Ways of Living.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 392, 12 November 1903, Page 7

Ways of Living.

AN INGENIOUS SWINDLE. jKWp make a ha'penny equal to a Wjl'Ab panny for epesding purposes does &Hfc» aot seem at first sight an easy task. Certain ingenious persons in Birmingham, however, have in' a measure achieved the feat. Their method is to place a halfpenny between two email sheets of zinc and then pass the metal sandwich between the rollers of a sheet mill until the bronzs coin has grown as broad as a penny. In the result the pressed ctin is described as nearly a per. feet round, all the hues of the original design remaining quite clear. Of course the legend 'halfpesnj' i e still on the face of the disc, and the latter is much thinner than a penny. But in busy places these things aienot atonca noted, and many of the expanded bawbees ha™ been passed as pennies. In one ease the taker of these coins was not only a loser but a considerable gainer by the transaction. He was a publican who took fifteen in & day before he discovered the trick. Being wise in his generation, he offered taem to customers as curiosities, and sold them all at each. Since then there has been a slump in this particular money market.

THE BOAD TO SUCCES3 Mr. G. F. Swift, the millionaire poikpacker of Chicago, whose death was reported recently, was the author of a number of interesting maxims on how to succeed in life. . Ti\e following are a few of. the most interesting of. Mc Swift's hints to ambitious young mea:— Don't drink. No man, however rich, has enough money to waste in style. t The richer a man gets the more cireful he should be to keep his head level. The man that doesn't know his business from the top claan down to the bottom isn't any kind of a business man. A big head and a big bank account were never found together to the credit of any one, and*iever will be. No young man is rich enough to smoke shilling cigars. Every time a man looses his temper he 1 oes his head, and when he lossea his head he looses several chances. Next to knowing your own business its a mighty good thing to know as much about your neighbours as possible, especially if he's in the same line. The best a man ever did shouldn't be his standard for the rest of his life.

Tho successful men of to-day worked mighty hard for what they have got; the men of to-morrow will have to work harder to get it away. Ton can never make a big success working for anybody else.

GERMAN WORKMEN'S INSURANCE. The figures for 1902 show that during the year 6,000,000 workmen in Germany were, for gome reason or other, ia receipt of, altogether, 434,000,000 marks (about .£21,750.080) from State aided funds. Old a ß e pensions amounting to 121 ; 000.000 marks were distributed amongst 1,100,000 men, and 107,000.000 paid for accidents, while ueariy 5,000,000 persons received 208,000,000 marks on account of illness. About £35,000 formed the daily expenditure, towards which the State granted an annual contribution of over £2,000,000, the rest being made up of premiums paid by the workmen and employers.

MISER'S BIG FORTUNE, The .death has occurred at Argentenil of 'Pere' Colas, a local recluse, who has lived alone for nearly 40 years, having separated from his wife six months after marrying. Colas never permitted anyone to enter his house, and lived in the eimpleßt manner, cultivating a small piece of land, and never spending more than 8.1 or lOi per day on his housekeeping. He was never known to have entered a cafe or restaurant, and was generally suppes*d te be a poor but harmless old fellow. The inhabitants have been astounded to learn that their hospital has benefited under Colas's will to the extent, of nearly <£3Q 000, and various relatives come in for legacies which show that? his total fortune amounted to between .£35 000 and -£IO,OOO,

NOTED WOMAN JOURNALIST. Or>£, of the most promising figures in the s'Sinuo of PreEch and Algerian journalists following President Loubst on his recent Continental tour was Mmme. Henni-Defcerhardt, who dresses in Arab costume and takes the name of ' Mahmoud,' She is of Russian origin, and although she maintains that her mission is one of sympathy with the natives the Algerian authorities ordered her expulsion is consequence of speeches and articles which ware deemed subversive. ' Mahmoud' cleverly eluded the decree by marrying an officer. Her wedding wss the only occasion on which she donned female garb. Her popularity among her favorite Arabs ia" very limited. They blame her for being neither a Christian nor a Mahometan.