GOSSIP BY THE MAIL.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 425, 14 May 1879, Page 2

GOSSIP BY THE MAIL.

The news brought by the mail has been to a laige extent forestalled by the cablegrams that from time to time have reached us ; but a little detail in some matters may be interesting. The Royal Marriage occupies a considerable space in home papers. A description of the presents alone would occupy several columns. The Queen headed the list with a magnificent “ diamond tiara, the brilliants hanging down in sparkling peaks from a central wreath of brilliants of pure water.” She also gave a pearl and diamond pendant, the jewel of the Royal order of Victoria and Albert, a medallion of the Queen and the Prince Consort, and the Imperial Order of the Crown of India—Her Majesty’s Royal and Imperial cypher—- “ V.R. & I.” in diamonds, pearls, and (urquoses, encircled by a bonier sot with pearls, &c., &c. f down to -silver candle-sticks, spoons, fish slices, and what not. There were present nearly the whole of the Royal Family, the King and Queen of Belgium, a hundred and fifty Ambassadors and Foreign Ministers with their families together with others of note. Yet there was great murmuring among the tradqs people in London, that the matter had been kept too private by the Queen, There was not enough of money spent. .Shopkeepers were sullen, and neglected to illuminate their shops. Politicans did not omit to notice that while Her Majesty had invited the Marquis of Harrington, the leader of the Opposition, she had been pleased to ignore Mr Gladstone. This was no forgetfulness on her part; for some one was officious enough to remind her of Mr Gladstone’s existance, whereupon Her Majesty is said to have remarked, “It is my son’s wedding, and I shall pay all expenses.” That is to say, “I’ll invite whom I like.” It is natural for Her Majesty to prefer the party that made her an Empress, and has done so much to exalt prerogative, hut it is widely thought that a little of the wisdom of the serpent would have changed the Royal decision with respect to the exPremier.

Speaking of Royalty, the Canadian papers are full of its shortcomings. Princess Louise has directed that all ladies attend-; ing her levees must appear in low-necked dresses, unless they produce a medical certificate of ill-health, when they will be permitted to attend in a straight front, but in no case shall a high neck be worn. This does not agree with the climate of Canada, much less with the temper of the people, to whom such ordinances are new, and leading journals have hot shunned to declare their hope that Canadian ladies would have sufficient independance of mind to stay at home, Alas, for such a hope! They would go dressed in medical certificates if her Royal Highness desired it. Ladies come from' all over tlm United States, bringing all their jewels with them, and take up their abode, as near to the Princess as they can, in the hope of seeing and being seen. What thorough-going Republican’s they are! “ The plague ” is an expression that for many years has been without a meaning. Now, however, it revives with a power unknown for generations. The question of quarantineisbeingeagerlly discussed. The nation is unwilling to lie at the mercy of any traveller, or sailor, who, coming from the seat of infection, or having been near one who had come from it, might bring death to hundreds of thousands. Some months ago the servant of an English officer died at Dover, from what medical nun pronounced to be .the plague, His garments, and everything that could convey infection were burned, and the disease spread no further. The like good fortune must not be counted on in other cases. One of the chief difficulties that the authorities will have to encounter, will be the recklessness of the people themselves. Not many yeai‘B ago, a virulent disease broke out among the inhabitants of some wretched hovels on the outskirts of a fashionable watering place. With exemplary promptness, the local authorities removed and isolated the sufferers, arid ordered the burning of the hovels, and all they contained. Some wind of this resolution got abroad before the officials arrived to do the work, and the neighbours flocked in and canned off every portable article they could lay their hands on. The consequence of course was, that the disease appeared in a score of places at once in the towu that before was free from it. It is

riot to be expected, however, that people who are always living on the verge of starvation, should stand by and see property | whether their own or their neighbours’, destroyed with only what appears to them to be the hope of benefiting someone unknown, If these preventative schemes are to be effectual, the nation must pay a fair price for the sacrifices which it wishes to offer for its own welfare.

Now that matters in South Africa are so serious, there is a general disposition to blame the colonists for precipitating war. The British cannot endure defeat, from whatever cause, without saying unpleasant things. Poor Lord Chelmsford, the commander against the Zulus, has to bear the brunt of the indignation of the sovereign people. The Daily News declares that the disaster was due to miserable blundering, and helpless incapacity. The Pall Mall Gazette says his Lordship is utterly “incompetent for the position he now holds.” The Post solemnly announces that it has ,( become a matter of anxious consideration whether the strategy of war should not now be entrusted to the highest available talent.” The Government, however, have confidence in the unfortunate commander.

American papers say that the most complicated will case the world has known is that of Brigham Young. The Prophet left his property to tho Mormon Church and his elder children, while the rank and file of his family are left out in the cold. Now the first difficulty is, that Brigham held and exercised undisputed authority over the persons and property of all his followers. What- then is his property, and what that of tho people ? Then come the requirements of claimants, who dispute the will, and who will probably organise a joint stock company to prosecute. Brigham only had twenty-five wives, who are supposed to have born him at least 125 children. The first of his children were born in 1834, so that he has vast numbers of grandchildren. His sons have contracted plural marriages, and these plural marriages and marriages with other men’s wives, and marriages with women who bad children already, to say nothing of their numerous divorces and separations, must complicate the case considerably. There lias been an amusing little affair between two Glasgow papers. In one of them appeared an advertisement stating that “ nine tons, about 396,0®0 copies” of tho rival journal were on sale as waste at No. so and so. The insulted journal employed a detective, who traced trio “ advt” to the cashier of the paper that published it. Examination brough to light forty-five bags of “ waste” made up, however, of all the papers in the universe, including the offending jo urnal.