General News.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3749, 3 January 1881, Page 2

General News.

Judging from the following paragraph,! by'" Civis "in the Otago Daily Time*** the musical taste of the Dunedinitei is not of a very high order :—" A little incident, which occurred at Ketten's first recital, and was repeated on the following nights, tells its own tale. A number of the audience rose two pieces before the ten minutes interval, and made for the door. Were they disgusted, tired out, surfeited P : Not in the least. They had simply got wrong in their tally. Ketten began with a sonata of Beethoven's in three movements, separated in performance by a slight pause. A part ';jifi his intelligent ' audience took these three movements for the tnree first items in the programme, miscounted consequently all through, gotiM to the " interval " two pieces in advance oflfl the performer, and went off for their beerfl or their smoke without discovering theiifl mistake. Beethoven's solemn " adagio "H they had read as a •' gavotte ", and had^| listened sapiently to Chopin's spirituell^H " Berceuse" as Liszt's transcription o^H the " Wedding March I" I have hearb^H before of an unsophisticated audience^J assembled to hear the " Creation " mis^H taking the preliminary operation o^H "tuning" for the. "Representation o^M Chaos," with which, as the programm^B informed them, the oratorio began. Tha^| was not altogether an unnatural error^H But to mistake a Beethoren adagio for l^| gavotte! Ugh ! the barbarians!" >^H The Queen, it seems, is a stern stickle^H for etiquette, naval, as well as Courtly, aniV' has sucli an objection to anyone bulf herself flying the Imperial Royal Stan« dard in her neighborhood that, even when the.Prince of Wales is in Southampton waters he carries at the main his own flag, which is the Imperial ensign with what- heraldists call a " bar of pretence." When, the other, day, he was off Cowei, and the old quartermaster was about to hoist the standard, the prince, wha happened to be standing by, observed to him that he hoped it was the correct bunting. "Oh, yes, your Royal High* , ness," was the reply; " this is your own flag, the one that has the bar of the Pre* tender in it." However, it was the wrong standard, and history goes that the Queen took notice of the matter, but, on hearing from someone of the Prince's story of the quarter-deck conversation, laughed heartily at the heraldic knowledge possessed by the quartermaster. ' I JThe Basuto war came about in this way.' The Basuto people had obtained possession of arms of precision, the Government! considered they should not be allowed to keep them. flhe natives were ordered to give them up and refused to do ao. Then' the Cape authorities found that some difficulty would arise in forcing com* 1 bliance with their demands, and eava Lerothodi-a leading chief—to understand ' that the surrender of ten guns would ' suffice to heal our wounded pride. Tint this small solatium was refused and" so we' " have gone manfully to work to fiofif tl. battle out. gaC tM. -'- Uncompli:mbntaey.—The Fiji Times' publishes some valedictory verses ontU ' departure of Sir Arthur Gordon forV-J-' Zealand. The first four stanzas ri» Tfair idea of the whole :— MTe h ;' Not a sigh wa* beard, not a farewell eh« *' As bis Ex. gava the signal for starting. > ' * - Noh a toady could squeeze out a crocodiL i! i " While they went through the humh! *T«' t parting. «*uug <»,, ,j No concouwe of citizens flocked to tb ß f J' 'i No public address was presented • Wr»n«l< •jj Not a,kerchief was waved bv'a n . ~''-'A hand, Wy-whi^f^ And there wasn't a bou! fch a t lamented '' ■' They solemnly bore him away from «' , •■ ' And the eye of the people went afL *hot* v Bat the only expression each ooaif ' ; ■ wore, """^nanci--a broad grin approaching to l*uA t ' * It was grief, no doubt, to a cheerful n, .6r * i' '"' Its sorrowM transports subdiii nt , ln» • ' moral young persons' IW. ' r " Aberdeen, DB,trom ptfofcj Did the whole of the formal Bochjjo " 1-^' 1 * \^m