ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18297, 13 January 1923, Page 3 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

[ Princess .Mary f- received several " more presentations at .'■ Chesterfield House | recently. One was a silver stool, the gift of the queen mothers and the women of Ashanti. There were also two silk cloths from the men of Ashanti, two "calabash" bowls of pure gold, a' gold and "aggrey" bead necklace, and a gold chain, with i "aggrey" beads and ; gold nugget pendants from Africans and Europeans of the Gold Coast Colony and the Northern Territories. They were wedding presents delayed owing to the anxiety of the people that they ; should be entirely characteristic of the I country. An Ashanti stool is a throne, and a sacred symbol the silver one is Eymboiio of the love of the women.

To the present generation Lord Rosebery, who has just handed over a great estate to his son, is a remote and almost legendary figure. Prime Minister for a brief period nearly 30 years ago, he gradually faded out of party politics dur ing the long Tory reign which ended in 1905. For that very reason his occasional interventions in public _ affairs Jiad the greater weights as coming from "one who spoke from Olympus. Lord Rosebery'a misfortune was that he had achieved all his ambitions before he was 50. Since then we have had little more from him than some intensive end illuminating studies of other great men. In one of the*\ "Napoleon the Last Phase,'* he exclaimsit may be a fragment of biography—;*' Does not history tell us that there is nothing bo melancholy as the aspect of great men in retirement, from Nebuchadnezzar in his meadow to Napoleon on his rock?"

'■'■ Many interesting relics of Nelson ana. Trafalgar exist which are not much known to the general public. The actual bullet that killed Nelson was extracted by the surgeon, and given by him to William IV. It is covered with gold lace from the epaulette on the shoulder, which from firm adhesion might be mistaken part of the original metal. The coat Nelson wore when he fell passed into the possession of Lady Hamilton, but was eventually bought by the Prince Consort, and presented to Greenwich hospital.. Some years ago the ludicrous plan of the battle of Trafalgar, exhibited oni the /Victory— which certainly was not Nelson *>a» replaced by a correct plan, foe marvel is that the. Admiralty retained so lpng a. plan by which Nelson could not possibly; nave;won, the battle. Preparations are being made to celebrate the 800 th anniversary of the w>tnpletion and consecration of Tewseabury Abbey, and it is proposed to organise a creat pageant Illustrative of the history of one of- the most historic towns in : England. The abbey, when finished in il<w, was ft magnificent- monastic building, whose importance may be measured by the fact that at the Dissolution its monks numbered 38, and its revenues were estimated at £40,000 in present-day money. Its restoration during the 70s by Sir I Gilbert Scott occasioned the letter by William Morris which led to the founding of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings/ The abbey's; venerable walls shadow the historic battlefield where Margaret of Anjou was defeated and nelson slain. Some years ago a vain search was made for the .prince s f grave. Tewkesbury is also proud of its literary associations. ■' ' *

1 '••'•■ A feature of the festivities "connected with the coronation of the King and Queen of Rumania was the doinas, or popular ballads, which are sung by the peasantry on festival occasions. Many of them are purely idyllic and full of the graceful representation' of nature frequently found also in Greek folk-song, ; while others, also like those of the Greeks and Bulgara. contain an element of ragged savagery which is, however, modified by the poetic grace which characterises Rumanian folk-litera-ture. Singing is, in fact, one of the accomplishments on which the Rumanians pride themselves. The Prince of Wales is devoted to children. At a big function recently, where the Prince was receiving the freedom of a certain city, he had to sign the burgess roll, and after the ceremony a demure little maiden stepped forward and presented him shyly with the. pen with which he had written his signature. Later the Prince caught sight! of the little girl, promptly made his.'.way across to where she was standing beside her mother and chatted with her. Then, turning to her mother, be exclaimed j " She's a stunning little creator*''V. , v -.y - '< -i Both the Sing and the Prince of Wales are directly interested' in Yores pay, which : was commemorated <on October • 31, by the Bale of cornflowers. Hds Majesty visited the Salient during the war, and again last May, when he made a tour of the war,.cemeteries in France and Flanders. The Prince, too, as a soldier, knew this qart of the British line , well The Cornflower, by .a strange coincidence, ,ib the Imperial floral emblem of Germany, and it is the ex-Kaiser's favourite flower, .whiis it has been chosen as the badge of ypres'Day becatspe it flourishes so freely among too war grave*.

. The Crown Prince of Italy has the most engaging smiley and whilst being Royal in an old-fashioned way,' is yet extraordinarily naive—for eighteen. He speaks English well with, a touch of Scottish, accent, for he and bin sisters had Scotch ; nurses, besides their English governess. It it rather pathetic that the Prince's .headquarters were, during the first portion of his visit, at Notting Hill Gate; to be more explicit, at Linden Gardens. But he saw a good deal of life while in London, lunching and dining at the Italian Embassy, and at the Ritz, Claridge's and the Berkeley. At Claridge's he met his 24-year-old relative, the Due de Spoleto, a son of the Duchesse d'Aosta,, and crazed on motoring. One is just as daring and delightful a lad as the other, and goes the pace, not only when motoring, but riding, leaping, climbing, and in playing the most elementary of practical jokes.

Whenever the Queen pays to country houses, she spends the evenings and every idle moment sewingfor charity. •When she was staying with The Mackintosh of Mackintosh she made a cot quilt for the hospital ,in Inverness, and lovely stitchery it was. Already, too. she has sent some lovely lacy d'oyleys and another pretty quilt to bazaars. But the loveliest thing which the Queen can send to any sate and which she only sends to her really pet charities is—a miniature framed photo of the Prince of Wales.

;• There are very few men who do not cultivate newspaper celebrity. In the front rank there is one—Mr. Asquith. Had he possessed more friends in Fleet Street, history might have been-surpris-ingly altered. On one occasion, just before he returned to Westminister, he. was urged to give hiß views upon some subject of the moment by a group of clamorous pressmen who declaimed upon the importance from his point of view of complying with the request. The "Old Man smiled and twinkled as he refused, and in a fatherly tone, said : "Are you gentlemen trying So teach me the power of the press?"

A heckler seldom makes such a hit as did one who interrupted the late Mr. Balfour Browne, K.C., at an election meeting at Dumfries, by putting some obstruso question in regard to tariffs. "I do not quite follow the question," replied the candidate. "It sounds like a question from some book on political economy, the author of which does not know much of his subject," "Thank you, Bir,'' came the reply;,, "it is quoted verbatum'.from your own valuable book on fiscal reform, MrBrowne • ' ■

*' The author possessed of genius," said William Dean ■• Ho wells,- at a dinner in New • York, "expresses the thoughts of his time.. Ha speaks out those things that his • generation has all along been thinking, but thinking silently and, perhaps, a little mistily. But the author of transcendent genius speaks the thoughts of all timo. For example, one summer at Sunapee I lent a volume of . Plato to a lean, shrewd farmer. When -the volume was returned I. said— Well, .bow did you like- Plato?,' '.. Fust. rate,; the farmer answered. ' I see he's got some of my ideas.' "

; Princess Hermine of Reuss, who married the ex-Kaiser at Doom,' recently, did not have to wait lone for a title, for Wilhelm had already . decided to confer upon her the d'guity of Queen of Prussia, his formal abdication of the Kindom of Prussia having never been obtained. The title of Queen of this particular kingdom is, as a matter of fact, onlv a little over two centuries oldj it having been first conferred bv Frederick TIT., Duike of Prussia, on his consort in 1701, when ho placed a crown on his own head and that of his wife, and was proclaimed as the First Frederick. I The famous Order of ' the - Black Eagle commemorates the event.

Probably few • Londoners who recently watched the annual Lord Mayors show realise • that the state,coach in which the new Lord Mayor made his -progress through the'streets was the same "that was used, oyer" 1 150 years ago. It was:built in 1757, the price being made up from subscriptions of £50 from each alderman who bad, not passed the chair, with a. stipulation that each alderman of subsequent election should pay £60 toward* upkeep of the coach. This latter provision has long since been dropped, and care of the coach now falls on corporation funds. It was renovated in 1812 at a cost of £690, refurbished in 1821 for £206, and has since been overhauled and repaired on various occasions. ■' ; .:: :