NEWS BY MAIL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 364, 15 April 1910, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL

DIAMONDS OF AN E.MPIIKS.'s. WORTH .f2.30,000. (RABID PROTESTS 13Y DISLLI'LES OF DISCONTENT. Munich, February 15. Socialist journals in South Uermany ■have seized on particulars of the jewels worn by the German Empress at the Court festivities which have just come to an end, to criticise what they are pleased to term the appalling extravagance revealed by the "mother of the nation" in this respect. At the most important Court balls and banquets the Empress wore jewels to the value of £250,000. These included a large diamond tfara, a h»ck■lace of pearls and diamonds, several diamond bracelets, diamond rings on all fingers, a diamond .chain wound round the waist, -and the train of the dress was decked with wonderful precious stones. A few superfluous stones were affixed to the Imperial fan. During the Court functions two pages are entrusted with the duty of watching the Empress incessantly, to make sure that none of her precious stones fall off.

Most of the jewellery is not the Empress' private property, but the property of the Prussian Crown, and descends from Empress to Empress. The Empress' own jewellery is worth less than that of many middle-class ladies.

At the conclusion of each Court festivity the Crown jewels are replaced in a fire-proof safe, where they are carefully guarded day and night. None but ladies-in-waiting (all of high birth) are allowed to deck the Empress with her jewels and to remove them afterwards. ROOSEVELT ROMANCE. ELDEST SON ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED. New York, February 11. The Herald announces that Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, junr,, eldest son of, exPreaident Roosevelt, is engaged to be married to Miss ETeanor Alexander, the daughter of Mrs. Henry Addison Alexander.

Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, junr., is 23 years of age, and is at present in the employ of the Steel Trust. He began his business career as a wool sorter in a carpet factory in the State of Connecticut, where he worked at a .nominal salary of a few shillings a week. *6e is a graduate of Harvard University, and is regarded as a very serious>minded young man who aspires to sucI ceed in the commercial world. Miss Alexander is the daughter oi a prominent society woman of New York, She made her debut three years ago. She is said to be very pretty. ORDERS DISOBEYED. 100 LIVES SACRIFICED BY AN OFFICER'S ENTHUSIASM. Paris, February 17. M. Me.sainy, reporter of the Military Estimates Committee, stated in the Chamber to-day in connection with the massacre of the Fiegenschuch column of 100 men, that Captain Fiegenschuch had been forbidden to occupy the Wadai, and had disobeyed his instructions. He continued:—

Events like those of yesterday are going to compel us to spend large sums in occupying a desert and resourceless country. The British have not, as we have, a mania for regrettable occupations. The British occupy Egypt and Khartoum, but, wiser than us, they do not occupy Darfur." M, Etienne, leader of the French Colonial Party, retorted that the British had done as the French had done, only with more ample resources. To-morrow the British would go to Darfur. M. Messiny rejoined that in his opin:c France had nothing to do in the desc: "f the Sahara, and that the.r energies should not be wasted in efforts in those regions—(heroic, indeed, but likely to be for a long time sterile. TIRED OF LIFE. ACTRESS ATTEMPTS SUICIDE. New York, February 17. A telegram to the Herald from Kansas City states that Miss Agness Elkins, the beautiful niece of Mr. Stephen Elkins, the United State Senator, and a cousin of Miss Katherine, who was formerly engaged to be married to the Duke of Abruzzi, attempted to commit suicide there yesterday. Miss Elkins, who was a member of a dramatic company, shot herself below the heart, after leaving a note, which read: "I am tired of life. I have no home or friends."

Miss Elkins, who is an orphan, went to New York several years ago for the purpose of becoming an actress. Senator Elkins persuaded her not to use the family name, and she agreed to call herself Miss Leslie Cecil. It is believed that she will recover. WOMAN STRANGLED. WHAT DISGUISE MEANS IN CHINA. Shanghai. February 17. A woman who disguised herself as a man has been sentenced by the local authorities at Soochow to death by strangulation for lowering the public morality. The National Review, a Chinese newspaper, which gives an account of the case, says that a "man" was ar.estcd at Yuenwo and brought befoi'3 tlhe magistrate at Eoochow for trial oil a charge of kidnapping. The prisoner said "he" had been a soldier, and the magistrate ordered "him" to be beaten with bamboos. It was found, however, that the prisoner was a woman, and the authorities condemned lier to death after she had been severely flogged. The woman's defence iwas that s>lie was unable to support herself after her husband's death, and consequently adopted male attire.