Untitled

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1289, 12 November 1896, Page 27

The movement to hold an Irish Feis, or musical festival, is assuming definite shapo in the " Ould Dart." The Feis is to take place in May next year, and the committee are working very hard in order to have everything in readiness in time. One of the features of the Fois will be competitions for Irish cornposers, that is to say any musician of Irish birth or parentage, or any musician born out of Ireland who has resided in Ireland for three years. Money prizes for different kinds of compositions are to be given. Where is Osman Pasha, the hero of Plevna, during all this turmoil and disorder in the Turkish Empire ? ' It reads very peculiar, but it is none the less true, to learn that this almost forgotten soldier now occupies the essentially Omental position of " sealer " in the kitchen of the Sultan. His duty consists in sealing all the dishes intended for his master's table immediately after they are prepared. As the cooks are likewise very trusty servants—having, as might be expected, their wages paid with a punctuality which must raise the envy of the troops—the dishes are effectually secured against the insertion of poison by any unauthorised persons, and after being carried into the royal dining-room, the seals are broken in Abdul Hamid's presence.