OUR ILLUSTRATED LONDON LETTER.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume V, Issue 43, 25 October 1890, Page 12

OUR ILLUSTRATED LONDON LETTER.

PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR. Prince Albert Victor has returned from his long holiday in India, but it cannot be said that the tiger hunts and the Terpsichorean performances of dusky maidens have contributed either to the vigour of his body or the buoyancy of his spirits. He has resumed his functions in the fashionable world, but it was a subject of remark at the Stanley Reception, that he was not looking nearly so well as hisyounger and ruddier brother. Certaiifly the climate "of India is not one suited for that violent exertion which idolised princes must perforce go through, and I hear on what I believe to lie good authority, that the young prince’s health is a matter of considerable anxiety to his best friends, and that a consultation of doctors of eminence on the subject is talked about. HELIGOLAND. It is difficult to know what to chink of the Heligoland business. Both parties approve it, and both parties condemn it. But there is one section whose voice has not yet been very distinctly heard, but whose opinion of the matter, expressed or unexpressed, can hardly be open to doubt. The Heligolanders themselves can scarcely view with equanimity the transference of their island from the benelicent rule of England to the conscriptive system of the Teuton. The inhabitants are not Germans but Danes or Frisians, and are therefore directly allied to the people who migrated to England from the banks of the Weser, and now form a large constituent part of the English race. They are akin to us, too, in sentiment and customs, and although they have a language of their own, English words are largely used as names of streets and public places. The ‘ island ’ is really two islands, and the larger of these is twenty-eight miles in circumference. It has two good harbours, and considerable facilities for anchorage. Opinions differ as to its value for strategical purposes, but it is undoubtedly in this light that it acquires importance in the German mind, and we may depend upon it that the agricultural lands will speedily have to make room for fortifications and works of defence. This will considerably reduce the population, which is now about 2,000. Without Heligoland we sh 11 have no strategical position for operations in the Baltic ; but it is calculated that if unfortunately we sheuld ever fall eut with our big neighbour, Russia, the jEgean Sea, and not the Baltic, would be our base of operations. PRINCESS VICTORIA OF TECK. Society is looking with expectancy for an official announcement of the betrothal of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale—erstwhile Prince Albert Victorof Wales. Rumour has been very busy of late, and it was at first stated that a pretty Belgian princess was to be placed on the steps of the British throne by a union with his royal highness. The fair one was the Princess Clementine, one of King Leopold’s daughters, but now it is stated that the Duke did not favour his grandmamma’s choice ; and further, the latest report is that Princess Clementine is betrothed to Prince Bandouin, son of the Count of Flanders, but this is also contradicted in Belgium. The Belgium Royal Family was previously con-

nected in a measure with the English one, when Leopold, the ' first king of the Belgians, married the Princess Charlotte of Wales, daughter of the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV. in 1816 ; but the Princess did not live till the Belgian monarchy was inaugurated. She died in childbed in 1817. It is now suggested that the Duke of Clarence may bring back the Georges to the throne by marriage with the Princess Victoria, the only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck, a union which would be undoubtedly popular to the English mind. CRICKET ON THE SLACK-WIRE. Frequenters of the London music-halls are becoming so surfeited by the succession of novelties which are provided, tHJat they will soon be content with nothing short of the phenomenal. One professional fasting man has beaten another by two days, and thus given the incentive to a third to show us a still longer period. The strong man-business has been temporarily played out, but Herr Sandow proposes to revive it by introducing to the public the ‘ Goliath of, the Fatherland,’ a man of immense physique, whom he' found at work near a quarry in Westphalia, lifting

huge stones on to a railway truck. This Goliath stands only 6 feet 2| inches high, but he weighs 27 stone, and. has a chest measurement of 65 inches. His head is 33 inches in circumference, and he can span 15 inches with either hand. Sandow proposes with one finger to lift this giant. But perhaps the most novel performance is that of ‘ Professor ’ O. 0. Cogan, who exhibits the remarkable feat of playing cricket on the slack wire. An ordinary acrobatic wire is suspended slightly above the ground, and the wickets are pitched as usual. The game is played in the ordinary manner, with the exception that the * Professor ’ has four players pitted against him, and he has four innings instead of one. Moreover, when his opponents are at the wickets, he has three fielders to assist him, and he plays the game without once leaving the wire. Firstclass cricketers have played him, and he manages to win the majority of his matches. Professor Cogan hails from Johannesburg, South Africa, where he began business life as a telegraph boy. He had an aptitude for walking gates and fences, and managing to secure a piece of telegraph wire, he proceeded to practice his present performance. THE DUKE OF CONNAVOHT. What is to be done now with the Duke of Connaught ? That is a question that is agitating the minds of Her Majesty’s military authorities at the present moment. It is the case of a Pnnce out of a job, and they must find something for him to do. One authority has it that he must go to Ireland, but it is understood that that is not just the particular berth that His Royal Highness would like. He has been used to great bands of sycophants in India, and the small society at Dublin Castle would not be very congenial. It is quite probable, therefore, that Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar will not be disturbed. Should the Prince insist upon retiring, and the

Duke should refuse the appointment, it is on the tapis that ‘ our only general ’ will be relegated to the background by his appointment to the office. However that may be, it is tolerably certain that something will have to be found for the unemployed Prince. His Royal Highness’s military career dates from 1868, when he became a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. He was subsequently ti ansferred to the Rifle Brigade, became a brigade major at Aidershot in 1873, and was appointed assistant adjutant general at Gibraltar three years later. He served in Egypt for a short time as Colonel of the Bengal Lancers, and he was afterwards appointed to the command in India, which he has lately relinquished. When Prince Arthur came of age, a pension of £15,000 was settled upon him, and an addition of £lO,OOO a year was voted when he married Princess Margaret Louise of Prussia in 1879. THE NEW WIMBLEDON. ‘To 4rms ! ye citizen-soldiers,’ is the command that rings this week in the ears of those of our volunteers who aspire to be marksmen. It ushers the great national • Wapinschaw ’ (as bur Anglo-Saxbn forefathers called it) at Bisley Common. ‘ The New Wimbledon ’ as the site will doubtless continue to be called—the likes or dislikes of Lord Wantage notwithstanding—consists of a large expanse of common land far from the busy haunts of men ; the most populous part in the neighbourhood being Woking Cemetery ! It is covered with heather of the modified kind which Surrey can produce, relieved by bright patches of yellow gorse. It is well fitted for military manoeuvres, and owing to the nature of the ground, the uninitiated public, who go to Wimbledon as a matter of course, will be able to picnic on a commanding eminence, overlooking the firing grounds. The targets are so arranged, in regard to light, that a very much longer day will be available for shooting than was the case at the old Wimbledon ranges. There is plenty of accommodation for volunteer and civilian alike; and although the distance from London is greater the improved train service will compensate for this. Going to the old Wimbledon, it was necessary to walk or drive from Putney station, whereas at Bisley, passengers will be run straight into the centre of the camp. The entries are good, and they will be swelled this year by large contingents from * Greater Britain ’ beyond the seas.