The World.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2322, 28 May 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

The World.

[Tiik following paragraphs are extracted from the London society papers and other journals.]

Mont elaborate arrangements are being mado for the reception of the Queen at the Townhall, Birmingham, on her npproaehiug visit. The Queen's apartments will be magnificently furnished and lighted by electricity, by which means; it is believed, they will be rendered much more bright and oheerful than they ordinarily appear. .:!..; I hear that the Prince of Wales has given a conditional promise to visit this year's show of the Bath and West of England Society, which is to bo held at Dorchester during Whitsun week. I am informed that his Royal Highness is to be the guest of Col Hambro, M.P., at Milton Abbey, which is one of tho finest places in Dorsetshire, a stately house, surrounded by beautiful grounds, and a park celebrated for its splendid timber. There is not the slightest probability that the Prince of Wales will visit Australia next year, to preside at the opening of the Melbourne Exhibitiou. The children's ball at Marlboroughhouse, on Thursday evening, was a thoroughly successful function from start to finish. Never did hosts devote themselves more unselfishly to the interests of their guests than the Prince and Princess of Wales, and so well-directed wero their efforts that the paucity of partners and slight over-crowding which at first prevailed' almost passed unnoticed. The Princess of Wales (in blue) looked almost as young aa she did four r and-twenty years ago; her. daughter, the Princess Victoria, was never seen to greater advantage than on Tnursday night; and her aunt, the Princess Beatrice, wore a wonderful dress of pale pink. Lady Dudley (in black,- with diamond stars in her hair, and a matchless pearl necklace) was much admired, and so was Lady Ormonde; Lady Salisbury was in blue, and Madame de Falbe in gray. Lady Archibald Campbell's coiffure reminded one of the triumphs of Combe and Canizara, and her lovely little girl excited almost as much attention as the four comely Ladies Sturt in yellow, or fairylike tiny Miss Mitford, who seemed to appreciate the pleasures of her first ball as if she was fifteen and not five. Lady Augustus Hervey (in red, white, and gold) brought one daughter in pink and another in blue ; Lady Charles Beresford was in black and red. The Prince of Wales appeared to find special enjoyment in personally conducting troops of charming children to supper; and everybody was sorry when half-past two arrived, and it was time to go. Nobody could well feel old on Thursday night; but when the time for next year's " children's ball" cornea- round, the best host and hostess in the United Kingdom will celebrate their "silver wedding." There is no truth in the statement, which has been widely circulated, that an application is be made to Parliament this year for an allowance for Prince Albert Victor. Princo Alexander of B-ittenburg's convalescence is progressing as favourably as possible. At Cheltenham, the Industrial and Art Exhibition is now in course of emotion, in St. James's-square, and when . completed will cover a large area of ground. The opening, I understand, is fixed for the middle of June, it being the inteution of the promoters to make it for n one of the local celebrations of the month. An American hostess, and not at the Riviera ! She had learut th»t it was customary to address the Prince of Wales as Sir, and with that Royal guest was perfectly at her ease, But her volume un etiquette, or those around her, had not sufficiently educated her as to the correct title wherewith to address his Royal Highness's son. The ingenuity of the woman and the cleverness of the American were not between, them to be denied, and that gentleman passed an evening for the first time in hia life under tbo title of "Sir Albert." Nothing, perhaps, could give a better idea of the distance India was from England between seventy and eighty years ago, than the fact that George Ill.'s Jubilee was celebrated out there the year after its celebration at home. It was kept in the summer of ISIO. Calcutta was illuminated for the battle of Waterloo on Monday, December 18th, 1815, the news having arrived a few days before. Nowadays sporting men do not leave the club at Allahabad for bed before they have heard what horse won the Derby that afternoon. Quakers have ever held the reputation of being a thrifty class, but never has this characteristic been so thoroughly shown as in the report of the Friends' Provident Institution for the past 12 months. In this report it is stated that there were 17 deaths among _the annuitants, and the average age of these was 75 years. ■ The Liberal Union has received a considerable accession of strength in the course ofjthe past week or two. In point of fact, it would seem to be by no means unlikely, if the present rate of progress continnes, and the raison d'etre of the Union endures, that a permanent clubhouse will be acquired before long to a.ccomodate its members. Theatrical management is not usually a paying speculation when undertaken by amateur hands, as the Earl of Lonsdale is probably now aware. His American trip is said to have cost him something like £10,000. I learn on good authority that Lord Randolph Churchill will return to the Ministry after the debate on the Budget is finished, and that the post he will take will be that of Secretary for India. He will, therefore, not return to England, or at least to the House of Commons, until the Budget has been produced, and has passed the various stages in Parliament. The chief topic of conversation at Marlborough-house on Thursday was the engagement of Lord Cranborue to Lady Alice Gore, Lady Airlie'a sister and Lord Arrau's second daughter, which is highly approved by Lord and Lady Salisbury. The future mistress of Hatfield is both amiable and accomplished. She twenty, and lost her-mother, a Jocelyn, from consumption,, sixteen years ago. There seems to be a certain fitness in a marriage which unites, as it were, the past, present, and future of our political history, for Lady Alice Gore is both the great-granddaughter of Lady Palmersfcon and the great-great-granddaug-hter of Lord Melbourne. Lord and Lady Bute returned last week to Chiswickhouse from Mount Stuart, tbeir seat near Rothesay, where they havo been passing the winter. Lord Bute has rented Chiswick from the Duke of Devonshire for a term of years. Mr Tankerville Chamberlayne has, in a very sporting spirit, offered the Queen's Cup, which was won so long ago as 1852 by the famous old Arrow, which lias now existed some sixty summers, as a challenge cup to be competed for by any American yacht. Mr Chamberlayne proposes certain conditions, and, if these be accepted, he is quite willing to put the old ship in thorough racing fettle. Mr Charles Basset, of Watermouth Castle, who is to succeed Lord Elmugton in the mastership of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, is to take over the pack the week after next. Mr Basset, who will commence hunting about August 10th, has taken the whole country (including the Quantock district, about which there has been so much trouble of late) tor two years, the subscription being £1000 a year, but he only undertakes for two days in each week. Mr Basset's appointment is very popular, and under his rule it may be hoped that the prestige which the staghounds obtained when the late Mr Fenwick Bissot was master may be recovered. The name of Basset is well-known onExmoor, and Colonel Basset, of Watermouth, was master of the staghounds for sixteen years, nearly a century ago. It is expected that Mr Basset will hunt from Exford, as Watermonth is ab an utterly

impossible distance from many of the principal meets. Mr W. H. Smith is really making a capital leader of the House. There is a quiet dignity and determination about his bearing which arc essential for the difficult part ho has to play. A Parliamentary leader must in the first place inspire confidence iu his own people—in his followers of all-shades and opinions. He must in the second place—and this is scarcely less important —inspire his opponents with respect. Both these highly delicate duties are well and worthily fulfilled by Mr Smith. Prebendary Anderson, who was the best known and the most learned of all the Bath clergy, died suddenly ou Saturday week, and the event is greatly regretted in that city, as he had always been zealous in the promotion of every good work. He was minister of Octagon chapel, where the present Bishop of Peterborough officiated for some years. Prebendary Anderson was beneficed in the north of Ireland for many years, and came to' Bath in 1872. He was an eloquent aud effective preacher, aud a man of great leasning. He took high honours at Trinity College, Dublin, and as an acknowledgment of his University distinction he was elected a life-member of the Senate.' The late Bishop Praecr kept his private accounts in a very methodical way, and it appears that during the period that he occupied the See of Manchester his charitable expenditure amounted to £31,530, which was considerably more than half the amount he received as stipend, and, until the Bishop's marriage, his private ■means were very limited. Lord Pembroke has accepted the mastership of the Granborne Hunt, in succession to Lord Somerton, who resigned because of the inadequate support that was accorded to him. I learn from Scotland that the salmon disease is very prevalent in the Tweed, and it seems to be increasing. Large numbers of dead fish have been taken out of the river ; and iu one noted " stretch," near Kelso, nearly fifty were removed in two days. The directors of the Great Western Railway are about to spend a large sum of money in refurnishing and redecorating the Queen's waiting-room at their Windsor station. The Master of Trinity has been appointed to preach the Ramsden sermon at Cambridge, before the University, on Whitsun-day. It would seem from the evidence that came ' before the Committee on Naval Contracts that it is the practice of the Admirality to send stores of rum and sugar from England to Jamaica and rice to India, the goods having previously been imported from those colonies.