ECHOES OF THE WEEK

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1509, 31 January 1901, Page 35

ECHOES OF THE WEEK

As an English gentleman, the King,

when Prince of Wales, took a high place in the racing world. His sport was always clean-handed and highly successful. The

THE KING AND IKE TUEF.

first was a - matter of course —“noblesse oblige”—and no example could have been better or better timed. The second was of his own making, the success being largely due to his knowledge of men, and to that business capacity which has been stamped -on so many things at Sandringham and elsewhere in the life of county gentleman which our monarch led during many years of his career. Indeed, there was much evidence of the same capacity in the many State and social public functions in which the Pianco took part id later years. In these one cf the keynotes was the power of work he displayed, for while fatigue oppressed the members of his suite ho was always fresh and rigorous to the end. Kis success on the turf may, therefore, well be called his own.

He began with sieeplechasing in a small way, so far back as 1875,

the year in which his colours—purple satin jacket, . faced with gold braid, scarlet sleeves, and

SOME STRIKING SUCCESSES.

black cap with gold fringe—were registered. It soon became his ambition to win the Grand National ; but though he siiow r ed great pertinacity, he did not succeed in attaining his ambition till 1900, when Anthony successfully steered Ambush 11. for him at Aintree. amidst a scene of tremendous excitement, inferior only to that which greeted Persimmon’s Derby victory of 1896. But' if the Prince took a quarter of a century to grasp the Blue Ribbon of the steeplechase course, his success on the fiat came to him much earlier. It was not till 1886 that his, colours were first “sported” on the flat. Before that event the celebrated John Porter, of Ehngsclere, had been selected by the * Prince to form a stud for him at Sandringham, and the great trainer began by buying, amongst other mares, Perdita 11., who became the dam of Florizel 11., and the two winners of 1896 and 1900, Persimmon and Diamond Jubilee. Within the fifteen years, 1886-1900, only three other owners have won the Blue Ribbon of the turf twice, vis., the Duke cf Westminster with Ormonde in ISS6 t and Flying Fox in 1899 ; the Duke of Portland with Ayrshire in 1888. and Donovan in 1889; and Lord Rosdbery with Ladas in 1834, and Sir Visto in 1895. The year 1900, indeed, is known on th© turf as “the Prince’s year,” for besides the Derby, the Prince with Diamond Jubilee won the San down Eclipse Stakes, the 6t. Leger and the Two Thousand Guineas; and in the same year he won the Grand National with Ambush -11. It is a feat not accomplished by any owner in the fifteen years that have elapsed since the Prince began to race on the fiat. In these fifteen years then he beat all his competitors, coming absolutely to the front with an unparalleled success.

T« appraise that success at its true value

we have only to mention some of Ms competitors. These included the Duke of W-est- - minster, the Duke of

H33S TURF RIVALS.

/ Portland, Baron L. do Rothschild, and Colonel McCalmont. Measured by the ag gre£jregate of stakes won, the success does not appear so large, but it is substantial. The Prince, in the fifteen years, won seventy-two races. worth about <£loo,ooo in all. There is second and third money in addition, and the Grand National of 1900, together with many other steeplechases. Others have won far more money in the time; for instance, for the five years ending 1896 the Prince’s wins wero worth about £39,000, against Colonel McCalmonfs £93*000, Baron de Rothschild's £BO,OOO, the Duke of Westminster’s £74,000, and Lord Rosebery’s £54,000. The Prince, however, in the first eleven years of his turf career had passed all : pther competitors, including the Duke of Portland, who headed the list of these with £38,000. But when we come to consider the smallness of the

Prince’s stud, and the steady progress he has made since 1896, winning in the four years £61,000, the money test of his great success is seen to be as conclusive as its classic character. The main fact stands out clear. Ire Prince'selected John Porter cut of a host of good trainers and judges of horse flesh to form his stud, and has now as his “master of the horse” Ford Marcus Beresford, who' is assisted by the wellknown Richard Marsh. It is cicar that his judgment of men counts for much in the turf episode of his career. In this connection it is interesting to note that Mr T. Lushington, who often rede for the Prince and looked out for horses for him, bought him his Grand National winner, Ambush 11., for £soo—a cheap horse as - everybody now says. Then there is the treatment of his men, trainers, gentlemen riders, jockeys, stable boys and the rest, who were made, by the Prince’s generosity and tactful firmness, to feel that their interest lay in succeedingLastly, there is his knowledge of the business, and the attention he devoted to it. There are three branches of racing—breeding horses, training them, and running them; and in all three the Prince has succeeded so well that he stood, after fifteen years, in the highest position attained in that time by any patron of the turf. If the King only proves as great in great things as the Prince was in small things, the sucre' cf his reign is assured.

The last scene of the departure of troops for the front is always pain-

TIIE SILENT SIXTH.'

ful. In that moment the “pomp and circumstance” are dimmed by the tears of mothers and sweethearts,

and the voices of men are husxy with unaccustomed emotion. The parting of Saturday last was no exception. Its sadness was, on the contrary, deepened by the signs and‘observances of national mourning. These, however, brought home to every mind the unity of the Empire more vividly than it has ever been realised by a contingent on its way t-o “ fight for the flag.” On all former occasions there was no lack of reminders. Speakers told of the great traditions the men were going to uphold, dwelt on the “ crimson thread of kinship” that bound them to the Empire, and exhausted the rhetoric of mar. tial and patriotic sentiment—their speeches being punctuated by the shouts of soldiers and people, and followed by theb songs of the nation, while the air was bright with the gayest bunting, and the most brilliant decoration. At Saturday’s leave-taking soldiers and people wore mourning; the lew representative flags flying in the sombre city were at half-mast; and the necessary speaking broke the rule of silence with mournful apologies that it should bo heard at ail. Just as the passive occupation of a position under heavy fire is a greater test of courage than a wild charge in hoc blood, so this silent endurance of the national grief was a better realisation than noisy demonstrations could afford of the loyalty that binds the Empire together. Everyone felt that the Empire is one, but no one preels-ioied it.

Had this been an age of omens, the aeci-

A WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENT.

dent to the Acting-Pre-mier would have been regarded as of bad au-

gury. Under similar circumstances the departure of a Roman army might have been put off, but tb© accident would certainly have been followed by expiatory saqri. Oa ©mr own soil, t-hre a-quarters of a century ago, a Maori “Toa” would have been visibly disconcerted by a circumstance so untoward. On the present occasion, though Mr Ward must have been suffering considerable pain, there was no lack of vigour in his speech and no sign of superstitious apprehension among his auditors. Under the circumstances, the troopers now on their way to South Africa will recall with an added zest Mr Ward’s expression of confidence that they will maintain the reputation their comrades have establish, ed for New Zealand valour. Advice to he brave and obedient no soldier of New Zealand requires, and neither Mr Wal'd nor the Mayor offered any such. They expressed a certainty, and they had the people with them. The people, though silent, evidently appreciated the fact mentioned by Mr Ward that at a notice of less than fifteen days New Zealand had. trained and equipped 500 men for active service in every detail, with both horses and remounts, and .put them on

board the transport. It is a suggestive record. With the Premier, whose message to the brave men who have gone to the front at the Empire’s call v : s read, the people feel that the honour of the colony is in good hands. May the fortune of war deal lightly with “ our boys.” We may not see all of them, again; but we shall see the honour of New Zealand upheld by them as worthily as it has been by their comrades in previous contingents.

Nothing could have been more touching

TP.IBUTES TO THE DEAD QUEEN.

and appropriate than the tributes so universally offered to the memory of the departed Empress-Queen in the churches throughout the British dominions on Mon-

day last. What was done in New Zealand we assume to represent, on a small scale, what took place all over the Empire. There have been monarchs —English, Christian monarchs, too—-whose obituary eulegiums from the pulpit were but hollow mockery; but the p.ous nature and true Christian character of our late Queen were known to all her subjects, who knew, therefore, that they were listening to words cf sincerity and truth and not to mere courtly or conventional phases. The breadth and catholicity of Queen Victoria’s religion was admirably typified by the fact that all sects joined in doing honour to her memory. In acting thus, the churches not only gratefully recognised the perfect religious equality they enjoyed under Victoria’s sway; they also testified her personal freedom from anything like sectarian narrowness. She was truly a member of the great Church Invisible, which is neither ‘’‘built with hands” nor composed of a hierarchy —one who realised religion as a life

rather than a collection of dogmas, and worship as a spiritual act, rather than a set of formularies. To such a humble, devout, yet broad-minded woman, people of all denominations did well to render honour. In her wide dominions there were probably no more sincere mourners than those who met in Buddhist pagodas or Mahommedan mosques to listen to eulogies of her life and lamentations for her death. Another striking fact is the unanimity and sincerity cf the expressions of regret and grief made by foreign nations and their representatives. International jealousies and animosities are for the time forgotten in the chorus of respectful sorrow and sympathy that on all sides arises. Thei attitude of the Consular representatives iti Wellington represents “in. pstto” that of the nations of the earth. Through their spokesman, the Count de Courte, they offered their condolences, and added their quota of unstinted praise of the departed. There was a special fitness in the representative of France speaking as he did, for his utterances—embodying not only the official mind of the French nation, but also the mind of the great bulk of the people—form an antidote to the mephitic influence of the gutter press of Paris, with its indecent caricatures not yet forgotten, and to the anti-British tone of a small section of Frenchmen. While such sentiments prevail, there need be no apprehension that the death of the great and good Queen Victoria will have a disturbing effect upon the peace of the world. Not the least of the late Queen’s virtues was her passionate love of peace, and we may rest assured that her influence for good has not died with the passing of her breath.