THE WORLD'S MESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12523, 16 March 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE WORLD'S MESS.

PREDESTINATION. Anotifer Vanderbilfe girl has been born, and thus a -outlook is provided for sonie future duke. —iiecoid-HeiUid, Chicago. ■ AN AGE OF CHICANERY. , This is said to be an age of great intellectual advancement, which is doubtless true to some extent; nevertheless it is a time when frauds and deceptions;and all kinds of chicanery, flourish as never before.—-Good Health. " _ : MORE COMPARISONS. , , While the British / railroads are/ being operated with comparatively little loss ot lite to passengers and a minimum of casualties to operatives, the proportion of fatalities and Other casualties on the railroads of the United States, is increasing at an, alarming fate.— Call, Salt Francisco. " A FALLEN IDOL. It is somewhat saddening, in the face of the Shipbuilding charge; to remember that a .Tew years ago, Mr. Untitles M. Schwab was held up to the youth of the country as an example of what it -.young hiari coiild accomplish by hotiesty,. industry, <aud patient eCeiiotny.~-Star, Washington. ;/ ' FRANCE AND JAPAN. The masses of the French people are dead set against any idea of aggressive military action by Fniiic"e in the Far East. It is significant that the -.'Rappel and several Radical papers, notwithstanding the Russian alliance, eipreiis cordial sympathy ..with Japaii.— correspondent of. Tribune, New York. -'• HIDDEN TREASURE DEVELOPMENT. The "hidden treasure" craze has invaded the Sunderland pantomime. Every.. week during the run of "Forty Thieves_and a Half" a purse of gold will be concealed hi the toWn, and at each performance the principal comedians, Ali littba and Cogia, will give clues as to the whereabouts bf. the treasure. —St. James's Gazette. / '

-, MR. YERkES ON ENGLAND. Life in England, all things considered, is pleasantor than life in America, , They do not take things so seriously—small things, ] mean— as they do in America. In America, and particularly in New York, you see thousands suffering from hustle out of. place and over'emphasised activity.— C. T. Yerkes, in World, New Yolk.

PRETTY NURSES. ; ,'.;. It is not our experience that ladies object to pretty private nurses. Indeed, over and over again we have been asked for "it nicelooking nurse," as "my husband likes some one fresh-looking and cheery about him ;" " don't send us a did 1 and dowdy Woman; they are so .depressing," add SO , th.--=-British Journal of Nursliig. :- ; ;-.;>'.

COLOURED DRESS SUITS. , In gentlemen's evening dress WO should certainly like to see a return of the delicate fascinating shades that Were Worn by the French aristocracy; they were picturesque and beautiful, and added grace to their wearers in a way that is altogether lacking in the present style of evening dress suit.Tailor and. Cutter.

DENUNCIATION OF PANTOMIMES. If the reception accorded to " The Cricket on the Hearth ',' at the Garrick Theatre may be taken as an indication of the trend of the public taste in . respect of Christmas pantomimes, we shall look forward to the gradual •decline and final disappearance of those abortions upon which more money than artistic taste is expended.—Weekly Critical Review, Paris. . NEW YIEW OF HOLIDAYS. A London banker, on being asked what lie considered the most efficacious safeguard against frauds. by bank officials, promptly replied, "Holidays." There is a great deal of truth in this. To escape detection a dishonest oHieiai who has falsified books must always be on the spot to cover/ up the original fraud by further fraudulent entries.—The World's' Work. AMBASSADOR AND TRAINER. '..-; Some of the Ambassadors have a Very easy time in Bangkok, and appear to have Strange ideas about tjieir duties. The representative of one of the five " Great "Rowers " had taken to training horses for the local nobles, and, as his clientele is increasing at the expense of the local professional trainers, considerable feeling is being engendered.—Commercial Intelligence.

CONSUMPTION OF SNUFF. , The consumption of snuff seems to be on the increase the world over.. That it is growing steadily in volume in the United States is shown by the internal revenue returns. It is also increasing in Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Spain, and Italy, and holding its own in Scandinavia, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.-*-Tobacco Leaf, New York. . •

.BEAUTY DOCTORS. The prejudice existing at one time against beauty doctors' work is being overborne by the sensible and natural treatment which the ablest members of the profession employ. People are' beginning to look upon a Visit to a beauty specialist m much the same way as a visit to a doctor, or a dentist, or a hairdresser. The time is coming, ho doubt, when the beauty doctor will have a nlaed With these in every town.—Woman at Home. LAST OF THE PUNSTERS. Sir Francis Burnahd, dno of the best punsters that have lived, is also one of the last. Puns, as Bob Acres remarked Of another form of speech, have bad their day. There Was a time when this form of hliirtbllr, in the hands of Theodore Hook ot H. J. Byron, convulsed the public With laughter. The habitual punster Of to-day ( Would be shunned like a leper by his acquaintances.-— The Treasury. MOTOR-AIDED horses. Stirred by compassion for the many hea-vily-laden horses which are 'compelled to drag their burden up the numerous hills in the region of Norwood and Sydenham in South London, two ladies have purchased a light traction engine and lend its aid free j of charge to all drivers whose horses need I help up any hill in the neighbourhood. One month over <3?0 horses received assist-ance.—-The , Car. ' MANNERS OF THE CLASSES. ' There is something of a vogue just now for decrying the habits, manners, and. amusement of the well-to-do classes, and, certain* ly, some of their fads and follies are SUffi* cieatly stupid, but. on the whole, society of to-day is better than it was a century or even half a century ago. It must not be forgotten that society to-day lives not merely in a glass house but under a microscope.—* 1 Lady's Pictorial. health crazes. If a theory were promulgated that it was beneficial to health and conducive to 'longevity to stand on tho head for half-an* hour each morning, it is well within the range of possibility that half society would invert itself daily with the utmost seriousness, and solemnly counsel the other half to do likewise or suffer f'v its neglect of a hygienic principle. So readily are all these new health crazes adopted.^The World. POWER OF CRICKET. To what an extent we in Shanghai servilely imitate the English may easily be seen from the following facts :-*<• Yesterday afternoon and all day to-day all the basks and offices were shut just because the English people, of Shanghai took it into their heads at that time to amuse themselves by looking at the game of cricket I played by the Shanghai exponents of this game with Hongkong, players.—-Shanghai correspondent of Novi Krai; Port Arthur. COURTSHIP BY WIRE. Although post office telegraphists are strictly forbidden to use their instruments except when sending or receiving telegrams, operators have a personal " chat" now" and j then., In this way several courtships have I beeu started, /. the young ladies in Manj Chester, for instance*, often arranging visits from male telegraphists in the Q.P.O. over the wires. One of the,latter was recently married to a Lancashire lady telegraphist, to whom he first "spoke" by wire.-—Even-ing News.