HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1424, 15 June 1899, Page 47

HERE AND THERE.

MALTA TO SPEAK ENGLISH. An Order in Council has been issued at Valetta, Malta, allowing the use of the English language in the oral and written proceedings in all the courts of Malta in all cases where Englishmen are plaintiffs or defendants or witnesses. Hitherto Italian only was used, and the grievance under which Englishmen laboured reached a culminating point when Colonel Ilewson was sentenced to three days’ imprisonment for refusing to sign his deposition, which was drawn up-in Italian. A proclamation also announces: that after fifteen years from this date the English language shall be substituted for the Italian in all the Maltese Courts.—“ London Daily News.” DEATH OF BIRKET FOSTER, Mr Birket Foster, famous for many years as a water-colour artist and wood engraver, died on April 16, at the age of seventy-four, at Braeside, his residence in the Surrey town of Weybridge. From his infancy Birket Foster displayed artistic taste, and his illustrations are familiar to two generations, notably in regard to Longfellow’s and Goldsmith’s works. At the age of thirty-four his first picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy, and in the following year, 1860, his fame already established, he was elected a member of the WaterColour Society. Between 1860 and 1890 he exhibited 283 paintings on the walls of the Water-Colour Society alone. ; VAE VICTORIBUS. (The bridge over the Atbara is to be built by Americans, and its substructure is in the hands of an Italian contractor.) I met a litle Fuzzy-wuz Who played upon a coil Of rope amid the varied buzz ’ Of' engineering toil. I gripped that little friend of mine And asked, with anxious eyes, If he could point out any sign Of British enterprise. He answered me, as from the coil He tumbled with a tnud, “Oh, Britain doesn’t share the spoil, She merely sheds the blood!” —M. T. P., in “St. James’s Gazette.” SPOILT PATIENTS. The public has been thoroughly spoilt in the matter of paying the medical man. All sorts of persons get their treatment for nothing, or next to nothing, owing to th 9 kindness of medical men. Lay associations have organised charitable treatment of the poor, the charity to be supplied by the medical man who is to treat the poor as best he can on the wages of an artisian. Many hospitals ; have opened their gates with scarcely any discrimination to classes well able to pay private practitioners for adequate attendance. These are the factors that ■by supplying medical treatment too cheaply and easily have made the demand of the general practitioner for discharge of his modest account seem exorbitant. —“The Lancet.” ENGLISH SPORTSMEN IN INDIA. The shooting party organised by the Maharajah of Cooch Behar, which includes the Count of Turin, Lord Lonsdale, Sir ITenry Tichborne, Lord EUphinstone, and Sir Benjamin Simpson, has made almost a record bag. It includes ' three tigers, one black leopard, two bull bison, six rhinos, fifteen buffaloes, and five barasingha stags. .. The party had one lively night. A huge wild elephant entered the camp at night and attacked the tame elephants. One of these, a splendid tusker of great value, was badly ‘hurt;' his throat being deeply gashed, while another was also injured. Fortunately the wild elephant did not attack the tents, or the sportsmen would have had a more exciting experience than they had bargained for.—“ Advocate of India,” Bombay. THE GOLDEN BANYAN TREE. There has appeared in Burma a young banyan tree which has the look of being made of pure gold. The owner of the field is a Karen, who lives near the spot, and has had many thousands of visitors to see this wonderful tree during the last few weeks. The field is near the Kodok “pick-up” station between railway stations of Pyinbonyi and Poun■d&w, on the Sittang section of the Burma Railway, that is in the Pyuntaza subdivision. The Burmese, on seeing this marvellous tree ; let loose their superstitious fancies in a variety of directionSj the most popular of which is to say the appearance of the tree will be followed by the formation of two ponds near the site Where the tree grows, which will be called respectively Silver Pond and Golden Pond, and whosoever shall drink of the water of the latter will become invulnerable. The owner of the tree and his friends who forsee the destruction of their property, all the pilgrims wishing to carry away a sprig, have intimated that any person touching the tree will be afflicted in some dire way, and the clothes worn by those who scratch its bark will ignite spontaneously and the wearer will have a bad attack of sickness and burst a bloodvessel. — “Times of Burma.

A STRONG PROOF. The appointment of Baron Russell of Killowen as Lord Herschell’s successor on the joint high commission should be accepted in this country as a strong proof of the desire of the British Government to contribute by every means in its power to a just and amicable settlement of all the questions in dispute.— “ New York Tribune.” “UNDERGROUND” FOR NEW YORK. The Rapid Transit Railroad Commission of the city of New York lias accepted the proposition of the Whitney Syndicate to build an underground railroad in the city. The cost will exceed 50,000,000d015. This will be the first underground railroad made in America. The syndicate has secured for itself a perpetual lease of the underground road, and the work will be taken in hand soon.—“Laffan.” . THE STRONG WOMAN MOVEMENT. W© read of the feats of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Saagossa, Margaret of Anjou. Mary Queen of Scots, the famous Duchess cle Longueville, and many another celebrated woman—feats that could not have been performed without great personal strength; and now we are fortunately again entering upon an era when women will be strong, as strong as men. Women now swim, row, cycle, ride, box, fence, shoot, play tennis, golf, football, liockev, and cricket, and in very many cases do these things excellently. They are women who have been sensibly brought up; their .im’os have not been compressed, they have not been kept out of the sun, they are strong girls and will become strong women.—“ Rational Dress Gazette.” DISLOYALTY IN MALTA.. The foreigner, with an hypocrisy quite diabolical, tries to make us pass for so many idiots in saying that the substitution of English for the Italian language will bind closer the ties between English and Maltese. No, it is not true, and moreover it is impossible. The English and the Maltese can never understand each other, owing to difference of race, of religion, of customs. The Maltese in his customs is civil, while the Englishman is bestial; there’s the difference. That which our foreign rulers call Maltese loyalty does not exist, and can only be intense hatred! But who knows! ' Perhaps between this and fifteen years the geographical map of Europe will be altered!—“ll Patriota Democratico ” (Malta). HURT BY A HUGE ICICLE. peculiar acident occurred at Bradford on Saturday evening. At the People’s Palace Music-hall a water tank lias been constructed at the top of the building in connection with an automatic fire-extinguishing apparatus. _ A leakage has taken place from this, and the recent severe weather led to the formation of a huge icicle, six or seven yards long and a few feet thick, which must have weighed one or two tons. With the'thaw of Saturday night this became loosened, and it crashed down at nine o’clock, just as the audience was leaving the hall. Portions fell upon two women, Rose Walton and Alice Taylor. Both were removed to the infirmary v and are progressing satisfactorily. “Yorkshire Post.” THREATENING OUR SUPREMACY. Every day brings news of some important order being wrested from the slow moving Englishman by the pushful Yankee. American rails, American steel plates, and American locomotives have all found a footing in the home TYicirlcGti here. Now wo jivg tlirGfitcnGcl with American coal, which is being shipped to Europe in competition with our own. But our cup of sorrow is not yet filled, for to-day it is announced that a Sunderland shipbuilding firm has just placed an order with the Penn Steel Castins Company, of Pennsylvania, for a patent steel rudder, cast all in a niece, which it is intended to fit to a Wearbuilt ship. America is entering upon an era of industrial competition with this country which may have serious results for our commercial supremacy—unless British manufacturers waken up and imitate the adaptability of their transatlantic rivals. Gazette.” BRITISH REGIMENTS IN CHINA. Suppose the creation of a British Chinese regiment in Sban-Tung should lead to the formation of others and of a great British-Chincse army, if not to the eallins in of British officers to organise and drill a great army for the Chinese Emperor? A hundred native regiments under the British flag could conquer the Empire for Great Britain. A thousand native regiments under British officers and British drill could roll back the Cossack tide and keep the Empire inviolate, save on the coast within the range of warships’ guns. And a thousand regiments could be raised in China as easily as a thousand companies in any other land. It would be rash to predict that any such vast enterprise will ever be undertaken. But it lies well within the range of possibility. The leaving of the' lump of China with British military leaven would be the development of a force about as nearly irresistable ns any the world has ever seen. —“New York Tribune.”

BUT DID THE DOG THROW HIM? On Friday morning M. Eguillon, of Vichy, returning by bicycle from Vernet, was thrown violently from his machine and rendered unconscious. He was accompanied by his dog, who undoubtedly saved his life. Seeing his master lying motionless on the ground, the intelligent animal mado off towards a farm in the vicinity, and by persistent efforts at last induced several persons to follow him to the scene of the accident. M. Eguillon was found to be suffering from severe injuries to the head, but there is every hope of saving him.— “Petit Journal,” Paris. THE QUEEN TO LIVE IN INDIA. A most extraordinary story has found currency among the lower class of natives of Calcutta. It is that the Queen has decided to take up her residence in Calcutta in two or three years. Naturally so great a Padisha-Zadi will have an enormous retinue—so enormous, indeed, that the whole of the town will be required to house it. The present inhabitants, therefore, will be removed to Assenesele—of all places in the world. Lord Curzon has been deputed to make the necessary arrangements, and has summoned the various Maharajas to assist him with their advice. Now, the report might have led to some dangerous panic, like the inocculation one, but, luckily, it lias had the opposite effect. It would seem that the Queen has directed that every householder and tenant, who is disposed, must he liberally recompensed and granted a free site at Assensole.—“Calcutta Saturday Journal.” THE FUTURE 0 AFRICA. The future of Africa looms largely before the British public. Sir Harry H. Johnston, the distinguished explorer, who has just published “ A History of the Colonisation of Africa by alien races,” looking far ahead, and estimating the resources and prospects of the different races, languages, and creeds, has made up his mind that Paganism will disappear and Mohammedanism gradually lose its savour. While there will no doubt be efforts to throw off the Christian yoke by Arabs and Hamites, the explorer questions whether there will be any universal mutiny of the black man against the white. “The negro,” he says, “ has no idea of racial affinity. He will equally ally himself to the wliite man or the yellow races in order to subdue liis fellow black, or to regain his freedom from another negro race. There may be here and there a revolt against the wliite rule in such and such a State ; hut the diverse civilisations under which the Africat! will be trained will be sufficent to make him as dissimilar in each national development as the white man has become in Europe.” MADAME PATTI’S COMPLEXION. In an article “How to be Pretty though Plain” in “The Young Woman,” Mrs Humphrey deals with the care of the complexion. She quotes Madame Patti: “The secret of my complexion is—lard,” said Adelina Patti to a friend who asked her how she kept her roses. “ I call it cold cream.” said she, “ but it is lard just tht same.” “How do I make it?” said Patti, rummaging over her notebook. “Ah. here is the recipe. I never go far without, it, for fear I should forget, and my maid not remember exactly. I get one pound of fat mutton. It is hard, like suet. Upon a littlt ale oho' stove in my room I fry it out. Slowly the grease simmers in my little white dish, until there is a warm swimming cupful of fat. This I run through a little hair sieve which I carry with me. Once fried out, I take the fat, which is now the purest mutton tallow, and stir into it as much glycerine as there is fat. Into this I put a few drops of perfume. I keep stirring gently, until it begins to harden. When it is clone I put it in little stone jars. Every night I massage with this cream. If there are wrinkles, mv maid rubs them outnX ET ES my maid rubs them with it. In the morning I rub it off.” HOW ADMIRAL CERVERA SURRENDERED. In speaking of the battle of Santiago, Commander Evans, of the “lowa,” who received the surrender of Cervera on that' fatal July morning, described the scene as follows: —Perhaps the scene that impressed me more than any cither that, great day was the coming on board of the lowa of Cervera. Bareheaded, barefooted, with only a scant undershir', a borrowed jacket much too small, and drawers to cover him, lie was still “very inch an admiral. I received him with the same etiquette and honours that I would have in New York harbour in time of peace. With my officers in proper position, marines in line, and the rest of the crew mostly aloft, I met him and clasped his hand at the gangway. My men aloft, bared to the waist, glistening with the sweat and blackened with iho grime of battle, who liacl been rescuing drowning Spaniards and ministering to their wounded as tenderly as a mother handles her babe, set up a great ••beer of welcome and admiration. Fer just a. moment Admiral Ctrvera gazed onward with an expression of pain, ami perhaps anger, seemingly for that instant misinterpreting the cheer. But a glance undeceived him, and for fully a minute he stood bowing and smiling in every dirtetien in answer to the increasing volume of applause.

A MIGHTY ENTERPRISE. The life-ways have crossed of two great men who would perhaps have both beep equally great empire-builders had nob fate granted one of them an empire ready ma.de. William 11., the versatile emperor, and Cecil Rhodes, the Napoleon of South Africa, stood face to face to discuss a mighty enterprise unequalled in the history of the world and worthy of their joint genius—the laying of a culture-nerve through the heart of the Dark Continent.—‘‘None Freie Press© ” (Vienna). COMFORTING THE BLACK PANTHER. ( Tli© black panther in the Zoological Gardens is a little more reconciled to her capacity now, for she has a cage companion in the shape of a handsome leopard with a beautifully-marked skin. The black animal was so vicious and sulky that the experiment of giving her a mate was looked upon as likely to end ini thle weaker vessel, being promptly killed, but what promised to. be a tragedy has turned out like the end of a three volume novel, and the spotted husband and his black wife seem likely to live happy ever afterwards. Gazette.” IRISH M.P.’S TYPICAL REVENGE. One of the Irish members does his correspondence with a typewriter, and this lie uses in famous Committee-room 15. Why? He began its use in the room of the Irish Whips, but it indicates the relations of the Irish members to say that a certain mercurial ornament of the Nationalists one day attacked the instrument, and dashed it violently to the ground. Here, it was rescued all the worse for the assault and battery, and so the hon. member, its owner, finds a nightly sanctuary in “15,” alone with a lamp and the draughts which leak through the windows from the Thames.— “East Anglian Times.” RETRIBUTION! A remarkable tragedy has occurred :in the village of Mewrnieh, near Sid on. A villager, having sold some property, consulted with his wife as to where they should hide the purchase-money, and together they decided to place it in their infant’s cot, under the mattress. That night three robbers, knowing that the villager had the money in his possession, broke into his house, and on being interrupted by the crying of the child carted the cot bodily outside lest the inmates should be disturbed and foil their plans. The mother, however, woke up, and hearing the child’s cries, rushed out with her husband. The robbers meanwhile were continuing their search in the house, when the building collapsed, burying the three marauders in its ruins. —“The Mokattam,” Cairo. A RESOURCEFUL SERGEANT. On arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught in Khartum it was thought by the troops there the right thing to do would be to decorate the place as much as possible. Accordingly, with infinite pains and much energy, a. triumphal arch was erected to the great satisfaction of all concerned. A picture of the Queen and the Prince of Wales graced the arch, but no pictures of the Lake or duchess were to be obtained for love or money. Advice was therefore sought from one of the English sergeants there, and he advised their placing a notice being the inscription “Let ’em all come!” tween the two portraits referred to bearThis was accordingly done, and their Royal Highnesses were much amused thereby, the duchess insisting on taking a snap shot of the arch. ■azette.” THE SIRDAR AND THE MILLIONAIRES. Mr T- P. O'Connor relates an arousing story of the Sirdar. When Lord Kitchener was starting his list fer the £IOO,OOO for the Gordon College, he was advised that the best step he could take was to attend a lunch in the City which Lord Rothschild would give. The hunch was duly ordered. In the middle there was an awkward pause. Lord Rothschild was observed to leave Lord Kitchener after a short conversation, and as Lord Roth child’s face was somewhat flushed, and his eye shone brightly, if was easily seen .that the great banker was not pleased —and he was not. For what nail

happened was this. Lord Kitchener, that shrewd sense he has—especially where money is concerned —saw that, the amount of the subscriptions iff others would largely depend on the amount with which Lord Rothschild would start the list. He fixed that amount in his own mind at £SOOO. When Lora Rothschild came up to him, Kitchener. asked with characteristic bluntness what amount he wished to subscribe. “£i000,” replied Lord Rothschild, a little taken aback. “I want £5000,” said Kitchener, “and, moreover, unless I get it I shan’t stay to lunch.” The news spread through the room ; surprise and horror were on every face; and several ef the distinguished guests went up to Kitchener to remonstrate, Wolseley at the head. They might as well have talked to the Egyptian Sphinx. “£SOOO or I got” said Kitchener. He got the £SOOO, with the result he had anticipated four ether multi-millionaires had to follow Lord Rothschild’s example, and when the lunch was over the subscription for the Gordon College was well started with £25,000.