CLIPPINGS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8479, 10 May 1893, Page 4

CLIPPINGS.

In Victoria a remarkable development has taken place in the sale of letter cards and post cards since the reversion to 2d postage. Prior to September 12th the monthly aveage sale of letter cards was about £2000. Now it ia £219, 000, while the sale of post cards, which averaged £65,000 monthly before the reversion to the 2d postage, now averages £222,000 monthly.

The new law in Greece which prohibits the exportation of the seasou's crop of grocer's currauts before the 28th July is, according to Consul Wood's report to our Foreign Office likely to have very salutary effects. The object of the measure is to deter growers from cutting their fruit before it is thoroughly ripe, and getting it up hurriedly in order to obtain the higher prices which are usually paid for the first parcels put on the market. Steampra have frequently been despatched for'-London in the early days of August, whereas currants rarely attain their full maturity before that date, and about a,fortnight is required to get them ready for shipment.

To have no money is bad enough, but it is much more distressing to have the money and be unable to use it. At any other time than oue of financial topsy-turvydom, a remark at which everybody, laughed in the Practice Court yesterday (says the Argus of the 2nd inst.) would be regarded as merely silly. A husband, whose wife was asking for alimony, was being examined as to his means. He said he had a salary of £4 a week, but out of that he was already paying his wife 15s, and he had other liabilities to meet which left him just £__ 6d a week to keep himself upon. *' Have you a Bank account?" asked Mr Justice Williams, apparently from force of habit, "No, thank Heaven," ejaculated thoYjr,itoes3, pulling himself up, " it's not so bad aa that."

In recent years it has become so common a practice to bar the spot stroke iv billiard matches that this limitation may inmost be said to have become the striot rule of the game. Mr Roberts, however, whore wonderful break the other day of 737 has mado him more famous than ever, thipks that even now there j#o*ethh_°* to be done to. tno'le ; a contest. He would, he said in conversation with a contributor to The Sketch, prohibit what is called the "push," and he would enact a rule by which the red ball, on being put down from the billiard spot during a break, should be placed on the pyramid spot. Then he would increase the size of the pockets, bedause in playing for a cannon there is a space of six inches and threesixteenths to score in, while in playing foe a hazard there is only three inches aud fiveeighths, the present pocket openinjg. Ohviously this latter rule would, while making the strokes more mathematically equal, afford greater facilities for scoring, so that the old records would in all probability be speedily eclipsed. Mr Roberthas great faith in the growing popularity of billiards. In his opinion it is a game that shows off a woman's figure to great advantage, and it is destined to become more popular among ladies than lawn tennis.

The claim made on behalf of Mount Stokes that it is tbe second highest mountain in the colony has been disputed by another correspondent of the Dnnedin Star, who writes: —"There are two reasons, I take it, why Mount Stokes has not attracted the attention of bur alpine climbers. The first is that it is not easily accessible from the eastern side of the range—the side from which most of our alpine men work; ahd the second is that there aro several lower peaks and some higher ones that .offer a finer field and a better view to the climber. Perhaps I may, while writing, be allowed to correct au error which 'Alpiue' has fallen into in stating that * Mount Stokes is the second highest mountain in New Zealand.' The second highest mountain in the colony is Mount Tasman. It is 374 ft higher than Mount Stokes, which, indeed, only comes ninth on the list. As there is a good deal of misapprehension on this point, even amongst New Zealanders, I append a list of the ten highest mountains in New Zealand. It is as follows :-— Aorangi, 12,349 ft; Tasman, 11,475 ft; Dampiety 11,323 ft; Lendenfeld, 10,651 ft; Malte Brun, 10,421 ft; Sefton, 10,359 ft; Elie De Be&umont, 10,200 ft; Haidinger, 10,107 ft; Stokes, 10,101 ft; De la Beohe, 10,058 ft, It will be seen from the foregoing that Mount Stokes is a good way down the list, even allowing it to bo higher by 51ft than * Alpine' says it it."

The Rev. Maitland Woods, of Thursday Island, -writes to the New Zealand Herald as follows :—"There has been quite a series of fatal accidents to divers in deep water here of late. It seems that the well-known patches of pearlshell lying at seven to tea fathoms have been gleaned very thoroughly during the two last seasons, but in the direction of New Guinea some heavy shell has been found at a depth varying from twenty-five to thirty fathoms. On one patch near Darnley Island the shell lay twenty-seven fathoms deep, and at this depth (162 ft) the pressure upon the body of the diver must become- very great indeed if he works for long spells. A native of tho West Indies, a man well known tome as a very courageous diver, was brought in some weeks since badly crushed internally and in the greatest agony. For two weeks, night and day, his sufferings were horrible to witness, and his cries conld be heard a considerable distance from the hospital. At length the .poor fellow died, calling upon God in mercy to take his soul. Las** week one of my Japanese friends came, bearing the news that one of his fellow countrymen had died whilst working on the same patch, crashed in the diving dress and dying as soon as he was hauled aboard the lugger."

" Professor " Hullar, the snake charmer, while exhibiting ac Echuca, had a somewhat exciting experience through being bitten by a tiger snake. The correspondent of the Argus telegraphs .: r —'S After performing with his usual animals Hullar said that he would show his powers on two snakes that he had caught on the previous day at

Barmah. His performance with the that one, a tiger snake of 3ft Gin long, was successful, and he then proceeded to exhibit a larger otic of the Bw ne species. He then grasped it by the tail, and wtw passing the other hand along its when it turned its head and struck him on the second finger of the right hand proceeded to open the snakes mouth, andshowed tho fangs and poison bag. fc„ then put the enako back into the box, and mbcinasan antidote in some brandy, drank the mixture, at tho same timo washing his finger with tho antidote. Almost iramediat.lv afterwards, however, he had a .violent fit of shivering, and fell ii_3o"nsiblo%o the floor He was carried to Dr. Erikin _|_urcnr* _».i treated by Dr. Warren, ft injected strychnine in tho arm. At h J flullar was progressing favourably,"

Another death from tight-lacinc ii *_ ported. Mr Candler, the coroner, held an inquest on the Ist instant on tho body of Isabella Catherine Umh aged twenty-one, who died suddenly on the East Richmond station on the previous Satur day night. The evidence showed that the deceased resided with her parents at Burnl_v and that after tea on Saturday _vemn_ »__ loft home to catch the 7.3 train from Burn ley to East Richmond. She WM _ ■;,.," late, and ran to catch the train. She wu out of breath when she entered the train vomited before she reached East Richmond' and became so ill that she asked one of th« passengers iv the same carriage to send for a doctor. She was lifted out in a Mmi-coin. scious condition at East Richmond, and Dr* C. W. Duigan waa Bent for. When hi arrived she was still breathing, and he asked some ladies to loosen her stays, which were laced so -tightly, however, that they were unable to do so, and it was necessary to cut them. When that had been acoomElished the girl was dead. The evidence of >r. Dnigan was that death had resulted from paralysis of the heart, induced by excessive exertion after a heavy meal, whili. deceased's stays were too tightly laced. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony.