ROUND THE WORLD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2307, 29 May 1886, Page 2

ROUND THE WORLD.

Truth has thefollowingsevere paragaphs concerning the Duke of Edinborough, who has been recently appointed to tho command of the Mediterranean squadron : It would have boen ut "good day" for John Brown if he could havo seen the member of the Royal family he most detostod receiving in sour silenoo a distinction which ho was not permitted todoolino', Tho Duko of Edinborough always troatod her Majesty's favored monial with tho most supercilious hauteur, and took a characteristic pleasure in snubbling him before persons belonging to tho Household, but "J. 8." soon understood this gamo, and was too cunning to give H.R.H. tho chance of " insulting" him in the presence of tho people whom it was tho pleasure of his life to bully and patronise, so that latterly he kept out of the way when the Duke was atCourt.—The Duke of Edinburgh has put all his people on half pay during tho term of his command, arid the most Hevore economy is to' b'o enforced in all departments of his household. This is rather tto bad, Booing how' largely ho gains by his being afloat',' The Duke had even a dosign of letting Glarenco House, but was obliged tq abandon tl|e idea. This is a matter that concerns himself and liisßervants; but, if it bo correct that, as hay is dearer in Malta than in England, ho had 130 boys removed from tho Tarpr in order to make room for some hay, and that it cost the' Government £3OO to send the boys out by another ship, it might bo dusirablo that the Royal Admiral should be respectfully requested not to praottce theft at the taxpayers' expense, M. Ernest Renan has Issued a fervent appeal for subscriptions to enable M. Maspera to prosecute bis labors in clearing'away the soil by which tho plinth of the Sphinx of Ghizeh is hiddent This is a vast mass of ohiselled rock, upwards of 200' yards in length. Pliny believed it to be the tomb in which would bo found a crypV-a sepulchre, and a chapel. Marietta was of the same opinion, This vast monument is believod to be 6,000 years old, and 3,000 years are known tn have elapsed since complaintß wore first made of its being gradually buried by tho sand-drift.

The Union Club in Berlin, of which the Emporor is president, and the King of Saxony, the Grand Duke of Mecklingbur)?, and about a dozen toerraan princes are honary_ members, has been tabooed by the Imperial family; in Consequence of its having been discovered that it had become little bettor thau hell. The Print* Fwa Yea HrttfeM'TOdtfn-'

burg, nephew of a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had also been ambassador in London, had been .cited to appear before one of tho civil courts in the Prussian capitals, to make restitution of three promissory notes, representing £IB,BOO, which were aliened to have been improperly obtained at play from : Baron Engelberg von Herdringen. The plaintiff in thia caseT belongs to a nnhle family which has given many prince-bishopa to the cliuroh, and J the woalth which they accumulated he has been doing his best to dissipato at / - the gambling table. And the vice it ii said, is terribly pravalent in the '"best society."

"Oivis,"iu the Otago Witness, tell* : the following amusing s^ory:—ln a oertain countrydistrlctthe spirit of Christian brotherhood permits the Catholio' priest. and Presbyterian minister to be fast friends—greatly to the dissatisfaction of the latter's parishioners, who, nevertheless, had not ventured to remonstrate. A few Sundayß back, the minister with some of lub elders, was standing at the manse gate after church when the priest came along iu his buggy. The minister signalled him.to stop, and walked into the road for a, chat.. When ha returned, the senior elder thought it his duty to "lift up .his testimony."' What • fellowship.could there be between iater of the posp'el-and'that "Popiffl. mummer.?" " \\Wamm''think," st§J|t the elder, " what ye hae to say till hin/W" or what he has to say till you.", WelhT M'Tavish," replied the minister, "as to , that, I'll tell you what I. said to Father Donovan and what he said to me, I said to him,' How are ye, old' boy ?' and he answered,'Firstrate, my eon.' Then! said, 'l'll swap collections with you,' and ' ■' he answered, 'No fear, cooky!—l know your flock,' and he drove on. That's all gentlemen, good day,"—and the minister left his eiders to worry out the signfllc nnce of.tho conversation at their leisure. One of the most interesting and amusing booking of this season, Bays Truth, is the Rev. 0. A,'Wilkinson's '•Reminiscences of the Court and Times of King Ernest of Hanover." The two volumes abound in good and new stories of King Erneßt, and also of a perfect host of celebrities, both English and German. There is a capital anecdote of the King's abhorrence of medicine. Hu was seriously ill, and saw numerous doctors, but he would not tako any medicine:—As any bottle or powder was brought, hia Majesty said "Put it in the cupboard;" and again and again it was " Put in tho cupboard." Not one drop was touoh*. Starving and patience wore the only nwdies resorted to. At last His Majesty got/ A his good turn, and began to feolithat ho)Ja could eatagainwith relish, and, by degrooa, ™ nature flung off the disorder, whatever it was, which had run its course. His Majesty was up and dressed early, and at bußineas, "Get all these bottles, powders, and pill-boxes out of the cupboards," he said, " and range them in a row round the room." It was a very small room and they Blmoat made a circle round the walls. The doctors came in smirking and Bmiling, and congratulated the King upon being up again and looking so well, "lea, doctoi'B," said his Majesty, "thank God it is so, But look there count it up, Don't you think if I had taken all that d —d Btuff 1 should have been dead long ago ?"

The Bavarian Government is negotiating for the purchase of Prof. Nicolle'a recently discovered Raphael, " La Yields au Sein," whioh it is proposed to place in tho Pinicothnck at Munich, Tho price aaked for this picture is 100,000 dollars.

The population of Borne is increasing at the rate of 20,000 per annum, ana building sites outside the walls of thfusity have become bo valuable that the o Ara of some of the most famous of the nlatorical villas, which have adorned its environs evor since the middle ages, an * f selling thum and their BUiTomidin'ww .\ pleasure-grounds to syndicates, Thesewj are cutting up the estates into building allotments, and the Roman suburbs will soon offer a painful resomblanco to the outer boulevards of Paris.

Aocordini? to a Munioh newspaper, the latest eccentricity of the King of Bavaria dospitrt his peouniary embarrasmunts, is the issue of an order for the building of two new Royal Caatlea, one in Byzantine, and the other in Chines* style.

Mr Ruikin, writing on Education, says: —" I know of nothing that has been taught the yiutha of our time, except that their athors were apes, and their mothers winkles, that the world began in accident and will end in darkness honour is a folly, ambition a virtue, charity a vice, poverty a crime, and rascality the means of all wealth, and the sum of all wisdom." In the course of his speech outhfcsavv Estimates, Sir Charles Boreßford'nrged that heavy armour-clad vessels, would prove of little use in war, and that the British navy was lamentably weak in oruisers and torpedo-boats as compared with foreign powers, more especially with France and Rubbm. He stated that "it would havo been perfect madness if tho . Government had sent n fleet last year to the Baltic It could tako but eight torpedo boats, only two of whioh could be called efficient, whilst the Russians had *l 98 boats, of whioh 35 woro thoroughly j efficiont."