MONTENEGRO.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 116, 24 August 1910, Page 5

MONTENEGRO.

THE PROCLAMATION CELEBRATION®.

\v Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Cettinje, August 22. King Ferdinand- of Bulgaria and Prince Boris received an ovation. The arrival of the King and, Queen of Italy is expected to-day.

KING AND QUEEN OF ITALY OViATION'ED. Received August 23,10.15 p.m. Cetinje, August 23. The King and Queen of Italy were Ovationed on arrival at Montenegro. King, Emanuel and Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria exchanged visits. NICHOLAS THE FIRST. The little principality of Montenegro {area, .3486 square miles) has a populatin of about, 225,000. The reigning prince, Nicholas I. of Montenegro (or Nikita, as he is .usually called), is what the Frenoh call "un bon garcon." He is 68 years'of age, and there is probably no (ruler on earth more beloved by his people. Simplicity • is, perhaps, the secret of his popularity. His palace resembles a prosperous 'bourgeois residence in France', and his mode of life is on the same modest scale. The "palace" has a large but treeless garden, and a coupie of sentries stand iby ithe front door—these alone denoting that this is the Royal residence. The Crown Prince has a more pretentious dwelling some distance away, but the second son, Prince Mirko, lives "-opposite his father in a squalid row of: houses occupied by minor officials. . There is but little court ceremony or etiquette, at the palace, and the poorest subject or' most obscure stranger is r'eceived a-s a rule, withou.t preliminary formalities. Prince Nikita is, .like , all Montenegrins, devoted to sport of all kinds, and is also a writer of no mean repute, several of his plays having, been produced at the tiny playhouse at Cettinje. The prince has a keen sense of humor, and is stil| as 'buoyant in spirits as his youngest subjeot. An eye-witness relates that at the public announcement of his daughter's betrothal to the Prince of Naples, Nikita I. was seized by a dozen brawny mountaineers and carried bodily down the main street of his capital, roaring- with laughter like a schoolboy! On a rec'ent occasion, also, the rule of Montenegro's love o.f a joke was shown by his reply to a Minister of one of the great Powers, who, during a reception at the-pal-ace, was regretting that the exports of the country were of such a meagre and valueless description. "Well, I don't know," rejoined the Prince, with a twinkle in his eye; "what about my daughters?"