NOTES BY TERROR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2240, 4 February 1897, Page 34

NOTES BY TERROR.

• . * I learn from a visitor from Australia that the idea of a Great Intercolonial Show is far from being unfavourably received on the other side, and that I must not judge of the Australian fanciers generally by the writings of "Sir Patten" and "Wattle Bark," whose adverse comments on tbe scheme I quoted a week or two back. My informant states that he is warranted by what he has seen iv Australia and New Zealand in stating that in many classes — notably collies, fox terriers, and curly-coated retrievers — New Zealand would have little to fear bj comparison with the best Australia can show. •.• " Eclipse, 5 ' of the Melbourne Weekly Timei, writes in the following very a'junible vein on the same subject: — "There i« little doubt that if a first-class English judge were procured our shows would get a great fillip, and new life would be put into the fancy, but many fanciers are of opinion that our present-adjudicators are quite equal to the talent whioh any single judge in England can show in all breeds. We would like to hear what some of our English contemporaries have to say on this subject. We have Messrs Coup 9, Rs,e, and Smyth, who were sohooled in the old country, and from what we have seen of some of our colonial judges we are satisfied that we have men of good expert knowledge. What fanoiers and the public want ii a change from the same old judges adjudioatiog year after year, and I think this colony ought to enter heartily into any scheme for importing an all-round judge to make the awards through the colonies for at least one season. Mr Harry Moses, of Syduey, who has reoently been in the old country, ought to be able to give sound advice on this subject, aiyi it would be well to hear what he has to say on the matter.' Seeing that New Zealand ha? made a move, we might well join in the expense of bringing a capable expert to the colonies." ■ . • Mr J. H. Conuell, who is one of the Victorian representatives of tbe Kennel Club of New South Wales, has received from England by the White Star liner Damascus the first of a brace of clumber spaniels ordered from Eogland. The importation in question is a bitch, which whelped a litter of six healthy puppies on the voyage out. Her name is Alvely Loo, by Friar John ex Alvely Lottie. The dog is expected to arrive by the steamer Nineveh. Clumbers have not come to the front very prominently so far in Australia, and it is to be hoped that the advent of these dogs will give them a much-deserved start. * . • The Qaeen is well-known as a dog fancier, but it will scarcely be generally known that she has as many as 75 dogs in her kennels. There are (sa) s the Stockk* cper) 25 collies and 19 dachshunds in the Royal kennels, the remaining 31 being of varkus breeds. Her M*js»ty is always accDmpaiiied upon her travels with " Roy." • . • " Sir Bedevere," of the Town and Country Journal, writes :—": — " Collie fanciers here have watched with interest the career of MrT. H. Stretch's young dog Ormskirk Emerald, which has made such a sensation at Home. This dog has by his recent win at Birmingham completed the necessary number of championship wins to secure the coveted prefixi h<vvipg won the

championship for boat dog in the show throe times in suoo«Bsion-- viz., at; Belfast), Liverpool, *ud Birmingham." '.• The "sick man" of Europe evidently feels very uneasy. The Contemporary Review lately gave an account of tho many ehifts resorted to by the Sultan of Turkey to avoid assassination. It states that two St. Bernard dogs sleep outside the door of the room in which the Sultan elects to sleep, and he is said to trust more to them than to hie human guards, who oau ba moved by human instinota as well as bj bribery. * . * A correspondent of the Auokland Herald, after reporting that a young lady named Miss Bailey bad been thrown froufher horse and had a limb broken, continues: — "One remarkable inoident connected with the aooideni, as showing an extraordinary amount of intelligence in a dog, is, I think, worth recording. Miai Biiley was thrown from her horke immediately opposite the houae of Mr Deed. Hi« dog hoard the young lady screaming, and also can her on the road. Tbe do; judged that some* thing was wrong, as ho r*n clown to the railking>nbed, some 500 yards away, howling and miking plaintive sounds to draw his master's attention to the state of matters up at the house. Mr Deed, who was a& the milkiug-ohed, rightly thinking that the dog meaufc him to follow, ran up after the animal, and found Miss Bailey as described." '.' Ta'kiug of ladies judging 'at' dog shows, tha SfcooV-ir«»eper states that Miss Mauley, who made awards in a cartfcin class at a recent exhibition, covered herself with glory by the correctness of her decision*, thereby placing the ■eal upon her reputation as the loading Judae of a variety of dog deaoribed a» the " chow chow." She moreover succeeded in establishing a precedent, us she awarded both £he champions to blues, but there waa not a voice that we heard raised agtiust tbete decisions. , Miss Mauley, however, prooeeded a step farther in the path of creating, reoords, for, ignoring the golden diotum of Lord Mansfield, »he boldly gave her reasons, and strange to s»y ~ they, lik« the awards, were received without cenous protest. Miss Mauley, 'in short, bestowed tho championship upon Lady Granville Gordon's Blue Blood and Mr W. H. Temple's Leyswood Bine Bellfirst, beo&use they were in struobnral development the vqual in her opinion of the other competitors ranged against them, and, secondly, ou account of their colour. Tbe latter is a rathtr important pronouncement for a judge to maka opsnly, especially when it comes to ba born iv mind that so very few blue chows exist in this country. Mifs Man ley, however, has studied the subject, having made inquiries of travellers in China stud from other aonxces, the results of which hay* convinced her that in the Celestial Empire the blue, or, as the gentlemen of the pigtail style them, " mouse-coloured," chows are held iv the hijjhenb esteem. H>>p<v '"odecision*. • . • Mr George R. Sims, n? tu« i.oiuion Referee, gives the following " true dog story." He sayo :— "My Billy Greet has been allowed to go out to tbe midnight post with me, and I have trained him to carry the letters, reach up to tbe pillar box, puih the slot flapper baok, and drop the letters in. Lately I have sent him to the pillar box alone, not wishing to turn out myself in the bitter east wind. Last night I gave him six letters and leb him quo. In a few minutes he Returned with one letter still in his mouth and laid it down at my feet. I had forgotten to put a stamp on it." * . * Some commotion was caused in the ranks of the curly-coated retriever exhibitors at Birmingham when tbe judge (the Rev. W. Sergeautson) turned some of the exhibits out of tho ring because they were shown with their coats web. This is a well-known method of showing curlics to advantage, and has been in use so many years that it lias almost oome to be regarded as a legitimate proceeding ; bub after the ruling of a well-known judge at such an important show as Birmingham exhibitors will no doubt in future avoid these and other methods which have been made vie of.