MAIL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 348, 24 February 1902, Page 3

MAIL NEWS.

London, Jan. 4

Tho great social fact of the now year is the big place King Edward has begun to fill in the public eye. Already he has become really the centre of England s social system. When Queen Victoria reigned society was headless and inchoate. Nowadays the King is the undisputed social autocrat. His countenance is the end-all of social distinction.

Hence his resolution to hold drawingrooms at night instead of in the afternoon, together with the understanding that admission is to be only by invitation, has shaken society to its foundations. It means that the Court entertainments will be more select than heretofore, and that one’s presence there will mean either an assured social status or special Boyal favor.

Edward Vll.’s popularity as King is even greater than it was as Prince of Wales. “God Save the King” is sung with vastly more enthusiasm than was “ God Save the Queen ” in the last reign. It was through him that Sir Ernest Cassel made his .£200,000 gift for a hospital for consumptives. The King is always urging his millionaire friends to use their surplus wealth for great charitable objects. Cassel said be desired to apply .0200,000 to founding an institution for the education of children orphaned by the war. The King is credited with suggesting the hospital scheme,

Budapest, Jan. 4. An extraordinary duel has just been .ought at the village of Csurog between two peasant youths named Arlian and Janik, following a quarrel over cards. Arlian wanted to fight with fists, but Janik insisted on pistols. Both were blindfolded and Arlian was shot in the abdomen and mortally wounded. The pistols were loaded with chopped lead. Janik and his seconds were arrested. In reply to the Magistrate’s question as to how the duel was arranged, Janik replied: “ We fought as gentlemen do.” St. Petersburg, Jan. 4.

Two peasants of the Russian village Guilusha, old men, long bosom friends were making merry, when one of them named Matyeeff, having spent all his money, appealed to the other, Gritchcnkin, for another bottle of vodka. Gritehenkin consented provided Metyeeff would swap wives, offering a calf to boot. Matyeeff, whose wife is young and comely, agreed, although Mrs Gritehenkin is old and sickly. The noxt morning old Mrs Gritehenkin appeared with the calf at Matyeefffs cottage, whereupon young Mrs Metyeeff went to old Gritehenkin’s house. A week later tho authorities heard of the exchange and sent the wives to their lawful husbands. The villagers think the authorities have interfered in a most unwarrantable way with an ancient privi lege,

Paris, Dec. 27.

The police are now making a raid against the players of the hand-organs in the streets of Paris, and these players of what has been a fairly profitable trade or art, just as you please, for there are many individuals in this city who are not averse to hearing mechanical melody ground out beneath their windows from day to day, are indignant. It seems to them a bitter irony to be shut up in the “ violin,” which is a more euphonious name for our calaboose, be* cause they have wished to soothe the savage ear of the street with divine if wellworn melody. It is only at Montmartre that they are able to turn their in peace now, and there life is no longer a dream of joy. They threaten to quit the scene, and some thirty-four of them, according to the count of a fellow artist who prefers to stand by his guns on Parisian soil, have sailed for the United States, and some for New Zealand.

Berlin, Jan. 4.

The Kaiser’s antipathy to the Municipal Council of Berlin is widely known, but the reason for it is not. The pique is the result of a long-standing dispute between the Empress and the Town Council, in which the Kaiser naturally takes his consort’s side. The Empress has been largely instrumental in building twenty-two churches in Berlin, and has repeatedly applied to the Borlin Corporation for help, the applications being invariably doclined. Only ten per cent of the adult population of Berlin has sitting room in the churches, and too EuijM-ess believes it is her mission to provido for the rest. • B»t the Corporation, largely composed of Socialists ana Free-Thinkers, steadily objects to using the people’s money for this object. About two years ago tho Empress sent a sharp letter to the municipality, saying that in her opinion it was remiss in duty in thus neglecting the spiritual necessities of the city. The letter gave great offence, and since that time the City Council has declined to congratulate the Empress on her birthday or to take any official notice of any function in which she is engaged.