of matrimony.

By the marriage celebrated between Mr. John Rockefeller, jnn., and Miss Abbie Aidrich, the financial and political position of the remarkable Rockefeller family is still further solidified and strengthened. Senator Aldrich is a very rich man, and occupies a commanding position in the United States Senate, where he has served several consecutive, terms as the. representative of the State of Rhode Island. Mr. John Rockefellers dividend on his Standard Oil holding alone amounted during the last financial year to over £4,000,000, and this represents only a fraction— not an insignificant one"— his income. Marriage, markets, " Morganeering methods"all unite to pour a cataract of gold into the Rockefeller coffers. Mankind stands astounded at the wealth accumulated in one generation, and sympathises unenviously with the quiet, unassuming head of the family, who can buy all the food he needs, but not the stomach to digest it with.

There are many local traditions, lugubrious and otherwise, associated with ling Hall, near Aylsham, where the Dowager Marchioness of Lothian passed away a few days ago. The hall was at one time the property of Sir Thomas Boleyn, the father of Queen Anne Boleyn, who is said to have been bora here, and the story has often been told how the unfortunate lady still haunts the grand staircase, and how at midnight she rides- through the grounds in a coach drawn by four headless steeds and driven by a headless coachman. All" are heavilydraped in black, and the Queen is seated in her chariot holding her head on her lap. Her father, for the share he had in compassing his daughter's death, is also, according to a local legend, compelled to ride in and out over twenty county bridges in a similar carriage, whilst the Queen's brother, Viscount Kocsoford, is said to be similarly doomed, his headless body being drawn by prancing horses and pursued by demons until the approach of daylight.

Both the King and Queen have for some time been busy with "preparations for their coronation next June. While His Majesty has been overhauling the regalia specially taken from town to Marlborough House, the Queen has been busy taking hints from the coronation robes of Queen Adelaide, which were brought up from Scotland at Her Majesty's request. There is a romance, given for what it is worth, that the King lias decided to leave out the unlucky opal from his crown—in fact, its appearance in any other of the Royal jewels connected with the ceremony is unlikely. The Duchess of Cornwall and York, however, does not share this superstition, and recently accepted some very fine Queensland specimens, which no doubt we shall see on her return, when the colonial gifts will probably be on view to the public for a time.

" Good-bye, my dears," said the Czar on one occasion as he bade farewell to his English cousins at Copenhagen. " You are going back to your happy English home and I to my Russian prison." To the present Czar belongs the distinction of being the first ruler of Russia who made a tour or Siberia, Former Czars have sent a good many other people to that inhospitable climate, but have never ventured there themselves. The Empress of Russia is very tall—teller than her husband. She has a wonderful dignity of manner with strangers, and her voice is low and deep, but in her own home circle she is brimful of mischievous humour, and her high laugh—her voice rises when she is laughing—rin«s pleasantly. That the Czar is a highly nervous man is well known. Once at a private entertainment at which some English officers were present one of tlie latter began to applaud a singer by vigorously clapping his hands. He was just behind" the Imperial seat, and at the first crack the Czar started to his feet, white and trembling.