Round the World Paragraphs.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 7, 17 February 1909, Page 56

Round the World Paragraphs.

Dialects in London. “No mure curious change has come over London social life of late years than the rise of that almost total disregard of provincialism among its constitutens and casual sharer? which nowadays pervades the city.” In these words Mr. Thomas Hardy, as president of the Society of Dorset Men In London, praises the preservation of the dialect in his preface to the annual volumne of the society. “Fifty years ago,” he *ays, ‘The object of every sojourner in the metropolis from the west—as from the east, south, and north - was to obliterate his local colour and merge himself in the type Londoner as quickly as possible. “But now town society has become a huge menagerie, and at what was called the best houses, visitors hear with no surprise twangs ami burrs and idioms from every point of the compass. “In former times an unfamiliar accent was noted as quaint ami odd, even a feature of ridicule in novels, memoirs, and conversations of that date. “So that, while it was the aim of every provincial, from the squire to the rustic, 1o get rid of his articulation at the earliest moment, he now' seems rather to pride himself on retaining it.” Air. Hardy predicts that some day local accents and words may be affected by society men. like the newest pattern in waistcoats, and members of clubs will go down to the shires for the week-end to get a little private practice & A Much=castled Monarch. The Kaiser holds the record as an owner of castles, for he possesses about fifty of varying size and magnilicence. Berlin has three. Potsdam thirteen, and Cassel three (including Wilhelmshoehe, in which Napoleon HI. was a prisoner after the battle of Sedan, in 1870). Stettin, Strasbourg. ( harlobtenburg, Breslau, Coblenz, ami other places in the Herman empire also have imperial castles. The Kaiser has always had a weakness for splendid residences. In 1905 a great palace was begun in Posen, East Prussia, estimated to cost £250.000. In •the present year his Majesty purchased nt a cost of £40,000, the Villa Achilleion in Corfu, which was built for tlie late Empress of .Austria. sixteeen years ago. Tlie famous mediaeval Hohkoenigsburg Castle, in Alsace, which had been restored from its ruins, was re-opened •by him last May. The work cost more than f 00.000. Residences are al.?o given to him by his admirers. Last year M. McndelssohnBartholdy presented the Kaiser with the Villa Falvonieri. at Frascati. The Kaiser has more than eighty estates, with a total area of 250000 acres. Cadiun, the German Sandringham, is a special favourite of his. The calls on the Kaiser’s purse are enormous, and though hi* has an income of £<Boo.ooo as King of Prussia, in addition to his private means, he finds it impossible to make ends meet. He is probably the poorest millionaire in the world. J? J* More Letters of Queen Victoria. T he .statement that a further selection of the. letters of Queen Victoria is to he issued has aroused much interest and curiosity in the hook world. It is understood that the King is willing to allow a further selection to he issued. which will include correspondence for twenty five years after the death of the Prince t unsori. As the letters deal with matters near io contemporary events, it wMI be realised that the utmost care has to be exercised in their selection, ami for this ranson they are md li* ely to be ready for publication until 19)0. The personal interest which King Edward took in the former volumes is well known; indeed, his Majesty exercised a personal supervision over the Work.

Wireless Links of Empire. A London syndicate is negotiating with various Governments to link together islands and groups of islands across the world by means of radio-telegraphy, says the 44 London Express.” Mr. Dea kin, until lately Prime Minister of Australia, has given his approval to a project for wireless communication between the Australasian islands and Australia and New Zealand. The islands chosen for communication with the wireless stations on the mainland are: — The Fiji Islands Marshall Islandr The New Hebrides Samoa Gilbert Islands The Carolines Tonga Sandwich Islands The Solomon Group Fanning Island Tahiti Papua Suva will be the headquarters in the Pacific, and the wireless instruments there will be in touch with the cable service of the Pacific Cable Board. A number of Australasian steamers will be fitted for wireless telegraphy, and communication will then be easy with any part of Oceania. The Fijian Government, has offered to provide funds for installing the system on the smaller islands round, and other Governments have promised their support. The Colonial Office has the proposals under consideration, and the scheme is regarded as important for both strategic and commercial reasons. J* & Hours of Sleep. Politicians, artists, men of letters, and actors reply in the “Review of Reviews” to Mr. Stead’s inquiry as to the amount of sleep they find necessary to maintain their mental power at the highest pitch. Sir W. Ramsay finds three or four hours’ sleep abundant when in good health and with mild exertion. When engaged in higher intellectual work he can do just as many hours’ work as he sleeps. hord Onslow (always wakes of his own aceord after his seven hours’ sleep, and begins work in bed before getting Sir Charles Wyndham has made a rule that he is never to be called, leaving Nature, to decide the length of sleep. Sii - Theodore Martin used to rfo to bed at one o'clock, but. now, in his eightieth year, lie does not stop up later than eleven. Lord Ripon retires at 10.30. Many suggestions are made for the conquest of insomnia. Sir Frederick Treves puts his faith ill “a simple diet, fresh air at night, and outdoor exercise in the day.” Lord Esher recommends reading Sir Francis Burnand both walking and reading. Mr. Alfred Sutro a game of billiards or golf, while Mr. IL W. Massingham favours counting numbers and ’’telling stories to oneself, generally some kind of imaginative picture.’’ Sir Hiram Maxim believes in the cold bath, and Dr. Clifford’s prescription is: —

(1) Shut out the light. (2) Relax the muscles of the face. (3) Let the last meal be at least one or two hours before retiring. (4) Dismiss the work of the day, and leave the morrow to care for itself. Never worry. (5) If something very important has to be done on the next day, fix your plan of action definitely, write it down, and cease to think about jt. Eloping Couple Caught. An elopement was frustrated at Plymouth one day last month as a couple were on the point of embarking on the liner Orient, by which they had booked their passages for New Zealand. They were intercepted by the girl’s guardian, her cousin, and a local detective, who, after some discussion, hurried her into a cab and drove to the police station. The man ran after the vehicle for some distance, shouting for it to stop, but, finding that his efforts were useless, returned. to the docks, and subsequently sailed -on the steamer. The girl, who is only nineteen, had been courted secretly for some time by the man, a Lancashire farmer, aged forty, and finally an elopment was planned. A few weeks previously, for no apparent reason, the farmer sold off his stock, and subsequently the girl and her lover disappeared. The girl’s relatives, however, quickly took up the pursuit, and the runaways were traced first to London, and then to Plymouth. When she learned that her lover had sailed, the girl consented to accompany her guardian home. -Jt Chinese Road to Fame. Some amusing distinctions between Chinese and English methods of advancement were drawn by Mr. Ivan Chen, of the Chinese Legation, in the course of a paper which he read before the members of the China Society recently, at the Caxton Hall, London, Sir Robert Hart presiding. In China, he said, there was no Parliament, and, therefore, no political parties in the sense the term was understood in England- Consequently there were no party funds for one to contribute to. Then, again, China knew no such name as barrister-at-law. Should there be a man who possessed marvellous ingenuity for the interpretation of legal subtleties, they did not regard him as a member of an honourable profession, but placed him in quite another category. (Laughter.) The Chinese had as much aversion for barristers as the arch-enemy of mankind had for holy water. Examinations were practically the only way for anyone in China to advance from obscurity to a place of honour. Lord Li Ching Fong, the Chinese Minister, read a paper on “The general evolution of philosophy and science in China,” and referred to the fact that many scientific processes were worked in his land long

centuries before they were used in Europe. According to their records, a form of the magnetic needle was known in China in 2634 B-C. Printing' from movable type was practised about 500 years before it was invented in Europe. Sir Robert Hart, in thanking the speakers for their |>apers, said that East- and West were far- from each other, but steamers, railroads, telegraphs, post offices, and globe trotters—(laughter)—were bringing them closer .together every day. Everything was interesting in the relations between those two parts of the world, and each had something to learn from the other. The Chinese were wonderfully intelligent people. They could learn anything and do anything, and had a great future before them. Latterly, he believed, Europeans had been going to China even for their amusements. Last year everyone was playing diabolo. That game was to be seen at Pekin every day, and had been played there for days innumerable. “Pernicious” Books. The Japanese censor some time ago forbade the importation of the works of Tolstoi and Moliere. He has now discovered that 11 The Vicar of Wakefield” and Macaulay’s Essays ■ have a pernicious influence on the youthful mind, and these books are also prohibited.