INTERESTING ITEMS FROM THE WORLD'S PRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12240, 8 April 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

INTERESTING ITEMS FROM THE WORLD'S PRESS.

AN ENGLISH MENACE. The new caravan road built by the English via Benda Abbas, and -the, Quetta railroad is a serious menace to the supremacy of Russia in Persia.— Vremya, St. Petersburg. ■ ' __ THE PUBLIC DINNER. Public dinners are so long; your companions, on either side., may be such bores. Nobody wants to eat all that series of things which are presented to one; the affair is tediously wasteful, but the speeches are the crowning bore. The orators act on a maxim excellent in rowing— " keep it long"—and their anecdotes are as old as the Tertiary period.—Andrew Lang, in Longman's Magazine. FEELING AGAINST MR. ROOSEVELT. As Mr. Roosevelt has chosen to put himself on equality with the negro, he should be treated in all respects by Southern people precisely as if he were a negro of good character, and representing the Governmentthat is, politely and kindly when kindness is necessary, and with absolute indication that he is not of our race or'in any respect socially an equal with us' or a fit associate for us or any of ours.— News, Richmond, Virginia. • "HOTEL BRODRICK." The War Office buildings in Pall Mall have been- sold for the site of a big hotel. The present structure has long been a gloomy blob on modern Pall Mall, and its removal in favour of something brighter will be welcomed by those who use this famous avenue to Clubland. The "Hotel Brodrick" might not be an inapt title for the projected caravanserai.—East Anglian Times. ', . " TWOPENNY BITS." If it be true that the authorities of the Mint are seriously contemplating the issue of a new coin, a " twopenny bit" of nickel, the innovation will meet with general ap-. proval, except perhaps with those narrowminded individuals who object to the introduction of anything Continental.—Birmingham Gazette. THE MODERN GRENADIERS. Some talk of Dr. Busby, and some of Dr. Keate, Of Squeers and Mrs. Brownrigg, and others bad. to beat, But "of all historic floggers ffcere's none that can compare With a bamboo-hoo, boo-hoo-hoo-hoo to the modern Grenadier. Evening News. GERMAN PROTEST AGAINST BRITAIN. With regard to the London meeting to discuss the advisability of establishing a British naval base in the North Sea, it is highly regrettable. if every new German ship is to be regarded in England as a weapon against Great Britain. The relations between the two countries are not likely to improve if Great Britain acts in this manner.—Vossische Zeitung, Berlin. CANADA'S ONWARD MARCH. The last two years have wrought a marked change in the status of Canada among the nations. Unquestionably this change is largely an outcome of the period of phenomenal prosperity into which Canada is now entering. Already the per capita wealth of the Dominion is in excess of that of any other country in the world, the United States not excepted.—Evening Post, New York. DEALINGS IN GRAVES. Cemetery shares continue to be quite a market feature in Scotland, and are actively dealt in on the Edinburgh Stock Exchange. Apparently they appeal to the curious nature of the canny Scot, who, doubtless, reasons that in such a holding he has a security which is not likely to vanish, and that, if.the worst comes to the worst, he will never need to come on the parish for a grave,—Financial News. THE DECAYLNG ZOO. Now it may be hoped that those who are responsible for the dilapidated and insanitary buildings at the Zoological Gardens will be forced to bestir themselves. When 700 and 800 animals out of a total of about 2300 die every year, it may be assumed that there is something seriously wrong with the management. The Zoo, although it belongs to private owners, is practically a public,institution, and unless a scheme of radical reform is entered upon it will have to become such in fact.— Leeds Mercury. LENGTHY LOVE-LETTERS. Curiously enough, as our friendly correspondence has diminished in size, our loveletters have proportionately grown longer Perhaps our capacity for affection has increased to such an extent that we are willing to sacrifice ourselves on the alter of unselfishness for the sake of the unquenchable flame of the "adorable passion." The little, half-shy, wholly conventional note of the blushing maiden to the victorious suitor, slipped in the trunk of a tree, is buried in the past—gone as surety as the days of simpers and blushes and that unnecessary adjunct, the chaperon — Lady's Pictorial. THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. The death-rate of the unfortunate creatures committed to the care of the Zoological Society speaks for itself, and we doubt it m any other institution of the kind in the world there are worse instances of inefficiency than are presented in the wretched habitations provided for the Zoos bears and monkeys and cats. The gaudy beds of scarlet geraniums by the bandstand get more attention than many of the creatures.—Commercial Intelligence. LOOKING AHEAD. President Palma proposed three cheers tor King Edward because an English company is building a new railroad in Cuba borne years later, when an English fleet sails up to ask how about payment on those bonds the cheers will come the other way.—News, Chicago. BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY. Who would have thought, a couple of years ago, that Mr. Chamberlain would so soon have the gratification of hearing himself cheered by a Boer rowd? His whole journey bears additional evidence of the wonderful skill with which the British colonial policy is conducted.— ! Hvardag, Gothenburg. j

MINISTERS AND PROMOTERS. The use which the modern company promoter makes of eminent names and the disasters which he brings upon eminent persons have been strikingly revealed to US during the last ten years. It is not much to ask that Cabinet Ministers should place themselves outside this public form of commerce during their years of office — Westminster Gazette. A FARCICAL INQUIRY. What a farce it is that the War Commission should be sitting within closed doors The more the public sees into the conduct and workings of the army the less it likes them, but while army reform is in everyone's mind and upon Mr. Brodrick's brain the evidence given before this commission, upon the preparations for and the management of the war—the . vital matter upon which efficient reform might be worked out— carefully concealed from the public —Week's Survey. :,- A LORD PROVOST "TIPPED." - At a private dinner party the other night, Glasgow's Lord Provost related how he was "tipped" by a party of American tourists who were "doing" the Municipal Chambers, and who went into raptures over the truly magnificent marble staircase. Meeting the , Americans i staring in rapt astonishment at the splendid sculpturing work, he offered to guide them round, and while doing so' gave them a passing history of the rise and progress of the city. On leaving one of them quietly supped ha±f-a-doUar into, his Journal*' ~ ' ~ ' "-j