LADY ALPINISTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14324, 14 October 1910, Page 7

LADY ALPINISTS.

Mountaineering lias become verypopular with Englishwomen: it. is no longer looked upon as a new fancy (writes the London, correspondent of the Sydney "Daily Telegraph.") it forms now an indispensable part of the life of a certain section of women. During the last few years there has been an unusually large number of lady climbers in "the Alps. Last September one girl in her twenty-second year successfully climbed two of the loitiest peaks—the Weissliorn and the Matterhorn. The best-known lady climbers of the present day, after Airs Bullock-Workman, are ■ Mrs Le Blond, who is, however, giving up climbing now; Mis,, Osborne, of Dublin; Miss Dorothy Keen, of Philadelphia ; Fraulein Hasenkamp, of Dusseldnrf; Mile. Mary Paillon, of Lvons; and Miss C A. Barnicoat, of Jvew Zealand. The Ladies' Alpine Club have manv other distinguished climbers in their ranks who are now busily engaged plannin" thier holidays for next month, the favourite month for Alpine climbing Alpine climbing is not an economical holiday, for if a lady wishes to climb alone with guides the ■exnenses are'exheavy. By "engaging two guides their fees alono will amount to about £oo, m addition to their rations, Avhica, in the mountains, must be of the very best.

AN EXTRAVAGANT QUEENDOWAGER. In the recent Portuguese trouble the motto -Cherchy la Fernine" was not without significance. The Paris correspondent of London "Truth" re. cent-lj stated:—•'The Court of Lisbon is seriously agitated. The cause is a wmA' 0 " ° f ° , r il Trib «»- 1 n! hrenoli, I hear—of Queen Maria li a sued for non-pay-ment. ot a. long outstanding debt of JS*:. Sll£ j did not contest tlie wl.duv «t the claim, but simply deniiuled ou the ground of "roval privilege.' 1 lie tor and against her deinurrer were ably and towards the if, y n «ly argued. The tribunal decided for the creditor in a leariud judgment, in which it dwelt on seme pimeiple of the Constitution a.nd its amendments Hence the flutter at the court tor Maria Pia can never deny herselr the pleasure, when she nasses through Pans, of going round the shops and ware rooms of the Rue de la iaix, and ordering whatever takes her iancy without stopping to count whether her Civil list allowance is not already weighted down with debts Somehow the Portuguese have seldom found fault with her for incapacity to live within her means. They even excused her on the ground that "she had iieverany opportunity to learn in the convent m which she had been brought up. and that she came, a mere child to Lisbon to be married. On the other hand, . though the junior Queen.Doivager Amelia has manv sterling qualities, no flaw in her conduct o? bearing is overlooked or pardoned They regard her pliilantropliy as a premium of insurance against Republiccnuisni. It lacks, .they say, the "race of being disinterested. A. Portuguese assures me that her very tall stature In a country where smallish people are for the most part numerous is the cause of the misunderstanding. She looks, in an assembly at Lisbon that 3s not greatly made up of diplomats, a phenomenal being—a sort, of Gullivora among Lilliputians."