Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), Monday 25 November 1901, page 6


PERSONAL NOTES FROM

LONDON.

-

(From our Special Correspondent.)

London, October 25, 1901.

THE KING'S HEALTH.

Club gossips are just now asking one another, "Has the King cancer in his throat, and does he know it?"' The answer mo-=t favored by some who plume them-selves on their knowledge of matters con-cerning Royalty i=, '"He has cancer, but doesn't know it."' and they will tell you further, that an eminent physician gives the King one bare year's léate of life.

It is highly improbable that if the King had a. euiieerous throat he would be keps in ignorance thereof, and it is still more im-probable that if the physicians of the Court even suspected the existence of a malig-nant growth in his throat they would per-mit him to make Mich, free use of his vocal organ as he has done of late. The basis of the rumor is probably to be found ¿n the fact that "rheumatism" has covered a mul-titude of Royal maladies in their incipient stages during recent years. It has been the synonym for all tilings in the way of sick-ness which have fallen to the lot of Euro-pean royalties, male and female. The King recently was publicly declared to be suffer.ng from rheumatism, and, as the human mind is prone to give its fears the shape of that which we most dread, the natural outcome of the King's indisposition was the suggestion of cancer-most dreaded of ali human diseases. In King Edward's case rhe public fear more readily rakes that shape because of the fate of the late Em-press of Germany. ' Whether cancer really caused her death we do not know, but it is the popular idea, and it is aleo believed -by many that the Duke of Coburg succumbed to the same malignant disease. And, finally, when our late Queen's last illness began certain people insisted that there was no hope oí recovery, as her Majesty was suffering from cancer on the liver.

Personally 1 have »ot the faintest belief in the cancer rumor, for the reasons already stated. [Our cables on Saturday reported a starement by Sir Frederick Trêves, the celebrated surgeon, that the King was never in better health than he is at the present time.]

THE ROYAL TOURISTS.

The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall will, if all gees well, have se't foot on English soil in a week's time. Preparations for their reception on their home-coming are already well advanced. On Thursday the King and Queen, with Princess Victoria, Prince and Princess Charles of Denmark, and their suite, will travel by special train to Portsmouth. There they will embark on tire Vic'coria and Albert, which, on Fri-day morning, escorted by the Osborne and Alberta and the Trinity yacht Irene, will proceed westward to meet the Ophir. When the Ophir and the Victoria and-xVlbert meet there will be an exchange of signals, and all the vessels will return in company to Ports-mouth, where the actual meeting of the .Royal relatives will take place on the Ophir.

The ceremonial items in the local pro-gramme of welcome to the Duke and Duchess having been disposed of, there will be a family gathering on the Ophir. On Saturday the King and Queen and ïhe Royal party will travel by special train to Victoria station. Here they will be re-ceived by a notable assemblage, including Earl Roberts and the headquarters staff of the army, the Coloniel Secretary, and the Agents-General for the colonice. The colo-nial representatives will present an ad-dress of welcome, and H.R.H. will probably reply. The details of the programme have not been settled, and it is not decided yet whether either the address or the reply will be delivered orally. It is possible that the former will simply be handed to the Duke, and that he will give his re-sponse to Mr. Chamberlain or the senior Agent-General.

At elie conclusion of this brief ceremonial the Royal partv will leave in procession for Marlborough House, driving in open car-riages if the weather be fine by way of Grosvenor-place, round the enclosed gar-dens and grounds of Buckingham Palace to Hyde Pant Corner, and thence along Pic-cadilly and down St. James's-street to Marlborough House. The Agents-General will not participate in the procession, buc the Commander-in-Chief and his staff may

ossibly escort their Majesties. At Malb-orough House all the members of the Royal Family will lunch together. The luncheon will be of a family rather than of

a formal character.

EARL BEAUCHAMP ON AUSTRALIA.

Earl Beauchamp held forth on the anti-podes last Saturday night at the weekly debate of the St. John's Literary and De-bating Society, Brixton. He saw no reason why the Commonwealth shouüd be joined by New Zealand, which he described as one of the most promising colonies, and in which during his six weeks' stay he saw neither a single beggar nor a single drunk-ard. After referring to the smallness of the population in Australia, and the ab-sence of any indication of improvement in this respect, he drew a contrast between the residents of Sydney and Melbourne, which was not flattering to the former. In Melbourne he said the Sabbath was ob-served with Scotch solemnity, while the freedom in Sydney savored of Paris. He trusted that Federation would dispel the jealousy between the two cities.

At the outset the Australian Premiers were (according to the ex-Governor of Now South Wales) adverse to Australia

rendering assistance to the mother country ¡ in the war, but their hands were forced by j the outburst of spontaneous loyalty among the people. The men up country were | capable of making the finest scouts in the worlcL and England should sand out a staff of officers to organise and give the neces-sary instruction to these men, so that we should always have a first-class body of pro-perly trained and equipped men to fall brick upon at any time the situation demanded. In spite of the terrible droughts there was a great field open for labor for those who would live on the soil, and not flock to the towns. The education of Australian chil-dren was open to great improvement. More Australians should come to England, and more from this country visit Australia. We should thereby learn more as to what was taking place there, and new and up-to-date methods would be imported for the benefit of the Commonwealth. He thought the colonies should be represented in the Cabi-net, and that in the discussion of matters of foreign policy and Imperial defence Agents-General and representatives of the colonies should take a small part, though this couldi not be expected at present.

Mr. Harold F. Cammell, who has been touring in the United Kingdom and Ire-land for the past month, has returned to London for a spell, and is located pro tem. at l8, Montague-street.

Among the callers at Crosby-square this .week was Lord Kilmorey, who has only just recovered from a bad bout with an affection of the heart, which kept him a close prisoner for some time. His lord-ship appears to have entirely abandoned his outer harbor scheme. Who will be the next to take up the trail of '"Madame Midas," George Bailey, and his lordship? Then can easily pick it up in London.

Mr. Grainger is responsible for the fol-lowing yarn. At the conclusion of n ser-mon preached to a fashionable congregation in a certain much patronised church, the rector said. "My friends, you all know howanxious I have always been to attract the very poorest of the poor to this church. Judging from the collection this morning, my efforts in this direction appear to have been most successful."

Mr. Clarke, headmaster of the Bath-road boa ni-school m London, has tnken stronglv ¡ to the lantern slide method of impartinc in: struetion to the young in geography, his

! tory, zoology, and physical ge'ography, and

has himself made over 2,000 slides. The other evening his subject was "Australia," ! and as the pictures appeared on the screen, Mr. Clarke gave ti racy, succinct account of the rise of the Commonwealth. The BathI road scholars thoroughly enjoy this method 1 of instruction, und their intelligent answers 1 to queries ever and anon interjected by Mr.

1 Clarke conclusively proved that the oxyhydrogen lnntern and its occompaniments are of very real value in educating n large number of scholars at one time. Mr. Clarke could do with some up-to-date Australian slides. Verb. sap.

I regret to learn of the death last Satur-day at Ludlow of Commander John Phil-lips Walcot, R.N., at the comparatively

early age of 52. Commander Walcot, who entered the navy in 1863, and achieved his

lieutenancy ten years later, retired from the Imperial navy in 1883, and in April of the year following was appointed captain of the South Australian gunboat Protector, and senior officer of the naval forces of the colony. He was given local seniority in 1891, with brevet rank as post captain.

The Australian sword of honor is to be presented by Mr. Copeland to Major-Gene-ral Baden-powell on the afternoon of the 6th, the 7th, or the 8th of November, at the Imperial Institute. I understand that Mr. Chamberlain has consented to preside at the function if a suitable date can be fixed, and if the War Office concur. Mr. Chamberlain, however, is now at Edin-burgh, so that the date is not yet settled. There seems, however, to be a fatality that

prevents the Colonial Secretary from tending colonial functions, so I shall not be surprised if at the last moment he is avoidably detained."

Mr. P. B. Burgoyne, "'the father of

Australian wine trade," is. I hear, i templating an Australian tour with family during the ensuing winter.

Burgoyne's eldest son is "in the firm," the younger, who is now at Oxford, has veJoped an engineering bent, and is paj ¡i great deal of attention to the probiert submarine navigation. He has already i fished one brochure on th,e subject, wl has met with -acceptance, and has in j parution a more formidable book there«:

The betrothal of the Duke of Ham.il

to Nina, youngest daughter of Major Poi of Old Lodge, Salisbury, is one that she interest Australasian as well as English eiety. The duke, who is the premier i of Scotland, succeeded his kinsman, late duke, in 1895. He is 39, and was

nierly a lieutenant in the navy, from wli he had to retire owing to the breakdc of his health, uow, it is said, complet restored. The bride is the youngest siste: Major II. M. Poor.c, the well-known Hai shire cricketer, who in 1S98 married L; Flora Mary Ida, sister of the duke. M;i Poore and the Duke or Hamilton will tin fore be brothers-in-law "twice over." 'J bride is also a cousin of Sir Richard Pot Bart., of Rushall, Wilts, a- distinguís! naval officer, who was recently appoin n naval aide-de-camp to the King; Sir 1 ward Poore died in Australia in IS under romantic circumstances. Sir Edwa who was at one time a lieutenant in

Scots Guards, went to the antipodes in i seventies, and, dropping his title, went ii business, first as a contractor, and aft wards as an hotel-keeper in Sydney a Melbourne. The gold discoveries in W Australia attracted him to the diggin It was said at the time that he had co to be known as "Ned, the Pile-driver."

Five years' penal servitude was the

corder's answer to Julian Gault's plea, ' woman tempted me," when Lord Anglese ex-valet was brought up at rhe Old Bai to answer the charge of annexing betvvc £30,000 and £40,000 of his late employe jew,els. A suffer sentence would have b« Gault's lot had the recorder believed ti the prisoner had entered the marquis's e pioy with a view to stealing the j,ewt 13ut the judge decided to accept the "si den temptation" theory, so Gault, if he 1 haves himself, will be a free man in li than four years. Had the marquis

covered any considerable portion of ] jewels one would feel inclined to say

ought to "go halves" with Gault in t sentence by way of punishment for t gross carelessness he displayed in rega to his huge stock of valuables.

The sum of £30 has been collected In by the Agent-General for Victoria for t Midshipman Huddart memorial fund, ti the chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral, -M bourne, has been communicated with to i certain if the total fund is adequate yet i the erection of the memorial.

"B.-P." gave us a striking account in I book on Ashanti of King Prempeh and J Court at Kumasi in 1UIK5, the year of t monarch's downfall. "There sits Prempel '"B.-P." wrote, "looking very bored ' three scarlet-clad dwarfs dance before hi amid a dense crowd of sword-bearers, cou criers, fly-catchers, and other officials. 1 looks a regal figure as he sits upon a lol throne, with a huge velvet umbrella star, ing over him, upon his head a black and gc tiara, and on his neck and arms large g den beads and nuggets." "Reuters" eon spondent in Mahe paints a very diffère picture of the exiled king as he appears captivity in the Seychelles Islands. "T Ashautis," he says, "have become most i gular attendants at the English Churc and churchgoers have become quite used the somewhat ludicrous spectacle they .; forded. Prempeh is particularly partial European dress and appears at church a frockcoat, a- tall hat, and patent-leath boots. The queen mother still keeps to h native costume, a cloak of a pretty sha« of pale blue, spangled with silver and wo: in much the same way as the rtoman tog The other Ashantis nearly all wear Eur pean dress on Sundays, though some '

them appear in colors, bright yellow, crii son, and green appearing to^ be their fav rite shades. Asibi (King of Koko-Lu) '

ofren to be seen arrayed in a mustar colored Norfolk jacket, crimson kne breeches, and stockings of the tartan typ Prempeh's eldest son, Akwasi, a little bl of eleven, appeared one Sunday in a sag green sailor suit." The Ashanti pote tates for the most part live on their '£ lowance and do nothing. Lately, howeve Prempeh, the queen mother, and Asi thought it desirable that their alio wane should be supplemented by fining the otk« chiefs. They accordingly held a. sroa court at Le Rocher and proceeded to fii the chiefs,, for more or less imaginary o fences, bottles of rum in lieu of a mont payment. They would then adjourn ti court and proceed to get intoxicated on ti proceeds of the fine. The sittings of tn court was not destined to last very long,.! Prempeh was informed by order of ti Administrator that a repetition of the ,o currence would lead to his allowance heir stopped and to his being removed to ai other island without his servants and fo lowers. The Warning had effect, and I Rocher is once more in peace. The Se; chelles have quite a covey of dusk royalties now, for four ex-kings and _tw queen mothers are quartered there. Th latest arrivals are Newanga of Uganda an Kabarega of Unyoró.

The London Missionary Society is raisin a small memorial to the late Mr. Chalmei in the form of a guarantee of £500 a yea for five years to sustain a Christian nn civilising station near where Chalmers iel Several people have promised subscription of £5 a year for five years, and an inviti tion is now extended to others to contr bute. The Rev. Dr. W. G. Lawes, an ol companion of the New Guinea martyr, sail this week for New Guinea to take up-th .work of training native teachers.

I Miss Edith Stewart, whom Mr. Georg ' Musgrove has engaged for a twelve mont!«

, tour in Australia, is a very promising youn

actress, who commenced her professions career, with Mr.' Benson, and was conspi cuously successful in that gentleman' Shakespearean productions.. ,i,

At the autumn exhibition in the Grafton Galleries, Miss Theodora Cowan will exhibit a bust of the Bishop of London, a statuette of Mrs. Brown-Potter, a bust of the late Sir Henry Parkes, and a design symbolical of the Spirit of Australia guarding the ashes of her soldiers who have given their lives for the mother country in South Africa.

j Mr. and Mrs. George Alexander gove i ; farewell dinner at the Windsor Hotel, Glas

gow, last Sunday, to Mr. H. H. Vincent who is leaving for Australia. During th evening Mr. Vincent was presented .witl an illuminated address and three massiv 'silver bowls. Among the subscribers to til« '.presentation, besides the host and hostess were Mr. C. Haddon Chambers, Miss Ireni Vanbrugh, and Mrs. Maesmore Morris.

Mr. Albert Whelun, the clever Australiai mimic and "whistler, took the place of Mr Ernest Shand, temporarily indisposed, a the Empire last Friday night, and wen: straight away into the regular Programm«

the following Monday.

At Miss Castles' debut she and Mia Crossley will sing together Gounod's "D'ui Coeur." ;

The King has purchased from the "Illus trated London News" M. Benjamin'; Con stant's portrait of Queen Victoria. TI« work will hang in the Royal dining-roorr at Windsor Castle, where the only pictun at present is a work by Détaille. In tilt paintiug the late Queen took especial inte rest, particularly in the rendering of th< Ribbon of the Garter, which she was anxi ous that the artist should depict in its . normal blue, unaffected by the golden sun shine streaming across it. The picture, which represents her Majesty in State robe» seated on the throne, amid the Gothic cn virontnent of the House of Lords, was ex-hibited first at the Paris Exhibition und again at this year's Academy, where it oc-cupied an entire side of one of the room«; ut the suggestion of King Edward.

An Italian officer, General Giletta, who has been for some time engaged in studying the effect of smokeless powder on military tactics, is reported to have succeeded in in-venting an instrument called an acoustic telemeter, with which he claims to be able to locate the position of guns or riflemen whose discharges may be invisible not only to the naked "eye, but also to field-glasses. The instrument shows the direction- from which the sound or the detonation proceeds, as well as the approximate distance at which the firing has taken place. The Italian War Office has ordered several of these instruments co be constructed at the military engineering works of Pavia, so as to be able to make experiments with them during ihe next grand manoeuvres.

A new kind of artificial -whalebone has been patented bj' -a Hollander. It is said to have all the toughness, elasticity, and durability of the substance imitated, vrith loss brittleness. The material is derived from ordinary bones--any kind of hones will do-which, after (being thoroughly cleaned, are soaked in dilute hydrochloric -acid. By t'his means all of the limy matter is removed from them, leaving only 'the cellular struc-ture, and, as -a result, they are soft and flexible. It only remains to toughen them by a species of tanning. The tanning is done by soaking the decalcified bones in a solution of chrome-alum for a period of from three to five days, at the end of which they are tough and elastic. They are then rinsed with water, dried, and cut into strips correspondinig in. size and form {to coramerdal whalebop*.