The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19
DISCUSS BR|DEFO
PRINCE OF WALES
Name of Nearly Every Eli
gible Princess Mentioned
UNIQUE HONEYMOONS
To Spend Wedding Trip Shooting Big
Game in Africa Is Becoming
misunderstanding in John
Bulls Leap Year

London, January 1s-Although it is not
likely that the betrothal of the Prince Of
Wales will take place for some little time,
the question of his marriage Is already
being talked of and is certain TO come
prominently before the public after he
leaves oxford In June next.
The name of almost every eligible prim-
cess has already been mentioned, but,
of course, thus far without any authority.
Many Englishmen would like to see an
alliance between the heir to the throne
and the German Emperor's daughter be-
lieving that it would do much to remove
the tension between the two empires, but
the German princess Is somewhat cider
than the Prince and this would doubt
less prove bar to their marriage. -
A daughter of the Emperor of Russia
has also been mentioned. The latest sug-
gestion however, is that match night
be arranged with Princess of Roumania,
the daughter of the Crown Prince. Prince
Ferdinand, the heir to the Roumdnian
throne, Is nephew of King Charles; MS
wife, the Princess Marie, is the daughter
of the late Duke of Edinburg tson OF
Queen Victoria) and the Grand Duchess
Marie of Russia.
George Is Different
good deal of interest has been Gre
ated in England by the suggestion made
in Paris that the medal for the Franco
German war should be awarded to Lord
Kitchener who took part as a volunteer
in the operations of the war. King George
has forbidden the wearing of foreign dec
orations by Englishmen, except in the
presence of the person who has given
them, but this does not apply to wa
medals There are hundreds of English
men who have received foreign decora-
tons and the order that they must not
be worn in the presence of their SOW
ereign has been sore disappointment
to many of them King Edward, on
the other hand, rather encouraged the
acceptance of decorations from foreign
sovereigns and governments and had no
objection to the recipients wearing as
many as they had.
New Wheat Introduced
W. r. Elgar, member of the Can
terbury Farmers club, has raised crop
of wheat which realized SS332 from the
produce of a quarter eight bushes) of
seed which he purchased two years ago at
S. a bushel.
The wheat is a new variety, brought
out by the Cambridge university school
of agriculture The first year he had
a crop of 43 quarters, bushels. Plant
ing the whole of this last season, he had
crop of no quarters. which he sold
for the price named. 1t has been sug
gested that the cultivation of wheat of
this productiveness would solve the whole
question of the national supply of food
stuffs. If. as in this case, eight quarters
an acre could be produced ii would take
1000, 600 acres for the whole national sup
ply, including seed.
Honeymoon in Africa Fashionable
To spend the honeymoon big game
shooting is the latest idea of fash
ionable England. Several couples have
this year Joined the annual pilgrim
age to British East Africa, where
lions, elephants. rhfnoceroses, buffa-
loes and other animals abound
The Marquis and Marchioness of Stat
ford are there now and other couples
are either in the country or on their
way there. OF course they do not
| monopolize the shooting, for, since Col
onel Roosevelts "trip gave the colony
such an advertisement, English hunt
| ers have been going out in increasing
| numbers each season and the Illus
trated papers are sending men to pho
| tograph the hunts.
Among those who have already started
| Is Captain Dunbar, the Laird of Pit
| gaveney, the daredevil OF the veldt,"
who has shot every species of African
game and who always goes hunting in
| a kilt, much to the delight of the ma
| tives.
Nothing in Leap Year
/ So far as the returns have been
made up leap year did not affect the
marriage statistics in fact the num-
Der of wedding was below the aver
| age.
| The English marriage rate indeed is
on the down grade. Many reasons are
| given for this, but those mostly re-
| sponsible are held to be the advance
| of the feminist movement: the increased
| employment of women and the rise in
| the standard of living.
| The last cause is said to be the great :
est factor of all. An authority on mar
riage statistics says: "One of the few
points that statistics have clearly es-
| tablished is that as the standard of
comfort rises the age at which mar
riage is contracted declines There Is an
| increasing tendency on the part of the
younger generation to want to begin
| where their parents leave off. And this
law is practically universal
Ten years ago the average marriage
rate in England and Wales was 1873.