WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 54, 26 November 1921, Page 6

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

NOTES AT RANDOM

(By T.D.H.) Under the new coal miners’ award "go* slow" will mean "go-out.” The "Figaro" says, sb far as Franco is concerned, ttie Washington Conference is over, and the results ere negative. —A case- of under-development and nothing, visible in black and white. A Scotch professor estimates that tho world is 8,000,000,000 years old. Yet it is not old enough to invent an effectivo substitute for iw-ar. l .''- . There are more people wanting job®, than there are people-wanting work. A .good motto .suggested-.for. the Disarmament delegates is:. When ,in yfasliihgton do a s AVashingfon did. At Baroda* the Prince of' ‘Wales has been seeing-something-,of .the gorgeousness of the Efist. In the career, of th« Gaekwar of Baroda there is to be found also more than a touch of the romanc® that Asia prefers to the Hull ' routine o£ Europe. The Gaekwai’, who is ruler over two million -people , and -in,-pre-war days had an income., of, =£156,000 a year, .'was not born to the purple. He began life aS tlte sbu of a Dedcaft peasant, who tilled & tiny agriculturaFTiording. In 1875 th® Claekwar-of the day was mixed up in ar terrible row;,..as -he was -supposed to hav® poisoned'tlje -British Resident af r , Baroda. He. had.- just, got-out of gaol himself, where he had been wrongfully locked up by his brother, who .had usurped th® -throne, but as he had not, the sense to .behave properly the Viceroy_depqsed him after the poisoning incident, said.allowed his brother’s widoyy to ~a dopt; an heir. She adopted the present Gaekwar, then twelve .years .old, ; as he had royal blood in his veins, and took him away from hi® -father’s humble farm-hqu.se to be educated as a-prince* , . »■ ■>■ The Gaekwar in giving the Prince of Wales a royal welcome is making'amends for his behaviour to King George at the Delhi Durbar in 1911,,,, He was .obliged to write a public letter of apology for what he did then. .He said in the letter that he regretted his- “seemingly .-indifferent! manner” to. Their. Majesties. It was due, he declared, to his nervousness and confusion in the. presence, of sp .vast-.an assemblage. He had failed to note exactly what the Nizam of Haidarabad did, and being the second prince to pay his respects had no opportunity of-., seeing the .others. It was rather a.lame excuse, Shere had previously beep, much comment on the Gaekwar’s-manners at th® .Coronation in London.. Earlier'.in the Durbar itself, everyone had risen wheni the Viceroy arrived, and remained standing until His Excellency was seated. Gaekwar merely rose and sat down immediately, ostentatiously stretching his legs and yawning. When the Nizam of Haidarabad paid his "homage. to the King hw bowed deeply three times and backed away. The Gaekwar followed jauntily swinging a stick in his hand, a tring contrary to all Indian etiquette, gave one perfunctory bow to. Their Majesties,. and then turned his back and walked away. However, much water has flowed under London Bridge since then, the Gaekwar has given milch in the way, and his behaviour to the King since his apology has been perfectly Correct. Some years ago he rather’surprised the. world, which had regarded him- as a very' enlightened and ' Europeanised prince, by giriifg his daughter in marriage to that Maharajah of Gwalior, who happened to have another wife already.’ But for tha fact that he was a' reigning prince, and the High Court ruled tbat'he' could not be cited, l he would also have'hud to-ap-pear as co-respondent ’ir a divorce cas® in London a rfew! years'back. '\- ->

Germany , calls. I'eparations YWiedergutniachu.ngsleistungeii.”. Naturally,..remarks an American commentator,., it., comes hard.. . , 1

Parliament is. jealous, of. its privilege?, and the stranger in. the gallery who tried to. chip in, apd make a .speech on Thure-. flay was lugky .to escape by ' be.ijig. march.ed’oiit of the gallery. In .the House of Commons in , 1875 two.', visitors ..inquire®, of a constable the way to the public gallerv, 'and' were fold''to walk "straight ..on,’’.and taking the advice literally landed''up in the body of Tfie.'Hquse and sat themselves down on the first empty benches - they- found, -No one noticed them, until the House, divided, and all l.he' members- went. oiit.-. yT-h'-e Serjeant then observed them, and the first order they received-was “Take off your hfets! ; As the doors were locked they could not .be turned out’-until after the division was over,- and as ; they had, erred through ig- < norance they Were' let off with a very severe admonition that made them feel lucky they had not been beheaded on. Tower Green.:.! In 1771 a Bermuda merchant, who had .accidentally lingered in. the. lobby af’t.er jt.was..clear«k was actually counted 'with the “noesfl. _ Be also was let off after a" sevfirb talking to at ■ths bar of the' House from "Mr.' Speaker.

The House of Lords is patficiilarljr careful of its dignify. A plhbian person in 1827 was admitted below the -bar <«f the House, but was inade'by an attend--♦ant to leave his umbrella -in- an .Anile-, room; When he. came.out .there .was no umbrella, and be had the nerve to su® -Their Lordships’ attendant-for its value, and, " strangely ehbugh, was -given judgment for 17s. 6d,; with'costs.Vs; 10<l. Th® ' 'lxird Chancellor, 'so'sooh'as he'heard of this affront bn the "Peers <>f the'-Realm, 'hail the plaintiff'’and 'hfS lawyer dragged ' to' the bar of Die House; and only re-, trained' from' cbiiifii'itti'Hg fhdm to Newgate on their making a htitabte sipql%gy. and disgorging, their .ill-gotten gairis. It. is not an offence, of course, when a noble lord walks 'off; with ~a pommoner’s umbrella, but merely’a mark of honour.

..People, are now beginning.^to. . under- 1 stand why eleven black cats were included in' the personnel of the Renown when she was commissioned to' carw the Prince of Wales to "India. Of course,' thete are‘ddubtei-s who will say flie 'Prince’s 1 great reception is not due ’ to luck at all, but) to the personality of the King’s son. Ona commentato® on lhe eleven black cats incident want® to'know what' is the authority- fbr the supposition that eleven - black cats will bring good fortune? "There is a common belief, he remarks, imperfectly authenticated, t.hdt one black cat. is a good omen; but to multiply the; number by eleven as a means of ensuring the luck seems as questionable as to argue that a. three-leaved hlovcr . must be threequarters as - auspicious-as a four-leaVed one. ■ • 1

Really superstitious people, this doubter adds, .will . repudiate this loyal army of cats on the ground that it is not by calculation and forethought that fortune can be propitiated. Thu people who at ’ the old Tliirtifeii’: Club dinners carefully spilled the salt at every course ran .no risk;, for salt must be spilt accidentally if it is to bo dangerous. ..'Similarly, the only black cats that count in the shadowy lore of superstition are the cat’s’that are spontaneous, and not the cats: that are arranged, or prompted, or enticed. I am fairly certain tliat, according to the’ true laws of occultism, this short dozen .of kittens count- for no more than so many'white rabbits. Still, ■ the Prince has hie luck, and, what is more, deserves it. . •

PASSAGE. When you deliberate tliej.jpagO , Of Alexander’s pilgrimage. Or say—“lt is three years, or ten Since Easter slew Conoßy’s men," Or prudently to judgment come Of Antony or Absalom; And think how duly are designed Case and instruction for the mind; Remember, then,’' that also we,' In a monih’e course; are history'. —John Drinkwatec,