CLIPPINGS.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8725, 22 February 1894, Page 4

CLIPPINGS.

At a Court held at Geelong for the revision of ratepayers' and general electoral lists for the Legislative Assembly, the names of eleven persons were struck off the rolls on account of their not being naturalised. One of the number, Mr Edward L. Levin, of Newtown, claimed that he had fought for Queen Victoria in the New Zealand war, and that besides having a medal for his services, he had. received a letcer from her Majesty, in which he had been addressed as "her beloved subject." He had also been sworn in as a special constable at Bendigo, aud had resided in the colony far forty years. Mr Patterson, P.M., held Levin must be naturalised in the ordinary way, and he refused his application for the Court to be adjourned in order that he could take the necessary steps to become naturalised.

A resident of Warrnambool has made an experiment with a small crop of potatoes Bimilar to that tried in France with splendid results. According to the directions given in the Warrnambool Standard some twelve -months ago, he adopted the following system i—Used sound potatoes, of medium size, and planted them whole, first ploughing the ground very deeply. Before planting he steeped the tubers for twenty-four hours in a bath composed of sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of potash, of each 61b. to 23gal. of water; then he allowed them to stand twenty-four hours before planting. He proceeded to dig the potatoes the other day, and the result of the experiment was at once apparent. There were from thirty to forty large tubers on each stalk, and a little patch 16ft. by 9ft yielded 1801b net, being equal to 24 tons 6cwt 181b per acre. An adjacent plot of ground was planted in the ordinary way, and gave a yield of 7 tons per acre.:,.. .-l

In the interesting memoir of Sir George Elvey, which appears in the January number of ■ the Musical Herald, the following anecdote is told in illustration of the high efficiency of. the choir of St. Georges, Windsor, during his tenure of office:—•' A well-known musician relates how he once sat up with Sir George in the organ loft during service. The Psalms were started with organ,, as- usual, and no sooner had this been done than Sir 'George exclaimed, * I have 'forgotten thy keys ; I must go and fetch them.', He started off, the choir singing on. In due time he returned to the organ, and tried with a soft stop to see if his singers had dropped in pitch. They were dead in tune, and the accompaniment was taken up. A better test of training could hardly be given."

The proposal recently made, in effect, to appoint 13 Wesleyan Bishops lias not met with, unanimous approval. The .Rev. Thomas , Champhesi* . the Joyful News evangelist, sums the matter up in characteristic fashion- ?—" What is Wanted is not a Pullman car with 13 well - nourished Bishops attached to the train, but more steam! Oar circuits are heavily laden already, with, assessments, and collections. We do not require more burdens than we have, but more power. If we want Bishops, let US go where we can get the real thing, not some Cockney imitation of it. Methodists have shown their willingness to stand by the promoters of this scheme when they have aimed at but' they have learned to distinguish between things that differ, and we believe will not be long in showing that neither Westminster nor St. James' Hall must ask as the price of reward for their great labours and earnest skill that the Wesleyan Charon should take up a burden which was intolerable to their ancestors."

In the notebooks of his ancestor. Sir Henry Northcote, who lived between the years 1655 and 1720, Lord Iddesleigh has found matter for a very amusing article in the January number of Blackwood. Sir Henry appears, from this evidence, to have been a sturdy! old Devonshire gentleman, with a gift of shrewd observation, and no little wit of a caustic kind. Soldiers appear to have been his special aversion. " They are," he says, "the bane of all Country Gentlewomen., Their fine Words and their fine Clothes bear down all before them. They don't go to Church out of Devotion ; they only Mind Ogling of the Madams; they single out one that is best to their Fancy ; their Rogue of a Landlord gives *em, at their first Coming, the History of all the People in the Parish, and then to work they so— Shave aad powder* aad en goes'the Blew or the Scarlet Coat every oVjr. Cards and Balls are nothing to them. They*! squander away their month's pay in one night, when they had better by half be ia their Beds'for. casting how to pay their honest Debts. A Flute, a Violin, a Pair of Dancing Pumps, a Common-Place Book with Love's Speeches and idle Jests, 3 Clean Cravats, and two

Holland Shirts, is their Whole Estate " T another passage he is, as usual with hU* rather hard upon the other sex :--'«TrlXr ing Weddmgs nowadays are no S novelty, for Mamma is so complaisant ♦« every Coxcomo that pretends a f&ndiwu £ Miss, that she sends her into the WarX upon the safe Assertions of an iaslmnttr.!!. ojdGubb." What a «Oubb''ma7be slf ■ Henry's descendant confesses himself unahu to say. *"'• .