ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15298, 10 May 1913, Page 6 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

[from the society TAPEBS.]' The Duchess of Bedford, who is an ardent suffragist, has consented to become a member of the Women's Tax Resistance League, and -has requested it to conduct her protest, -when distraint has been levied for the amount of her unpaid taxes. "Gaby Deslys, the popular French music hall artist, is the possessor of a large fortune, "which is invested in twenty French savings banks. She does . not speculate, but every franc over her necessary expenses is put into the bank. The reason she has so* many banking accounts is because she does not believe in having all her eggs in one basket. The recent death, at the age of 72, of Countess Winterton, who passed away peacefully after an operation, recalls that she was one of Queen Alexandra's bridesmaids half a: century. ago. She was a sister of the late Duke of Abercorn, and the mother of Earl Winterton, MP. She married the fifth Earl Winterton in 1882, and was left a widow in 1907.

The Prince of Wales's income from the Duchy of Cornwall during 1912 was £81,550. the total receipts of the Duchy during the year were £156,725 10s s|d, of which the chief items were as follows: —Rents and profits of courts, £110,787; royalties of Somerset coal mines. £2036; royalties of other mines and quarries, £2560; annuity in lieu of tin coinage duties, post groats, and whit© rents, £16,216; dividends on stock, £11,501. During the year £22,987 was laid out for the benefit "of the estate. The receipts, of the Duchy of Lancaster were £102,226, of which a sum of £64,000 was. paid over to the privy purse for the King's use.'

The Prince of Wales, -who paid a visit to, the ancient town of Bregnez, on Lake Constance, recently, made the greater part of his way back .- to iedrichshafen on. foot. The" distance between the two places by the road along the shores of the I iakevis ibout thirty miles, and his Royal .■ Highness was so charmed with the scenery : that $he -wished to walk the whole way. , ; He was persuaded ,to . journey as. far as ; Lindau, a little town built on an island just off the mainland by motor-car, but ; : ; from there the prince insisted on walking |? the remaining twenty miles back to Fried- :-: richsafen. The journey took five hours. The King and Queen of Wurtemberg '*.; are a charming and amiable royal couple, fe and their court is said to be one of the " pleasantest from : a social -point -of view in Europe. They live a simple and com-. ; : ■;paratively :' free life, : untrammelled by the .strict etiquette that obtains at many _of the minor German Courts, 5 and the king is one of the'most-sporting of, monarchs. King William "of Wurtemberg is a kins-; man £ of i: Queen; Mary,- through . Her > Majesty'srfather;, the' late Duke of Teck, >M who ;.was ; the?soh "'■ of Duke Alexander of Wurtemberg. He has been; twice married, ■ •shis; first V wife, ]•■ a princess of Waldeck- | Pyrmont, dying five ears/ after their marriage and leaving a little daughter. His . present wife, .Queen* Charlotte, is an exW, ceedingly ;:• handsome ." , and V accomplished X woman. The king is an excellent judge of r| horses, a good shot, and a -first-rate whip.

;' v The Marchioness of Tullibaraine,. in an ['; address at a meeting of the Personal Serg vice Association ■;. at '■,(■ the { residence of Lady Glenconnor ' s % in Westminster /* one t evening recently, -contrasted town and [•'■ country life.- In the • country, she said, they had all classes and sym- ■ ? pathising -with each - other, rejoicing in • each other's , joys, 'i. knowing something of I each other's difficulties, and they had a !'"•:- fellowship in ; the highest things of life. I When they had. this inter-relationship be- , 'tween ,> people *in different: walks of life, i they had society resting "on"a solid and i ; firm basis. '-;' In the city, on the other hand, j: ~Jii' /was -perhaps inevitable that people ! should .. be : sorted out v and r segregated ac\.;fj' cording to their occupations. ; Many people i '* who 1 lived- in/' the West "End, however, not i.J % only did not want ;to meet people in their i ?(;,;• own ■: set-;'' but" ; they were ' bored , when they. j met ) people outside • their f own '■; immediate > acquaintanceship. f- Friendship with people [0 in , different-circumstances iof life brought I?S privileges which no one who had experi[i enced them .would forego. \ t ,~ - Following 'the example of the Dowager Duchess of 'Abercorn, the. recently wid-k-ijr owed i Lady)? Sligo' will - be known .as:: the j Dowager Lady, and not as Catharine Lady I & Sligo;' > The act; that Isabelle : Lady; Sligo, [ |:widow of the previous marquess, is still v alive, gives with, the reigning marchioness/ I three Marchionesses of Sligo, ..and there I m arc in the peerage: many instances of three, [.■?<£ and*'even four, ladies bearing the same ri. title. ■ 1 There is no dukedom now jjossessing more than one widow, though a few years ago there ' were > three Duchesses ;of Marlborough. ; * The instance of there being four «| Countesses of Wilton still alive; is perhaps 5 . the best known example of , the <■ present: I ";;-,2 day; ■> There/ is. the y reigning countess; ; M Laura Lady Wilton, the ' earl's mother, I who. married ias j her second husband Sir I ; Frederick ' Johnstone; Elizabeth Lady IWilton, whose i second t husband is Mr. I Arthur" V. Pryor; and Isabella*' Lady f £ Wilton/ who s was the second wife of the I ;. second * earl. -'-- To s take the o same rank in I the peerage there are three Lady Egmonts; ifl three ;;Laay,'?Hard wickes> ; , three ; Lady \ Malf : -"''-■ mesburySi 'three* "Lady Harrowbys, : three; Lady Cairns;;, three Lady Chesterfields, I and three. fitraffords. "Among'the baronesses there are three Lady Giffords, j%s three Lady-i-Tbllemaches, three ■■': Lady j .; Decies, and J Lady Calthorpes, while I with *; the coming l marriage .'J of Lord Petre IU there will also.be three Lady Petres. But j '?^the; most, Noteworthy instance among those' r; in' the lowest rank of the /peerage is that I ; the Barony of Beaumont has, like the earlv": dom of Wilton, four ladies who have the l ;-vfctk.,;-^s^:r/,'rr--.'.--..•.•■- ..; : .-' ' ■■-..■.!