GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 75, 19 September 1911, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS

At a dinner given at Sydney by Madame Melba and Mr. Hugh J. Ward to the visiting artists of the grand opera company, the diva's health was proposed in nine languages. Mr. John Lemmone spoke in English. Countess de Cisneros in Americanised English, Madame KoroIcwiez in Russian, M. Queanel in French, Signors Ciccolinin and Scandiana in Italian, Count Cisneros in Spanish, Mdle. Voluntas-Rauzenberg in German, and \ Mr. Edmund Burke in Irish. "Can anyone speak Esperanto?" asked the Irish basso. "Yes,' promptly replied Mr. Hugh Ward, and he. as nobody seemed to be able to understand him, had the floor uninterrupted for five minutes. When the company caught "la liva, Mrsmada-ma-signora Melba," the admirable piece of ''spoof" was recognised (says the Daily Telegraph) and there were cheers and great hiughter.

Among the sequels of the Coronation is-an unpleasant mystery concerning a diamond brooch, worth £3OO. It appears to have been picked up after the ceremony in tins Abbey by a lady, who gave it to the Gold-Stick-in-Waiting, who passed it on to a policeman, with instructions to hand it over to his superiors. Enquiring about it a. few days later, the official found that the. brooch had not been forthcoming. AH the policemen who had been on duty at the Abbey, some fifty men. of good service, were paraded at Cannon Row police sta ; tion, and all indignantly repudiated any knowledge of the brooch. But next day it was sent anonymously to the lost property office in Scotland Yard hi u matchbox. There is great anxiety among the police that the. culprit should be detected. The name of the owner of the brooch is not given in most versions of the affair, but some papers say it was Lady Forrest. , "You may sometimes meet people who come back from a visit to England," said Sir William McMillan, at a meeting of the British Empire League in Sydney, "and begin to talk about the decadence of the Mother Country, and her relative decline, as compared with other countries. I believe that this is all absolute nonsense. England is as vigorons to-day as at any period of her history. She is as great as ever and greater than almost anv country in any part of the world. Her prosperity ii wonderful. Take a few figures. In 1901 her trade amounted to £870,000,000; in 11)10 it was £1.200.000,000, about 50 per cent, more than that of Germany or America. In the same year she spent on her railways £ 1,300,000,000. The deposits in her banks amount to £800,000,000. It is estimated that the amount of money invested in foreign countries is £3,000,0(10,000. Wherever I made enquiry I saw no sign of decay. England is going ahead year after year, and is to-day the commercial wonder of the world." The heroism of a British naval commander in saving a merchant ship and her crew even at the risk of his own ship was told when the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, on behalf of the underwriters and Messrs R. Hughes, .lones and Co.. owners of the Liverpool sailing ship Celtic Race, presented a handsome silver centre-piece to Commander, Hall, of his Majesty's ship Xatal. Last February the Celtic Race left Liverpool with a general curgo of great value for Australia. The vessel immediately ran into tempestuous weather, and was badly knocked about. Sail after sail was carried away by gales and eventually the ship was tossed almost helplessly off the coast of Pembrokeshire, and the dilliculties of the crew were increased by the death of the master from pneumonia. Distress signals brought out three lifeboats, but heavy seas prevented any one of them from renchinir the vessel. At the critical moment 11.M.5. Natal came on the senile, and, finding it absolutely impossible to get a tow rope on the ship, Commander Hall decided to take the one chance'of rescue by attempting, in defiance of Xavy regulations, at the risk of his reputation, the perilous task of entering the narrow channel into Milford Haven, and so piloting the ship into ;safety.' His'skilful navigation succeeded in accomplishing the feat, and the ship and crew were saved.