FIFTY YEARS AGO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21142, 28 March 1932, Page 6

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

EXTRACTS FROM THE HERALD. THE DEATH OF LONGFELLOW. The following are extracts from the New Zealand Heeai.h of March 27< 1882: — A telegram from London announces the death of Henry WadswortJj Longfellow, the well-known American i poet. MrLongfellow was "horn at Fortland, Maine, on February 27, 1807, and was for many years professor of modern languages at Harvard University. He has written extensively both prose and vers*, and it is not too much to say that in Britain I® is the best known and most popular of American poets. ' Respecting the proposal to form P^ D " sonbv into a horough the following ski has Wen issued in the form of a handbill and distributed in that suburb:— "Shortly to appear—a burlesque in acts, named 'Ponsonby a Borough. m carrying out this piece the very ' ies burlesque performers are engaged, ' n ' eluding all the leading stars of the district. The piece is written for the express purpose of illustrating to the ratepayers tho absurdity of the scheme. • 0 second and last act will conclude bv tii® ratepayers, having discovered the P lo f> entering en masse and kicking the who of tlie stage filings;-stars included, m" the city." [The "proposed borough was never formed, the Ponsonbv highway cistrict being subsequently merged i" city.] A message from Paris states that • F. G. Burnaby, who recently ascended from England in the balloon Eclipse, has successfully crossed tho English Channe. He landed in the neighbourhood of ( aen. Sir Bryan O'Loghlen. Premier of ,c * toria, has received a telegram from Ear Kimberley, Secretary of State for the Colonies, * stating that Bryant's information to the Melbourne Age regarding tn alleged Russian designs upon the BritW colonies is wholly incredible. r lhe gram adds that Great Britain's relafjo with Russia are of a friendly character*