NEWS IN NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 4824, 29 November 1902, Page 5 (Supplement)

NEWS IN NOTES.

There Is a curious "lint from -Mr Kipling.’* eye"—aime-t, imn-nl, like tin, glittering • a/.o ol lii'i Easterns v.aom Jio lias hrmiivla U> \V«.u-m knowledge in }iis bool:,. But whcilmr Uio (."minis flash of tin. P'U'ii* ™'"" s ln ' l ' l & f rk oyo.i themselves or Jnmi the Uivxioil •j (1J , ]S{ , s “ s j.jspr'A’ .some licoplu tail tiiem—which Air Kipling’s cycsigm. compels lorn to wear is difficult to tell. Tim superstitious fishermen of Gloucester AlassacimseUs, boiiuvn that Air Kipling acliialy lias tl.o "evil eye”— flint be is, ill their language, a "hoodoo.’’ Every siir/jo one of tho twenty fishing hi/ats nameil by him in C aptains Courageous lias gone down at sea. Tno last two of Urn ill-fated craft which originally formed Urn fleet foundered the other nay in a big storm, off Uio jVJassiiclmsotU coast.

Compliments proper exist only where there are a man and a woman. to neglect to hint delicately that a woman is pretty when sho is shows either inexcusable bad taste, or what is worse, the inability to express one’s feelings. Compliments are the highest form of flattery. They can almost bo the lowest form of insult. To pay a pretty compliment to on ugly woman is to waste good material, whereas there is nothing so annoying to a pretty woman as to level at her what is intended as a compliment but is in reality an insult, which happens when the compliment, is unworthy of her intellect or her charms.

General Booth, who Is about to start on an inspection of his forces in Greater Britain, has always been a popular passenger during his voyages to America and Australia.. A fellow-voyager who onco accompanied 'him from tbo ape to Anstralia says ho mingled freely with all classes of passengers, and never obtruded religious matters at nnseasonaole times. Twice every day a section of the saloon was curtained oft to enable him and las entourage to hold a prayer meeting, hut these devotional exorcises v/ero always arranged so ns to occasion no inconvenience to passengers in gcuojal, and r.c pressure was brought to hoar (Upon any outsider to attend. When at sea tho General spends a good deal of his time with tho poorer emigrants and tho occupants of the steerage, giving them good ndvico and tho benefits of his long experience of the world.

In connection with tho present action of tho United States in tho matter of tho Jews of Roumania, it may bo pointed out that it was mainly owing to tho influence of Lord Beaconsfleld that, the Treaty of Berlin was made to include stipulations in their favour. At first tho old Emperor William, who at heart was a decided anti-Semite, would not hear ot anything so dreadful; hut Beaconsfield “worked tho oraolo” with Bismarok, who, in turn, “managed to talk over,” as ho said, “anow if ho could not succeed in convincing his ‘alter Herr.'” It was Boaconsfield’s skilful diplomacy in favour of tho Jews which was uppermost in the mind cf Bismarck when, at one of his “Parliamentary soirees," ho was asked by one of his guests which ho deemed to bo tho ablest plenipotentiary at tho Congress of Berlin. “I

replied tho Chancellor, “I can’t say who was tho ablest, but I am quite certain that tho second ablest wns Lord Boaconsfield.” Which reminds one of tho Greek leaders’ comparative and unanimous estimate of themselves and of Thcmistoclos. * « • # •

Tho discovery of the now comet at the Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, California, is dno chiefly to a very young astronomer who has made comot-hunt-ing his peculiar sport and work. Tho survey of tho heavens carried on at tho summit of this lonely mountain is, necessarily, divided amongst a number of astronomers, and divided minutely. "Minutely” is just tho paradoxical word that suits tho enormous, tho immeasurable scale of these observations. At tho Lick Observatory, for instance, tho parallax of fixed stars was at last gauged by moans of two spiders webs crossed on tho field of the telescope. Nothing clso was fine enough to catch tho movement of that immeasurably distant sun, to trip it up, as it woro. ' Haring once caught a fly, tho wob caught a star!

Thomas Lick, who founded tho groat Californian Observatory and gavo it ms name, is buried under tho round whito roof that covers tho largest telescope and that shows like a mushroom on tho top of tho mountain in tho sharp Californian sunshine. The gazer through tho telescope has to stand with his feet immediately over the grave. This burial was one of tho conditions of Lick’s gitt of tho whole establishment on Mount Hamilton, with an endowment to the State of California. Another condition was tho free admission of visitors on all Saturday nights, when tho staff of astronomers devote themselves to explaining things to tho outsider. At tho foot of tho range of oak-covered mountains lie tho vineyards and orchards ot the Santa Clara Valley, one ot tho most fertile alluvial valloys in the world. Some twenty-eight miles of mountain road lead from the town to the heights, and tho astronomers live thoro with tho stars, making fewer visits to tho lower world. « » • « »

The troubles of the “Mafeking Mail,” ■which had to suspend publication because all its staff became incapacitated, recalls to the “Daily Telegraph” the ■worries of an editor on one of the Queensland gold fields some years ago. The paper—a weekly—came out a day late, and the candid editor foifc'bound to offer some explanation to his readers. “All who know ns,” said tlio leading article, “know that wo aro deadly punctual as a rule, but alas I our punctuality has done ns harm at last. Jack Dallas, one of onr esteemed subscribers from tho stai-t, had asked us to bo on hand at tho Diggers’ Host on Thursday evening, in tho crcnt of ids horso winning tho Prospectors' Plate. We were on hand, as desired, and so was Jack Dallas, with a now brand of champagne just up from Brisbane. Wo wero not accustomed to champagne onrsolf, nor to keeping it down with Queensland rum when tho bottles aro all emptied; hence the delay, a recurrence of which wo will do our (deep) level best to avoid in future.”

Tho “London Daily Chronicle” is remarkable for a credulous confidence in its colonial stories. Hero is an example :—“Some Gilbortian anomalies arise out of that provision in the Victorian Old Ago Pension Act which enables a stipendiary magistrate to award a pension irrospectivo of ago when ho is satisfied that the applicant has become permanently disabled by accident or misadventure while following his regular trade or avocation, Under this clause a gentleman known as tho ‘Gippsland giant,’ standing 7ft 4in in his stockings, and twenty-five years of age. has just been awarded n State pension of 8s a week. By joining a circus or communicating with a London music hall agent ho would probably make £8 a week.

Surely, writes a correspondent of the “Umly throi.icle,” the credit of coming the word fall—meaning autumn — cannot ho ascribed to tho Americans.

An.m.'igh its use is now unfortunately b. coming rare in literature, it was fre(juenlly employed by writers ill the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, hah ha, taken tho place of aiunimn, too, with .such classical English writers in the nineteenth century its Carlyle and Cardinal Newman. The word_ is fre(nnuil.lv met with in dialects, belli in north anil south of England. Like many oilier vlords of so-called American origin, it is hut a revival of an English usage of good repute.

Choir masters and music teachers ■have been conferring at Leeds, and Mr J. Spencer Curwcu has been giving Ins reinini .cences of great men who took Iheir relaxation ill making music, ii, might have mentioned the late Duke, of Saxe-Cohurg, who, as Lake of Kdlnhurgh, used to fiddle in the orchestra ad th. ”(Vision Hall in Bristol. Ho _d;d mention tho present Lord Cider Justice, who as president of a Madrigal Society used to go straight from tho Law Courts to take Ids luimhlo p ar t ‘u song. Thero are many members of the Savago Chib who havo heard tho Lord Chief Justice render tho song from "Trial by Jury,” which begins, "V.'hen first, good foiks, I was callod to tho bar.” . • • •

Tim caso of tho Lance-corporal of the Bedfordshire Eegimont who tho other day confessed to having committed a murder in Kansas, reminds ono of the Lea [liver tragedy some years ago. Tho murderer was never discovered, but the circumstances, having boon published in

"Lloyd’s News,” became known in ah the bush districts in Australia. One day a bushman gave himself up for the murder, and as ho was familiar with the victim’s narno. and could give partiqulars of her homo, friends, and the rest, lie was sent to England, where it was fouu that lie really knew nothing of the affair. But ho bad got what ho wanted —a free passage homo, and much sympathy and monetary help from followpassengers |of tho sentimental sort. Koon there wore bard-up men all over Australia giving themselves up for tho “Lea River murder,” and after a time tho police grow cautious. When a man entered a station, said ho had something on his mind, and began to talk about tho Lea River ho was promptly kicked out, and if tho real murderer had turned up ho would never have been able to get tho colonial police to take him in charge. U » • • » ♦

The ‘Tree Lunch Counter” is not a Loudon institution. But go into any hotel in Melbourne or Sydney, at midday, and you will see a counter crowded with cold heef and mutton, tinned fish, biscuits, vegetables, fruit, etc. AVhen you order your drink and pay for it. you may consume as many of tho solids as yon please. It is difficult to sco how tho system pays; but it docs. In tho latest issue of the “Australian Browers’ Journal” there is an article advocating its abolition. Tho writer calls it an evil, says it is on tho increase, and fails to see why “a hotelkeeper should ho obliged to distribute free feeds to every individual who has the wherewithal to purchase a threepenny pint of boor.” On the other hand, it is argued that tho abolition of the free lunch counter would mean tho closing of half tho hotels in Melbourne and Sydney. Its numerous patrons world trails-, for their custom to tho restaurants, and tho publican would lose the profit ho mado on tho drinks dispensed to them.

On the English railways, says a Brussels paper, people always travel without a ticket. A glass of beer tho starting point and another at the journey’s end aro all tho necessary expenditure. It’s wonderful what wo can learn about ourselves if wo only go to tho proper sources of information. - » • * •

A few years ago, when tho American Bicycle Trust was about to bo launched, one of tho promoters boasted that once they got to work it would ho impossible for any British firm to make and soil bicycles at a profit in any part of tho world. Tho trust wasted its strength in attempting to capture tho world’s trade in bicycles, and now it is in liquidation.

Tho American authorities recently refused to. allow a German emigrant to land because he was “too ugly.” They maintained that with such features tie would never find work in the United States. Kormoud, the man in question, says a Munich paper, has just returned to Munich. His features were distorted twenty years ago by a clumsy dentist, who was pulling one of his teeth.

What strikes one, ns one looks around London (says "Public Opinion”) is that it seems mainly run far the gratification of personal pleasure. Its tailors and its milliners, its tobacconists and its eating houses, its jewellers, its hotels and its theatres suggest "unparalleled luxury and tho command of resources illimitable. "London, mein Gott, what a city for to sack!” *lf that could bo said in the old days, how much truer is it now. * • * * «

A French investigator has come to tho conclusion that tho brains of military men give out most quickly. Ho states that out of every 100,000 men of tho army or naval profession, 19f) are ■ hopeless lunatics. Of the liberal professions, artists are tho first to succumb to tho brain strain, next tho lawyers, followed at some distance by doctors, clergy, literary men and civil servants. Striking an average cf this group, 177 go mad to each 100,000.

Tho Americans have been soiling tobacco below cost and losing heavily. They would probably have to recoup themselves by increased prices, if they ever won. When tho Imperial Company wins (the London “Evening News” remarks) there is no earthly reason to suppose they would raise prices, or do anything hut continue to sell tuo goods which liavo pleased at tho pneo which has satisfied under tho brands wliicli have become famous during a trading career going back, in some cases, for nearly two centuries. • * * • •

Tho first and only Esquimaux newspaper in Labrador, tho “Aglai Illunainortut,” is edited by M. Martin, a Moravian missioner amongst tho Greenlanders. Its printing and publishing office is at Nain. It appears only six times a year, a number being issued every month from December to May. In June all tho subscribers hurry off upon their fishing and seal-hunting, and got far beyond tho reach of the distributors of tho newspaper. Many weary European editors will envy tus extraordinary length of his summer holiday.

A porter at Cambnslang railway station was sucked from tho platform by a passing express and dreadfully mutilated.