NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 May 1927, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL.

AFTER 14 V EARS. VANCOUVER, April 5. The city of Vancouver is buyin<4 from Germany for the lirst time in fourteen years. AYilli only three aldermen dissenting, the city council lias accepted a tender for Jifty-one water valves from : a Berlin linn for '£111)8. Alderman Macinnes, a- Labour representative, said he would have voted against acceptance ol the German offer had the rival firms been Canadian. hut he could not see any reason 'for throwing away more than L'tiOtl in order to accept a. British lender when Britain set the example of buying Argentine beef for her troops because the price was lower than the Australian. FREE FIGHT IX (Ml UKCH. VIENNA, April o. At the village, church of Alsogoi'od in Slovakia, where the bishop's administrator has ordered that once a month, at least, a hymn shall he sung in the Slovakian language, the first attempt to carry out this injunction was delicti by the predominating Hungarian element in the congregation. which | lustily sang another hymn in llungarI inn. [ Such an uproar ensued that the priest was obliged to suspend the seil vice altogether, and the men ol the congregaton then engaged in a I >'ee light in the church, which < a used downright pandemonium. Gendarmes had to enter to put an end to the tumult. PFRCELL IN VIENNA. VIENNA. April o. Henry Purcell's opera. "Dido and Aeneas.” written in 16S1). was the principal feature of the historical evening of French, Italian and British classics on the stage of the Bedoulensaal. in the I loflnirg here, on Sunday. March 27th. Dido wore a crinoline, and the staging was in no nay characteristically English, so that British musical critics and professors missed a great deal in it that they would have liked to see. Ti was more like a representation at the court of Louis XV. modi! have been. KINK SINGING. Hut. the singing left no room for criticism, and the general effect of the production here has been to enhance respect for .British music. It has received a permanent, place in the repertoire 'of the State Opera. In which the splendid Bcdoutensaal is subordinated, being specially suitable for operas of this tvpe. ‘-Figaro" and classical ballets are often put on. and the performances have much the t-lfi cl they might have had upon a Court in the 18th. century. It is one of the finest ballrooms in the world, with a platform at one end, and a musicians' gallery above Tt. The Vienna Press speaks with courteous surprise of the qualities ol Purcell's "Dido,” describing it as a "Sunday school version of Virgil’s legend." and conceding its “fidelity to style, judged by all canons of art.” RUSSIAN TREASCRKS. RIGA, April G. Agents of the Soviet’s chief scientific commission have begun to remove the pitiful remnant of the treasures which once made Saint Isaac’s Cathedra! in Petrograd one ot the most renowned in Europe. According to the Petrograd Pravda the Government has decided to convert the cathedral into a museum, .since the Orthodox; Church is unable to fin nine the expensive repairs which are needed. Saint Isaac's is the third largesi cathedral in Europe, ranking next t< Saint Peter's at Rome and Sain] Paul’s in London. In 11)21 the Bolslie viks removed the jewels, ikons, solie silver altar rails, and costly chure; plate, which were later valued a C 1.000,000. Some of these valuable treasure: are now in the Hermitage Museum, bu ms it of the precious metal has beei melted to join the Bolshevik preciou metals reserve.