Here and There.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue VI, 8 August 1903, Page 372

Here and There.

It is said that Mr .1. M. Barrie lias earned .£(10,000 by the dramatisation of “The Little Minister,” and that his income for 1902 was £50,000.

In a cricket match in England— Authors against Artists—Conan Doyle made 28, J. M. Barrie 10, and Hornung 3. Everybody played very badly, bur the authors polished off the Academicians easilv.

When two babies were being reared ia an incubator at Harwood. Texas, they got mixed up. and a lawsuit is pending over their identity. The two mothers each claim the same child as their own.

In Japan most of the horses are shod with straw. Even the clumsiest of carthorses wear straw shoes, which in tliei. - case are tied round the ankle with straw rope, braided so as to form a sole for the foot about half an inch thick. These soles cost about a halfpenny a pair.

For ten years W. S. Adams, a cripple, of Marquette, Michigan, has edited a magazine from his bed. He directs the policy of the paper over a telephone fitted up by his bedside, and writes verses and fiction on a typewriter, which he always keeps at hand.

You know the English alphabet has 26 letters. Do you know the number in other alpliabets? The Sandwich Islanders’ alphabet has 12 letters; Burmese, 18; Italian. 23; Bengali. 21; Spanish, 27; Arabic, 28; Russian, 41; and Sanscrit, 50.

Pedestrians in Jersey City, U.S.. were alarmed one day last month to see a blazing rat run squealing down the street. It came from a house owned by Vincenzo Licindo, who had poured kerosene oil on to the rodent and then set it alight. He was arrested and fined £5.

Mr Sidney Colvin is about to contract a marriage which has special interest for Stevensonians. Mr Colvin was the friend in England to whom the Vailima Letters were written from Samoa, and he is Stevenson’s literary executor. But many of Stevenson’s letters were also addressed to Miss Sitwell, who was a valued friend. Miss Sitwell very shortly will become Mrs Colvin.

Bush work at Kaea, North Auckland, is in full swing. Messrs. Nisbet Brothers have secured the largest bush contract ever given out in those parts, viz., 20,000,000 ft or more. It is expected to take five years to work it out. All the timber will go to Hokianga. Mr E. Irving has secured a contract on the Kauriputete of about 2,000,000 ft of timber. Mr George Wrathall arrived at Kaeo recently to work a bush of about 2,000,000 ft, at the Takakuri, belonging to Mr Slater, of Auckland.

The revival of interest in the dahlia is one of the most remarkable features of modern floriculture, says Country Life in America. The revival is not a “warmed-over enthusiasm,” but a brand new movement aroused by the introduction of the “cactus” dahlia and other new forms that have lately been developed. The “dahlia craze” of the middle of the last century was caused by the perfection of the “show” type —the formal globular flower. A new era began with the discovery of the “eactus” type. With the crossing of the show and eactus dahlia, and the reaction against excessive formality in all kinds of flowers, have come a host of new forms, which, for want of a better name, are called “decorative dahlias,” and their possibilities of development are greater than anything that has hitherto been imagined.

Harry Bateman, who was al the last examinations bracketed with P. E. Marrack as Senior Wrangler in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos, is son of Mr. .Samuel Bateman, a Manchester commercial traveller, and began his educa-

lion in Ducie-avenue Board School in that city. One day the teacher offered a shilling to toe boy- who could solve a very difficult mathematical problem, and Bateman won it with astonishing ease. He and his brother each won a City Council scholarship at the Grammar .School, and Hany two years later won a four years' foundation scholarship at the Grammar School. He won there a scholarship worth £lOO a year, and the Derby scholarship of £4O a year at Trinity College. Cambridge. When he had been a year at Trinity he won an open major mathematical scholarship of £ 100 a year. He is now twenty-one years of age.

The Auckland Anti-eompuisory Vaccination League telegraphed to the Minister for Public Health protesting against the ediet requiring post office employees to be vaccinated as unnecessary-. futile and a great moral and physical wrong. Sir Joseph Ward replied that the general public must be considered, and that it was only decided to take the course that had been adopted after the matter had received the most careful consideration. The League in answer to this sent a further protest.

It may be news to some to learn that there are ninety-two hospitals and twenty-five dispensaries in various parts of the County of London. Among them are twenty-eight general hospitals, having 5374 beds, costing £484,330 a year, and dealing with 70,000 in-patients and half a million accidents; seven cottage hospitals, with 137 beds; two for cancer eases, with 150 beds, and 1000 in-pa-tients during the year; five chests hospitals; eleven children’s; one each for dental complaints, fever, fistula, diseases of the heart, and stone; three for epilepsy, incurables, orthopaedic, and skin; seven lying-in hospitals, where 3500 poor women are at-tended to during the year: five ophthalmic; four for the throat; and six for women.

The mother of the three boys had noticed that when they slept in the same room they were a long time going to sleep. A little investigation brought out the reason. “John,” she said, “what kept you boys awake so long last night?” “Bob was telling us stories,” he replied. “But I heard him saying, ‘Boys, I wish you wouldn't bother me. I want to go to sleep!’” “Yes,” admitted John. “When he’d told us one story we’d get out of bed and run round the room a while. Then we would crawl in again and put our cold feet against his back, and keep them there till he told us another.” Years afterward “Bob” became a famous lecturer and story-teller, and that, possibly, is the way he got his start.

Thirty thousand skylarks were last winter ’stuffed with truffles by Denoist and preserved for that nourishment which is tailed supper. Horrible! As barbaric as nightingales’ tongues! Bear that in mind next time you are offered a lark embalmed in carmine aspic and reposing snugly in a fair white frill. Refuse the morsel. Taste it and you are lost. You will become a raving advocate for the close preserving of larks for eight months in the year, so that during the other four months they maybe more widely preserved—with truffles, observes a London newspaper in an article on the delicacies turned out at the establishment of Victor Benoist, the famous chef of Wardour-street. It was the children of Israel who discovered the excellence of quails in the wilderness. When they had come out of tlie wilderness, and had arrived even in Park lane, they brought their knowledge with them. Flocks of quail flutter daily through the kitchens of Benoist; every season tens of thousands pass that way. What a perfect bird a quail is. Since the secret of manna has been lost, no other food has been deemed worthy to accompany it through all the long centuries. As simply and as plainly as Miriam stewed her quails beneath the

shadow of Sinai are quails stewed to-day in Wardour-street. What a history!

The Department of Agriculture has been desirous for some years past of ascertaining whether New Zealand hemp could be unproved by cultivation, both in quality and quantity. Arrangements were made not long ago to plant an area of laud at the Experimental Station at Weraroa, near Levin, and this will be done in the course of a fewweeks. Steps are also being taken to establish a collection of the various forms of flax known in the different districts as “varieties,” which will be planted on an adjoining section, eaeh root will be named and the locality from which it was obtained will be stated. This collection, when complete, will be most valuable. Important results are anticipated from the experiments.

At the General Assembly of the United Free Church of Scotland, held a few weeks ago in Edinburgh, Rev. John Tainsh. convener of the Praise Committee, spoke some useful words on the organ question. The Scotch have taken to organs with an enthusiasm which has not always been tempered witli discretion. Apparently they have expected too much from the organ. Sometimes they have bought with the Carnegie money instruments too big for their churches, and they have found difficulty in getting organists in sympathy with the simple psalm and hymn service of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Tainsh’s advice is to develop the vocal side—the choir, the praise, the devotional spirit. ‘Sing witli heart and voice,’ he says, ‘and keep the organ in its place. Do not suffer the great monster to overpower you.’ This is wise advice. The organ must be regarded as an accompaniment. Choir, congregational and Sunday-school musical training must go on just the same after the organ is introduced as before it came.

Business was slack, and Mr. Dryplate, the photographer, was standing at the door of his studio waiting for custom to come along, when a gentleman, whom at a single glance the eute photographer divined was not Mr. Pierpont Morgan, approached wheeling a baked-potato can. “I want you to take my photo,” he remarked. “Certainly,” said Dryplate. “Would you like the potato-can included in the picture?” “Well, guv.,” explained the prospective customer, “it’s like this. My brother Bill what lives in Edinburgh sent me his photo larst week standin’ by the side of a moty-car. Now that was brag. Bill ain’t no more got a moty-car than he's got the Atlantic'Ocean in his back-yard. And I wants to take ’im down a peg.” “I see,” said Dryplate. “You want to play your potato can against his motorcar, eh?” “Well, not exactly,” was the reply. “I wants you to stick a sheet on it, put it against a blue background, and take it a bit misty, like when the smoke comes out of the chimney, and werry likely Bill’ll take it for a steam-yacht!”

The Hon. E. Mitehelson (Mayor of Auckland), who is also chairman of the Remuera Road Board, accompanied by several Auckland members, waited- on Sir Joseph Ward on July 28th with a request that he would re-build the bridge over the railway in the Remueraroad.

Air Mitehelson stated that the Tramway Company were about to commence the work of laying rails through the Bemuera district. The bridge was in a state of disrepair, and would require renewing within two years. It was proposed to renew the bridge now, and strengthen and widen it, in order to make it sufficient to carry the traffic. The Tramway Company was prepared to pay £2OO towards the cost, and tha Bond Board would also contribute. Plans and specifications had been prepared by the Resident Engineer for Bailways. Sir Joseph Ward stated that he would obtain the report and plan of the. engineer in a day or two, and would then inform Mr Mitehelson as to what the Railway Department could do. Mr Mitehelson pointed out the necessity for haste in the matter, as the Tramway Company wanted to start work within a month, and to have the trams running before Christmas. He pointed out that the bridge was very old. and was below the regulation height. x •

“The eoilapse in the price of the shares of James Nelson and Sons Limited is traced by the market to the cable sent by Sir Richard Seddon to the ‘Daily Express.’ ” Thus “MAP.” in si paragraph referring to the shares in a well-known London meat - preserving company. “M-A-P.” is usually particularly well-in-formed, so perhaps the “Sir” is prophet ie.

Speaking at the opening of a library at Plaistow, a suburb of London, Andrew Carnegie said the present was an age of groat consolidations. He prophesied the day would come when Europe would be one consolidated whole, and in this connection pointed out the example of the American Republic, which is as large as Europe and the outcome of the welding together of many States. It was perfectly ridiculous, Mr. Carnegie said, for a nation of the size of France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy or England to think it could attempt much materially. Such a thing was a physical impossibility.

On the Kursk-Charkov-Sebastopol railway a travelling bath has been built and put into use on the line for the workmen and their families. The bath consists of two ears connected with each other by a covered way. In one car are a number of baths, while the second is the dressing-room. The arrangement of the working is that at a stated hour of a certain day the bath will arrive at each station on the line, and remain a number of hours, during which time all the employees and their families will be obliged to take their weekly wash.

Like milk, an egg is complete food. If fed on eggs alone, young animals are furnished with all the necessary elements for the growing of bone, muscle, and all that goes to make a perfect animal of its kind. A hen may possibly lay 200 eggs a year, but ought certainly to produce 120. Eight eggs will weigh a pound, and 120 will weigh about 15 pounds, at the cost of about one bushel of corn, worth on an average about 2/1. At this rate the eggs cost, so far as food is concerned, about three-halfpence a pound. They usually sell for sixpence to ninepence a dozen, and are better for food at that priee than meat.

Near Goroke (Vie.) I saw a red-gum with a limb growing from the trunk and back again into the trunk two feet higher up. When branches growing on the upper parts of trees break and fall into a fork and balance there, in the course of time the bark and later the sap-wood grow' round the limb, leaving the dead ends projecting from opposite sides of the trunk, giving the appearance, of a limb having been pushed through the trunk. In the Avoca (Vie.) district I saw the limb of a yellow box with a bucket handle through it. The bucket had been apparently hung on it in the gold-digging days and the handle had become embedded in the wood and bark. But, by way of something really unaccountable—a veterinary surgeon in Bendigo lias on view the skull of a horse, with a rope through the bone between the eyes and nostrils. The bone had grown round the rope. The skull was found in the hills in the north-east of Victoria. Now, what in thunder happened to.that horse? He couldn’t have inhaled" the rope.—A correspondent writing to the “Sydney Bulletin.”

The innovation of the automatic buffet in the Victoria Embankment Gardens. London, of automatic teas, consisting of a pot of .tea, large roll and butter, with sardines or radishes or jam, for fourpence, is proving a great success. The buffet was visited by nearly 3009 people on a recent Sunday, and with the advent of the warm weather and the L.C.C. band the gardens, with groups at little tables regaling themselves with pcnuy-in-tlie-.slot purchases, from tea and buns down to cooling drinks and ices, present quite a Continental appearance, says a London daily paper. The buffet has evidently come to stay, and has obtained a further three years’ lease from the authorities. Among the delicacies which are supplied on the automatic principle are: Ham. roll and butter. 3d; jellies, 3d; meat pies, 2d; sandwiches. 2d; ices, 2d; ginger beer, 2d; fruit drinks, 2d; Swiss Toll, Id. . _ . The only meal that is not automatic is • 9d luncheon, consisting of a joint or ■leak with two vegetables, which has

proved very popular. Behind the buffet is a penny department, where tea and coffee from the urn may be bought, but the joy of making one’s own tea from the boiling water tap induces most of the visitors to expend another copper. The machines are so honest that they actually return two-shilling pieces dropped into the slots in mistake for pennies!

In a recent examination of candidates for the British Army from the public schools the inability to speak correctly was lamentably apparent. The following are some of the error's taken from replies to papers set at the examination: Wolseley. Veterinary. Barricade. Wolsley Veteranery Barricade Wollsey Vetrenary. Barraeade Wolsely Vetranary Barieade Wolesly Veterany Barrickade Wolesley Vetinary Barrackade Woolsey Vetternary Barackade Wolleselly Vetcranrcry Ordnance. Khaki. Commissariat. Ordiner.ee Kahki “ Commisareat Ordonance Karkhi Commisuriat Audinense Kharki Commisaratc Ordinance Karkie Comissariat Kakhi Karki Other variations were: Yeomanary, yeomenary, yoemanry; piekett, picquet, pickette; aeoutrements, aceutrements, acourtrements; batallion, bai trillion; brigadeer, briggadier; lieutenant, lieutennant, lieutenatn; colonnel; subleton. Fusillier, fusiler; aidc-de-clramp, aidedecone, aidecamp, aide-champ: pionier, piouneer; signaller, signaler; ossaillant.

Manoevre, manoever, manoeve, manouvre; artillary; reconnaisauce, reeonnaisenee, reconaissance, reeconaissanee,

reconnaisenee; seige; amunition, anmunrtion, ammunition; strategum, stratagen, strategem.

Stratergy, stratagy, stratigy, stratgey; bayonnet, bayonette, bayounette; galop. Regement, regeament; - balon, baloon, ballon; fariar, farier; sergent, sargent, seargent, courte martini, court marshal, court marshall. Some time ago the War Office authorities complained of the bad spelling of certain officers, while comment has frequently been made on the faet that some public schools neglect the teaelring of English, and give preference to dead languages.

It was recently announced in the London cables that Captain Lionel De L. Wells, R.X., who has been chief officer of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade since 1896, had been appointed head agent of the Conservative party, in succession to Mr IL W. E. Middleton. On the ground of health, Mr Middleton placed his resignation in the bands of the Whips at the beginning of the present year, but it was not deemed expedient until quite recently to take steps to make the new appointment. Mr Middleton. had he followed in Iris ancestor’s footsteps, should have spent his life at

sea. His grandfather was an admiral, and bis father an Admiralty official. He himself went to sea at twelve years of age, and spent nearly fourteen years catching African slave dealers and Chinese pirates. At twenty-six he went Home to manage a Conservative Club at Greenwich, and fourteen years later found himself controlling the Conservative organisation at St. Stephen’s. He is recognised as the Sehnadhorst of the Conservative party, and there is little doubt that to him is largelv due the series of successes scored by his side at recent general elections. Captain Lionel de Lautour Wells is an Anglo - Indian, having been born in Calcutta in 1859. He served in the Bellerophon as a midshipman. and on attaining his lieutenancy saw nine years of torpedo service, finally acting as the senior officer of the Devonnort Torpedo Destroyer Squadron. In 1896 he became chief officer of the London Metropolitan Fire Brigade. His especial talent for organisation, shown during his service in the Navy. has been exercised with marked effect. With the men he has been very popular, and although ho has been a strict disciplinarian he has been a just one.

Even American democracy cannot resist pride of birth. It must have been its peerage. “Matthews’ American Armoury ami Bluebook’’is its title. Its cover is as blue as though dyed in the blood of

the noble citizens whose pedigree it enshrines. Here are some facts taken from it. Mr "Teddy” Roosevelt, the President, like the Prince of Wales, lias lor lus crest three ostrich feathers, only they nod rather differently. The motto of Mr Pierpont Morgan is "Onward and upward.” Mr Morgan acts up to it. Ono of the noblest families of Philadelphia are the Cholmeley-Joneses, names which, hyphenated, somehow lack the true Republican ring. In Xew York reside cousins of the "Admirable Crichton,” for, like the admiiuble one, they arc descended from the Crichtons of Sanquhar. Mr Walton of Chicago found his arms over the doorway of Walton House, New York. His crest is "a wild man proper.” Had it not been for an ancestor of Mr Charles W. Headley, of New York City, England might have been a Republic today. Mr John Hoadley “aided in bringing about the Restoration in lending General Monk £300.” These facts are jotted down just as they appear in the bluebacked “American Armoury." Also wo read that Roland Hinton-Perry, of Richmond, Massachusetts, is descended on the maternal side from Ernald de Hinton. who came to England with IVilliam •the Conqueror. Fancy a Yankee remembering a trifling detail of this kind all these years! The descendants of those who arrived in the Mayflower are of quite mushrocen growth compared with this. The arms of the United States arc given. Seldom is it that the American eagle finds itself involved in such rave jargon as this: “Paleways of thirteen pieces argent and gules; a chief azure; the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive branch proper and in his sinister talon a bundle of thirteen arrows, all proper, and in his beak a scroll inscribed with the mot'o. ‘E pluribus unum.’ ”

London is now enjoying the hottest months of summer, and is naturally thirsty. Dr. Hamer, assistant medical officer of the London County Council, recently issued a report which deals with the whole of this interesting subject. On the general question of the amount of liquid required by the average human being, Dr. Hamer says the general expert estimate is three pints a day, but he himself raises this quantity by a quarter of a pint. This is exclusive of the amount of liquid conveyed into the body iiiiough bread, meat, and other kinds of food.

Away from this general average women require less than men, and children less than cither, although they drink far more in proportion to their bulk. Taking all Londoners in one general group, Dr. Hainer fixes the following average quantities of liquids consumed by each individual every day:—Beer, 16oz (4-5 of a pint) ; aerated'water, soz (j pint) ; wine, spirits, etc., 2-3 oz; milk. 5 1-3 oz (just over pint); hot drinks (tea. soup, etc.), 230 z (almost 1 I pint) ; cold water, 2 pint.

Beer, it will be noticed, heads the list in quantity. Dr. Hamer quotes the opinion of Mr Shapley, an L.C.C. inspector,

to the effect that inmates of common lodging-houses drink on an average four pints of beer each per day, beside* spirits, and a considerable quantity of tea. The lodgers appear, he states, to eat comparatively little solid food, but many of them spend all that is left atter paying for this and for their bed. upon beer. Of thirty persons questioned one day, only three did not take beer. Fifteen took from three to four pints a day, and the rest varied from one to over ten pints daily. One remarkable instance is quoted. It is given on the authority of Mr Jury, the Council’s chief inspector. A fish porter fixed one day’s expenditure upon beer at 5/1. He had earned 5/8, of which 6d was spent on his bed, and Id on food. He said he had passed in his work a particular public-house sixty times, in going and coining on thirty separate journeys. Each time he passed he looked in. and had a final half-pint at the end of the day’s work. In the increase in the consumption of aeiated waters. Dr. Hamer sees a good omen for general health, provided saniCaiy conditions arc observed.

In Ills new book, entitled "Camera and Countryside,” Mr A. Radclyffe Dugmore, the eminent photographer, says: — “Once when I was on a trip trying to secure some moose pictures, 1 dame across a fine large bull, the situation was perfect from a pictorial point of view. He was in a large pond, where the lily-pads were abundant; in the near background was a bank of trees, mostly birch; beyond stood Mount fxatalidin in the misty distance; the moose was feeding in shallow water, the light was bright, and as the wind was in the right direction, everything pointed to a successful picture. We were in a canoe: slowly and noiselessly we came through the smooth water; scarcely a ripple did the canoe make. Nearer and nearer, and still the bull had not seen us. When within about seventy feet (I was using a telephoto lens), 1 stood up slowly ana quietly, while the animal was busy feeding. No sooner was i in position than he looked up. A finer picture could not be imagined. His enormous antlers, still in the velvet, seemed almost out. of proportion to his size. And he stood absolutely still, while 1. trembling with excitement, focussed the camera and pressed the button. Instantly the huge beast made a dash for the shore, and in a second was lost to view, and I sat down congratulating myself on having secured such a splendid picture. Imagine. my disgust when, on going to change the plate holder, 1 discovered that in my excitement 1 had neglected to draw the slide.” Mr Dugmore draws an interesting comparison between tne amount of sport to be obtained with the rifle and with the camera. “Few of the vast army of photographers realise what it is to hunt wild aniamls with their cameras; still fewer of the sportsmen appreciate the amount of sport which may be had when the camera takes the place of the rille. They don’t, consider that for the camera there W no elose season.”

It may be said with safety that for every letter received and answered by King Edward in 1879 there are two received and answered by the Prince of Wales in 1903 (remarks a London magazine in an article on the Royal House of Great Britain). Moreover, although their Majesties, all through their busy career, always set an illustrious example to their generation by the energy with which they fostered all chantable causes, it is undeniable that the amount of detail examined and sifted by the Prince and Princess of Wales to-day in connection with their public duties is infinitely greater and more laborious than anything experienced by their predecessors at the same period of their lives. An interesting question arises, in comparing the present with the past, as to what records are being made of the vie intime of the Royal Family of England for the instruction of future generation. Does there exist any document that will do for the Edwardian reign what was done for the Victorian period by the Monarch’s personal diary, out of which she permitted herself to make two volumes of excerpts for the delight of her people? The answer is, No. Neither Edward nor Alexandra has ever found either the time or the inclination to preserve a personal record of doings and impressions from day to day. In this respect the Prince of Wales follows the example of his parents. Had Queen Alexandra encouraged her children in early youth to docket their experiences day after day, as “Vicky” and “Alix” were encouraged to do by their mother, they might have formed a habit that would remain with them to this hour. But it was not to be. Her Majesty made up her mind to talk and write in her adopted tongue from the moment of her marriage, and the unfan diarity which at iiist she experienced douL less had some effect in deterring her from setting up an English diary. Be this as it may, there are no records of this kind, and although the Princess of Wales, who got her habits of ordiliness and tidiness from her revered mother, keeps up an aide memoirs, it is a brief practical document, not designed for the eye of the public, or even of her intimate friends.

The latest “eraze” in London is one that it is to be hoped will “catch on.” If there were more of it we would hoar less about the deterioration of the British race. This new craze started when the members of the Royal Stock Exchange walked from London to Brighton, and culminated in a waitresses’ walk from the Exchange to Hyde Park. A London newspaper gives the following account of this the latest incursion of the gentler sex into the pursuits of man:—

When the athletic records of this year come to be writen, the waitresses’ walk will go down in history as the most wonderful walk that has ever happened.

It al! arose from an idea of Mr John Pearce, managing director of the British Tea Table and the Pearce and Plenty restaurants. He suggested to his girlassistants that their walking abilities were not confined to trotting up and down stair with eups of tea and plates of meat.

They showed he was right, for 167 girls, or an average of three from each depot, turned out in the early hours of the morning, and, under the fire of chaff from a festive band holiday crowd, bravely tramped from the Royal Exchange to the Marble Arch. Shortly after seven the first blushing damsel emerged from the B.T.T. depot at the top of Queen Victoria-street and made her way to the starting-post. She was followed by a long stream of girls, neatly dressed in black, with skirts, as the regulations put it, “two inches above the ground,” aprons of unimpeachable whiteness, and white sailor hats—the “B.T.T. ’s” wearing a white band and the “P.P.s” a black. The starter shouted “Go!” and a mighty cheer went up from the crowd. The driver of a big waggon whipped up his horses, and cleared a pathway through the crowd. Right along the Embankment there was a crowd of from five to six deep, and a small army of cyclists and runners cleared a path for the competitors. At Hyde Park Corner the noise and the pace wore terrific, while fully 5000 people waited at the Marble Arch on the tip-toe of expectancy. The driver of the waggon bore down •n the crowd, and cut a path through.

Then followed a solid phalanx of cyclists, who led a solid black mass, with handkerchiefs waving in the wind. Towering up in the centre were two stalwart policemen, and between could be seen a speck of dusty, perspiring humanity. It was Miss Annie Grainger, of the British Tea Table depot in Ironmonger Lane, who had completed the four and a-half miles in less than 50 minutes.

In all 97 competitors finished, and nearly all within the hour. The competitors afterwards went to the B.T.T. depot in Edgware-road, where breakfast was prepared for them, and the prizes presented, amounting in all to .£3l.

Interesting figures relating to separation and divorce in England and Wales are given in the Civil Judicial Statistics for 1901, just issued. There has been a remarkable growth in the number of separation orders of late years. In 1893 the orders granted were 825, or 2.77 per 100,000 of population. In 1897 the figures had increased to 5550, or 1-7.81, and in 1901 there were 7330 orders, or 22.47 per 100,000. A striking diversity is noticeable in the number of separation orders in various counties and borough. London comes fairly low in this respect, with only 18 separations per 100,090 inhabitants, whereas Lancashire’s separations numbered 40 per 100,000, and Durham’s (the highest listen; 48. Rutlandshire enjoyed a complete immunity from separation orders.

The number of petitions for dissolution of marriage was 750 —higher than in any previous year. The nearest previous figure was 683 in 1897. Petitions for judicial separation have remained almost stationary for six years, and were, in 1901, 98. This remedy is being less and less resorted to in the superiour Courts. Of the 750 petitions for divorce, 491 were filed by husbands and 259 by wives.

Fifty-three of the petitioners were secretaries or clerks, 30 were labourers, 20 soldiers and sailors. 13 military and naval officers, 39 engineers and architects, 11 journalists, 23 actors and musicians, 7 policemen, 23 publicans, 3 students, 6 clergymen, and 70 “gentlemen, esquires, etc.”

The action of the Russian Government in confiscating at St. Petersburg the “Almanaeh Hachette”—the French equivalent to the English “Whitaker’’—because it mentioned the income of the Czar, has had quite the opposite effect to that desired. It has drawn more attention to the Imperial privy purse than would otherwise have been the ease. The income derived by the Czar from his subjects is no less than £8,514,720 a year. This is at the rate of £l6 4/ a minute. £972 an hour, or £23,328 a day. Other monarchs are comparatively poor. The Sultan of Turkey has only £2.000.000 a year, and the next richest ruler, the German Emperor, has not a third of that income, receiving £628.000. Then comes the King of Italy with £571,600 per annum, while King Edward VII. is content with the relatively modest sum of £470,000.

To the average individual these no doubt appear very comfortable sums, but they fade into insignificance beside the incomes of certain kings of commerce. Mr John D. Rockefeller has no less than £10.512,000 per annum. Mr Andrew Carnegie has just half that sum; while Mr Russell Sage receives £l.BOO 000 a year, Mr W. A. Clarke £1.600,000, Mr George J. Gould £1.200.000. and Mr J. Pierpont Morgan £1.000.000.

Tike professional or business man who manages to jog along with his nil try £lOOO a year may find some difficulty in realisin'* exactly what an income like Mr Rockefeller’s really means. If he cared, he could snend everv day of his life in counting his salary in sovereigns, •working at that pleasant occupation eight hours a dev. Tie could present eneh of the 311 532 couples who are married in the United Kingdom every year with a “dot” of £3O. and have over £ 600 900 left to meet his personal wants. Perhans better still, he could send a crisn £lO note everv Christmas to each panner in the British Tales. Tie could substantially relieve the ratepayers of London bv defraying the cost of the metropolitan police and vet have £3O ono a day left wherewith tn pay for his lunch and other necessaries.

With the assistance of the Sultan and Mr Andrew Carnegie, the chief of the Standard Oil Trust could pay the interest on the National Debt, which costs every person in the United Kingdom 8/8 a year.

There are twenty persons in the world whose totalled salaries equal the national income of Great Britain. These gentlemen dining together might have some reason to be satisfied at the thought that they eouid, in a way, buy up this country. New York is the home of millionaires. There are eight hundred of them in that city, and the names of five hundred have never been heard by the general public. Every morning at 7.44 there leaves Croton Landing for New York a train which is known as “the billion-dollar express.” It is run for the accommodation of a colony of millionaires who occupy summer houses on the east bank of the Hudson river.' Great care is taken with this train. The drivers and guards are picked men. for their twenty-eight passengers own something like £100,009,000 among them.

The question of a lady’s age is always a delicate one, a"nd some ladies display a great deal of ingenuity in fencing with it. The following passage-at-arms took place between a counsel and a witness, the former being anxious to elicit her age, and the latter being equally determined not to reveal it:

“What is your age, madam?” inquired the counsel.

“My own,” she responded, emphati cally.

“Of course, I understand that, madam; what I mean is, how old are you?” “I am not old at all,” she retorted, with pardonable indignation. “I beg your pardon, madam. What I want to know is, how many years have you passed?” “None,” she flashed. “They have all passed me.” “And how many of them have passed you?” persisted the cross-examiner. “All,” she said, calmly. “I never heard of any of them stopping by the way!” “Madam, you must really answer my question. I want to know your age.” “I do not fancy,” she replied, disdainfully, “that your desire for acquaintance is reciprocated.” “I cannot understand why you insist on refusing to answer my question,” said the lawyer, coaxingly; “I am sure I would tell my age at once if I were asked.”

“Nobody is likely to ask you,” she replied, conclusively, “for it is sufficiently obvious that you are quite old enough to know better than to be asking a woman her age.”

And the honours of war were admitted to be with the witness.

Entertainments for Royalty are always important, but the first ball attended by the King and Queen since their accession to the throne makes a memorable event. Last year King Edward was present at one or two diners dansants, seasoned with bridge, but to receive him at a great ball was reserved for the house of Rothschild. The invitation card had the words, “Very small, 10.30,” printed on it; and also the words, “Knee Breeches and Decorations.” The dance was preceded by a big dinner of thirty-six people at two large round tables adorned with gold plate and white orchids and lilies (says a London weekly in referring to this brilliant event.) The well-worn expression “small and smart” describes this ball to perfection. The invitations were limited to about one hundred and fifty, and the guests represented high politics, diplomacy, distinguished foreigners, and the most exclusive set in London Society. The King’s new regulation that knee-breeches and decorations must be worn at Royal parties certainly smartened the scene, and gave a courtly touch to the entertainment. But the fair sex predominated in

numbers, and it was surmised that some of the golden youth objected to the purchase of. special clothes, or to the display of their —possibly—deficient extremities. King Edward looked bright and smiling, but certainly very pale. He wore the broad blue ribbon of the Garter. Queen Alexandra was lovely in sparkling black and a high diamond crown. Her strings of pearls reached nearly to her feet; and even under the very closest inspection she appears to have successfully defeated the advances of time. The King and Queen stood side by side in the gallery at the top of the white marble staircase, and there they watched the arrival of the afterdinner guests with apparent interest. It was a wonderful sight! Millions of money must have been represented by the jewels alone, and the dresses were the best productions of London, Paris, and Vienna. Listening to scraps of conversation is always suggestive, and at the present moment three topics—and three alone-—seem to interest smart society—bridge, motors, and Free v. Fair Trade.

If the insularity of the English people is proverbial, it is equally true that their proverbs are insular. Why should this be so? They import a word from Tongataboo, and a custom from China, why not a proverb from Peru or Swaziland? The study of outlandish proverbs with a view to grafting them on to the English language would not be unprofitable. We have no parallel to equal the Chinese saying, “No maker of images worships the gods: he knows what they are made of”—a proverb eminently suitable for every-day use. Take another from the Swazi: “A man does not run among thorns for nothing: either he is chasing a snake, or a snake is chasing him.” And another from Swahililand: “He who rides two horses will split asunder.” There is a touch of quaintness about these which would add a charm to English talk. Moreover, it is admirable to have more than one form in which to express the same idea. For instance, the saying is true enough that “Two people walking arm-in-arm cannot have the same liver;” but its mode of expression is trite compared with the African parallel, which runs: “Two people cannot sit upon the point of a thorn at the same time,” or as the Zambesi people put it: “Two people with long chins cannot kiss each other.” And why should not our unemployed pauper, who prefers a good grievance to a bad payment, possess a proverb worthy of his salt? Let him exclaim with the rueful negro: “The poor man’s hen never lays; and even if she lays she never hatches; and if she hatches she never rears; and if she rears, all the chickens are taken by the kites. A few proverbs from the Maoris, too, are quite worth doing into English for general use. Of the fair weather cousin the Maori says: “When there is work to do he is only a very distant relation; but when I have plenty of food and no work he calls himself my son.” Of the hotheadedness of youth they say: “Boys will be boys and girls will be girls, and the waves of the sea will always chase one another before the wind.” And the chief failing of human nature they set forth in the following original way: “Another’s faults break out on his skin and disfigure him, but our own hide behind our eyes.” A very litle research among outlandish proverbs would reveal many more of an equally quaint nature which would infuse well into the English language.—“ Modern Society."