The World.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2352, 6 August 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

The World.

[Tub following paragraphs are extracted from the Loudon society papers and other journals.] Tho perseverance of the Prince of Wales has prevailed, and the Imperial Institute has at hist satisfactorily turned the corner. All fear of a fiasco has departed, and there is joy at Marlborough-house and iu Adam-street. Up to Saturday last the United Kingdom has contributed about £185,000, and Canada £20,000, while Australia promises nearly £IOO,OOO. Fresh lists are pouring in daily, and the Indian chiefs meditate making very large offerings by way of muzzur. It is not improbable that the Queen will intimate a strong wish to add to all this the surplus of the W. J. 0., and before the 4th July the total will probably roach £400,000.

The Grand Duke Michel Michailovitch of Russia, who arrived in London last week, is supposed to have come to England in the character of a possible suitor for the hand of one of the daughters of tho Priuco and Princess of Wales, Tho Grand Duke, who was horn in 1861, is a first cousin of the Czar, being the second of the six sons of the Grand Duke. Michel Nioolaievitch, and his mother is the youngest daughter of the late Grand Duke of Baden, and therefore sister of the reigning Grand Duke and of the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The Grand Duke Michel’s only sister is married to tho Hereditary Grand Duke of MecklouburgSohworin. The toilets moat admired at the last Drawing-room were those of the Duchesses of Buccleuch and Westminster, Lady Airlic, Mrs Phelps, Lady Aveland, Lady Montague, Lady Gordon Cathcart (her jewels were splendid), Lady Spencer, and, above all, the Maharanee of KuchBehar, who attended by special invitation of the Queen, and who may be said to have carried off all the honours of the day so far as costume was concerned. Her dress was of cloth-of-go!d of Eastern design, trimmed with gold-and-white fringe and splendid lace, with a sardis of sumptuous gold and white brocade, and feathers, shoes of scarlet and gold, and a perfect blaze of diamonds. The story is being told of one of the members of .the Royal family who, during her visit to a certain town one day, called upon the Mayor, who hept a grocer’s shop. While the Princess was engaged with the proprietor, his wife began a sympathetic and confidential conversation with the ladies-in-waiting, who were rather amused at her ingenuous observations. But the limit at which gravity is possible was suddenly reached when the Mayoress soothingly remarked, “ Well, yes! I s’posc you’ve got nice easy places ? Do you get your Sundays out, now?” The ostrich feathers which were sold during March at Port Elizabeth, in South Africa, realised £26,245.

Five vessels from Dundee have been employed this season in the Newfoundland seal fishery, and they have caught 50,950 seals, as against 41,880 last year. I see that an order has been issued at Woolwich forbidding soldiers to carry children in the streets. Does this apply to Woolwich infants? Who shall say that curate worship is a thing of the past ? When the curate of Cheltenham fainted last Sunday during service, no less than seven young ladies in the congregation followed his example. The New York Central Railroad have determined to make their “Limited Mail ” to the West the most luxurious train in the world. There is to be a bathroom, barber’s shop, two toilet rooms, and a library. The sleeping accommodation is to he most sumptuous, and the whole train is to be lighted by electricity. The number of Scotch estates in the market increases daily. Mr Watson Lyall, of Pull Mall, the well-known Scotch agent and author of the “Sportsman’s Guide,” has several millions of pounds’ worth on his hands for sale, and at his usual sales in June and July will expose a number of properties of the aggregate value of over half a million sterling. I am glad to be able to state that the whole of the jewels of the Maharajah of Kuck-Brhar have been recovered from the wreck of the P. and 0. liner, the Tasmania. One gentleman received notice from the company that a bag containing several hundreds of pounds had been found in a broken trunk labelled with his name. Now the gentleman in question only owns to having a few sovereigns in his pocket for expenses on the voyage, but he begins to suspect that his wife had a hidden store. What is he to do P Shall he ask her ? Shall he take the money, or shall he refuse it P

Though strenuous efforts have been made to keep the facts out of the papers, there is no doubt whatever thet a very serious state of affairs, partly domestic and partly political, has lately been existing at the Servian Court, brought about by the undisguised partiality of Queen Nathalie for Russia, and by the equally ardent devotion of King Milan for Austria. To still more accentuate the situation, the King, to put the matter mildly, is very susceptible to feminine influence; and it was his undisguised partiality for the pretty wife of a wellknown diplomat at his Court that all but brought matters to an open rupture at Belgrade not long since.

These little disclosures which the North German Gazette is making about the origin of the last Turkish war must make Mr Gladstone wince, if, indeed, he remembers such ancient history as the Bulgarian agitation of 1577-80. He and his followers told us then that Russia drew her sword to free the struggling nationalities of , the Balkan peninsula from Turkish tyranny, and with no thought of self-aggrandisement. The North German Gazette, with more knowledge of the facts than Mr Gladstone had or has, tells us now that Russia first squared Austria, and got her consent to the partition of Turkey, Austria to get Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia to satisfy herself further eastward. Austria got both provinces; but Russia, after her costly war, got nothing, being foiled by ths much-abused Berlin treaty. Not only that, but, thanks to Lord Beaconsfield’s diplomacy, new and energetic kingdoms were interposed between her and Constantinople. These are now more hostile to Russia than they ever were to Turkey, and the result is, that the Russian bear is farther off Constantinople than he was before the war. The story is a very interesting one, and should prove instructive to the English agitators against Lord Beaoonsfield’s policy.