GOSSIP FROM ABROAD.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 2617, 6 June 1891, Page 3 (Supplement)

GOSSIP FROM ABROAD.

(FROM OUR LONDON CONTEMPORARIES). Herr Windthorst, the German Ultramontane leader, figures as an idol in a Chinese temple near Amoy. A young German, travelling in the neighbourhood recently, entered a temple dedicated to tho “ Seven Geniuses,” and, to his surprise, he found a dilapidated bust of his countrymen among the divinities. Evidently the bust had been lost out of some Teutonic vessel. A Washington telegram says:—“The Acting-Secretary of the Treasury, in a communication to the Senate, states the basis on which he estimates the market price of silver is the daily quotations in London, New York, and San Francisco. The rule is to accept the lowest offers, provided they do not materially exceed the highest market prices in those cities. No silver bullion is purchased outside the United States, but the Acting-Secretary says there is no doubt that large quantities of foreign bullion have been delivered to the Government on purchases from parties residing in the United States.” The removal of the seat of the Hungarian Primacy from Gran to Budapest is another Btep in the aggrandizement of the capital of Hungary. For years past the sister-towns of Buda and Pest have been waxing fat and flourishing at the expense of Vienna, and, despite its past magnificence, Vienna seems to be steadily going down. In Hungary the removal of the Archbishopric of Gran to the capital has, as might have been expected, been received with enthusiasm, and the new Primate will no doubt find that Budapest is a much more convenient residence than Gran. There seems to be some uncertainty at the attitude of the Pope in the matter. New regulations concerning the marriage affairs of Siberian exiles are published in the official journal of the Governing Synod. Exile to Siberia under ordinary circumstances entails the dissolution of marriage in the event of the innocent partner not electing to go with the guilty. fThe Synod now issues rules for the regulation of marriages in Siberia between those whose previous marriages have been dissolved on their being sentenced to exile. It is the policy now to concentrate serious criminals as much as possible in the island of Saghalien, in the North Pacific, and to take away the terrors of Siberian exile by fostering colonies there.

Dr. Nansen has intimated that he proposes starting on his new Polar expedition about the middle of June. He will endeavour to get through Behring Straits to the islands of New Siberia, and he hopes to find in September open water stretching far away towards the north. His crew will include only eight men, and his vessel will be provisioned for five 3 r ears. But he hopes to reach the Polo within two years. The Danish Government contributes 50,000 kroner (about £2,750), and M. Gamel, a leading merchant, gives a similar sum. Tents are being taken as part of the equipment, to enable the party to stay on land or ice should the vessel be fatally injured. Strong boats will also be provided. Dr. Nansen expects to find hitherto undiscovered land in the neighbourhood of the Pole, and he expects to have to make a good part of the journey at a temperature as low as from 36deg. to 40deg. below zero Centigrade (equal to 64deg. to 72deg. below freezing point of Fahrenheit). He proposes making excursions for the purpose of meteorological observations, and also to investigate the conditions, etc., of the ice. One of the luckiest women in Paris at present is Madame Maisch, a cashier in the Cafe de la Paix. She has won £IO,OOO in tbe lottery of the Panama Canal. Her husband and daughter were looking over the list of winners on 17th February, when they discovered but could hardly believe their eyes—that she was the possessor of the fortunate number which entitled her to receive 250,000 f. Madame Maisch will receive the sum due to her by the Panama Company on 16th March, 4 per cent, being deducted by way of tax on the bond. As a fierce light beats in Paris on the winner of a qros lot , it is now a matter of public notoriety that Madame Maisch had condemned herself to the monotonous occupation whi;h she held in order to be able to provide a dowry for her daughter. Her husband earned enough money to keep the whole family in comfort, but there was the awful dot to think of, so the worthy couple both worked industriously to this end and intent. Their daughter, who is only 17, will doubtlesß experience no difficulty in “getting off” when she comes of age. now that her parents have been favoured suddenly by fickle Lady Fortune. Writing on the tour of the Cezarewitch, a St. Petersburg correspondent says: chapter of accidents in the journey of the Cezarewitch is not yet closed. The visit to Constantinople had to be abandoned on account of the dispute between tbe Porte and the Patriarch. and the consequent closing of the orthodox churches in Turkey. The journey in the Holy Land was similarly cut by the board. Next, on arrival at Bombay, Prince George got a chil from the cold land wind that blows at night in December and January at that place, and becoming feverish, he was prevented from touring through India with the rest of the party. Much against his will he returned to Europe. Disagreement among the naval officers has led to some resignations, and, lastly, the visit to Chinese ports, where so much that is strange and novel presents itself, has had to be curtailed to a mere look in at Nankin on account of the difficulty in connection with Chinese etiquette, which requires the foreigner, however distinguished, to stand in the presence of the representatives of the Chinese ruler. Many well-informed people think that the Siberian tour will likewise be abandoned, though I believe I am right in saying that this will not be so unless some unforeseen accideg.

Miss Menk-Meyer is, by all accounts; carrying evex*ything before her in Italy. The successes of Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and St. Petersburg have been repeated in Rome, and the musical critiques of the Roman papers which have come to hand have simply exhausted their vocabulary of enthusiasm and praise in their efforts to convey an impression to their readers of the pleasure they derived from the performances of the young pianist and composer. Society in Rome has lost no opportunity of showing its appreciation of her talent, and both the Queen of Italy and Lady Dufferin have assisted to swell the chorus of appreciation. Miss Menk-Meyer's youthful appearance has occasioned much surprise, and one laily who saw her for the first time was heard to exclaim, “ Why, she’s a child.” Miss Menk-Meyer socn showed, however, that there is nothing of the child phenomenon, that painful eccentricity of art and humanity, about her. Her performance of Beethoven’s Sonata seems to have given most satisfaction, and Miss Menk-Meyer has no doubt by this time fulfilled the promise she made, in response to innumerable requosts, to give a recital exclusively of Beethoven.

The new Imperial defence gun vessels Boomerang and Karrakatta, 2,735 tons, 4,500 horse-power, having both satisfactorily completed their gun and machinery trials, were delivered to the naval authorities at Sheemess on 14th February, from the works of Sir W. G. Armstrong and Co., of Els wick, where they have been built and equipped for sea at a cost of nearly £50,000 each. The Boomerang and Karrakatta were immediately commissioned with complements of 86 officers and men each for despatch to Australia, the Boomerang being commanded by Lieutenant Thomas C. Fenton, and the Karrakatta by Lieutenant W. J. ISculiard. The Boomeraug is intended to strengthen the British Squadron on active service in Australian waters, but the Karrakatta, on her arrival at Sydney, is to be paid off and placed in the Australian Steam Reserve, being kept in readiness for active service when required. Tho Admiralty have issued instructions for the third-class cruise.r Rapid. 12, 1,420 tons, 1,400 horse-power, Captain William M‘C. F. Castle, to be recommissioned at Sydney for another term of service on the Australian station. The Rapid is in future to be in charge of an officer of commander’s rank instead of a captain, as during her former ommissions. Madame Sarah Bernhardt is attracting notice to herself and her doings in a var ety of ways in New York. In the first place, she is appearing before the public in her several roles , with more or less success, according to the piece in which she plays. In addition, she has been creating, it appears, a sensation by half-poison-ing herself from eating too freely of tinned mushrooms. She was brought to death's door by her illness; but a couple of physicians managed to get her through. Lastly, she has confided to a New York paper her views about the stage, and about the real and the ideal. Evidently, to judge from what the talented actress says in her communication to the American paper, she abhors the tendency of the present day to supplant the ideal and the poetic on the stage by the real, however hideous and revolting may at times be the aspect of realism. Alluding to the fact that a drama is being written in France on the Eyraud-Bompard trial, Mdme. Bernhardt remarks that Shakespeare has introduced these two wretches on the stage in the persons of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The passions that drove these four personages to crime are, she contends, tho same, though in the one case it was a throne of which a king was to be robbed, and in the other a processserver’s money. The drama, as she rightly observes, in the one case is sublime and terrible; in the other it is repugnant and vulgar.