THE EX-EMPRESS EUGENIE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 37

THE EX-EMPRESS EUGENIE.

HER VISIT TO CEYLON. (From Oub Own Correspondent ) WELLINGTON, February 21. Passengers who travelled by the Mooltan to Australia, and who ha\e come on to New Zealand, are talking a good deal about their fellow passenger, the exEmpress Eugenic, who travelled from Marseilles to Colombo. Two of the cabins in the big 1 liner had boon knocked into one for her convenience, and during the voyage she kept up a certain amount of state. The ex-Empress, who travels under the name of Comtesse Pierre#onds, was accompanied by Mdlle. Dallonville (her companion), Mdlle. d<? Ca6tclbagac, Miss Vaughan, M. Pietri (her secretary), Counts Clary and Malvezzi, and her medical attendant. An Australian correspondent forwards mo some particulars of the ex-Empress and her suite as gleaned from Mr Kane, tho purser who is a brother of Mr E. W. Kane, one of the New Zealand parliamentary officers. "The ex-Empress," remarked that gentleman, "is a charming personality, her conversation being bright and cheerful. She generally appeared on deck at about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, and remained there until 10 o'clock at night, except during meal times, when 6he went down into the saloon. At times she paased the hours reading on deck or in the music room, this apa-rtment being her favourite retreat when the weather was cold. She seemed to go out of her way to avoid giving trouble to those about her, and insisted upon being treated in the same way as ?>n ordinary passenger. Occasionally 6he would vary the monotony of life on shipboard by indulging in ' little walks ' on deck with the aid of a stick, which she always kept by her for that purpose. Being now in her eighty-second year, the ex-Empress stoops considerably, and her haif is snow-white. When being spoken to by the members of her suite the ex-Empress was addressed by them as ' Your Majesty,' and to strangers they referred to her as 'the Empress.' Great interest was evinced in the Suez Canal by the ex-Emprese, who wa-s* passing through it in tho Mooltan for the second time only since ehe opened tb.is great waterway in 1869. King Edward wrote to the Governors of Aden, Colombo, and Madras in reference to the visit of tho ex-Empress. Upon the arrival of the Mooltan at Aden the Governor boarded the vessel to pay liis respects to the distinguished passenger, and when she landed at Colombo the Governor of that place was present to receive her. It was her intention to remain about a week in Colombo, and then to visit Kandy, etc., subsequently proceeding to Madras, and returning to the Ceylon port in time to embark by the Mooltan on her next Homeward voyage, cabins having already been engaged in that vessel for the return trip. The &x-Empress, who originally intended making the journey to Colombo in her own steam yacht (the Thistle), expressed her complete satisfaction with her stay on the Mcoltan, and with the manner in which her wants had been studied. "