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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3035, 18 March 1881, Page 2

Mass will be celebrated by the Rev. E. Reignier at Clive at U a.m, on Sunday nest,

• it . There was a clean sh'e.t at the Resiaen Magistrate's Court this morning, a fact thftt speaks well for the town during a race week.

A cricket match will be played at Petane to-mcr ow between a Press team and an eleven picked from the Simonsen Opera Company.

To-day was observed as a half-holiday in town, all the shops closed at noon. The weather continued fine for the races, but a strong wind raised clouds of' dust, which made the day anything but pleasant.

_ Money is said to be both scarce and tight, but at all events there was enough loose cash for speculative purposes on the races for £900 to be expended in Mr Gillman's sweeps, and £1020 to be passed through the totalisator.

Large congregations continue to attend riie iniN.ion services which are now being held in the Catholic Church by Father Le Menn_nt. Last evening the reverend gentlem_i_ delivered a stirring panegyric on St. Patrick, and to-night he will preach on temperanoe.

There was only one "scene*' en the course yesterday, and it occurred through a man making a most unprovoked attack on Mr A. McCartney. Mr McCartney was struck twice in the face before he lifted a hand, and then his first blow knocked his assailant down. An outsider next attempted to't„_e part in the proceedings, but the arrival of the police put a stop to the affair.

At Mr Gillman's Calcutta sweeps last night Muf.au appeared to be the favorite for the Handicap Hurdles, bringing £19 in sweeps of over £60 ; Ada brought .£ls, and Angler £9 10s. For the Tradesman's Handicap Libeller and Bandwick were eqnal favorites, each bringing £20 in a sweep of £94, Natator £15, and Dan £10 10s. Iv another sweep for a smaller amount, Natator went beyond all others, bringing £17, Libeller £16, Dan £8, and Randwick £7.

Some inconvenience was experienced yesterday through tho want of telegraphic communication with the racecourse. We learn that the Government offered to connect the grand stand with the main telegraph line for the sum.'of £35, and charging £5 a year for the use of implements and an operator. The Jockey Club, we understand, thought the terms too high, and so nothing has been done, but the price fixed by the Government would not more than pay actual expenses.

_ Ashburton has a Local Industries Association, and Ashburton is persuaded that it is the natural home of manufactures in the South Island. Mr Wakefield has said so, and it must be so. Ashburton is to have a woollen mill, is to grow beet, flax, and a number of other good things. Ashburton proposed to have a nice little industrial exhibition of its own, to whioh children should bring their needlework, and the parents their butter ,cheese, wool, and corn. But, according to the Ashburton Mail, the exhibition has become "an affair of vast importance.'' "As a cloud no bigger than a man's hand spread over the whole heavens, so this enterprise, from a very small beginning, has assumed great proportions." More power to Ashburton !

The following letter appeared in Tuesday's Lyttelton Times :—" To the editor: Sir, —Observing from the newspapers that deaths from dysentery are numerous of late in different parts of the colony, and being in possession of a sovereign remedy for. for that disease, which may be safely applied to all people of all ages, from the infant in arms to the aged, I would beg the favor, through your columns, of making the same publicly known ; and I hope it will be extensively reprinted by other papers. Recipe—Tincture rhubarb, laudanum, Cayenne pepper (treble strength), essenoe of peppermint, and spirits of camphor, equal quantities of all mixed. Dose—From 3 to 5 drops for an infant, and from i-0 to 30 drops for an I.dult, taken in a little sugar or a spoonful of sweetened water; take a dose every hour till cured. A few doses will completely cure, sometimes only one is required. The remedy should be resorted to immediately the bowels become disarranged, when generally a single mild dose completely restores the patient. I earnestly warn" those afflicted with diarrhoea or dysentery to eschew the use of brandy or any wine, they being absolute poison in such cases. Any chemist will make up a small bottle of the above mixture for a shilling.

The North Otago Times has the following in reference to the new PostmasterGeneral :—" Once or twice Mr Johnston has condescended to take an active interest in the petty vestry business of the House of Representatives. He bitterly and successfully opposed the beei-tax proposal of Mr B-dlance, and he has on several occasions spoken with the narrowness of a rabid sectary in favor of denominational education. Thus we see that Mr Johnston's characteristics as a public man are a general indifference to public affairs, and, whtn he does condescend to take an active part in them, a partisanship whose essence is pettiness itself. It is, therefore, somewhat difficult to join in the fuss made over his accession to the Cabinet, or to conceive how such a person could as a Minister do much either for the country's good or its harm. It appears to us that the Premier and his colleagues have selected Mr Johnston as a fellow-worker, chiefly on account of his social respectability and his laissez-faire disposition. Bfc the same time it may be that, as we have already suggested, they have discovered in him the pulsings of a genius of which the public as yet know nothing, but which are caluclated to dazzle, delinght, and develop the beautiful but not over-well governed land of our adoption. Should this turn out to be the case we shall hasten to hail Mr Hall and his colleagues as national benefactors, and to accord Mr Johnston the praise which will then be his due. In. the meantime we see nothing- in Mr Johnston's appointment to oause either rejoicing or regret."

A very funny quasi-literary contest is proceeding at present in Wellington. It appears there is some person there named Chantrey connected with a local paper, and who, as reader, sees all the manuscript that is sent in to be be printed. A wager was laid that this person would be made to print three times in his paper the words " Chantrey is an idiot." The first time the bait was not only taken but taken eagerly. The offensive words took the shape of an acrostic, and the verses in whioh it was conveyed were not only inserted but a footnote was attached, to the effect that the editor admired the verses, and hoped to hear from the writer again. The second shot was fired on Thursday, in the form of a letter touching "The Management of Lunatics," in which the following sentence occurs:—" The Japanese, amongst whom it was my lot to live for some years, have a proverb, Todii Thregavc si na. broadly interpreted meaning ' Where there is one sore the whole body is diseased.' Will this not apply to one whole system of management of lunatics ? I think you would do a public service by advocating a commission of inquiry having a wider scope than the present one. —I am, &o." A very simple transposition of the italicised words will show that they read "Chantrey is an idiot." The third "time of asking" has, we (Lyttelton Times) presume, yet to come off, and as it is said that a condition of the wager is that the victim is to have fair warning, all literary men will watch with interest for the result. Nearly every hotel in Wellington has the acrostic and the "Japanese proverb" pasted up, and the whole thing is the local joke of the day.

The Egyptians invented the papyrus 1730 8.C.; the Chinese silk paper towards the middle of the seventh century B.C. The Chinese are also credited with the invention of ink and pencils ; but in Europe the iron stylus and the reed continued to be employed until the time when the goosequill was first pressed into service in the course of the sisth oentury b.o,

The Parisian detective or secret police is a force by itself, and separate from the ordinary staff of the sergents de ville. Its members, aro, as a rule, unknown to one another, and no officer can ever be sure at any moment that his movements are not being carefully watched by another.

Mr Berry has evidently no longer the meek following he had in the last Parliament. The other day, when replying to a deputation, he emphatically remarked: — "Look at last night; the waste of time was simply abominable. I feel to-day so annoyed that I am inclined to resign and Land back my commission to the Governor. I don't believe if I were to go down on my knees to members on my side of the House and beg them to push forward with the reform question that they would assist me." The Chief Secretary went on to say that he had never had such a difficult lot of supporters to deal with before.

A case of recovery after apparent death is recounted by a Swedish newspaper. A few days ago a landed proprietor in the neighborhood of Christiania died, or apparently died, after a short illness. His body had been laid in the coffin, the lid of which, however, was not screwed down, in a room where some firewood happened to be kept. The evening of the same day the widow sent her daughter, a child ten years old, into the room to get some of the firewood, and as the child was hastily gathering an armful, she heard her name called in a low voice. She sprang down stairs in alarm, and several persons hurried up to the room to find the supposed dead man in perfect possession of his senses, and apparently quite well, although dreadfully shocked at finding himself in a coffin. He described his sensations on recovering consciousness as those of a man awakening from a pleasant and refreshing sleep.

About three thousand persons live in the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg, some of whom have been born baptised, confirmed, and married within its walls. Thete are families which have even had the honor of dying out in it; and in St. Petersburg, a contemporary states, the story finds common acceptance that there is a meadow somewhere on its roof, where cows are put out to graze. Certain it is that there are huge cisterns on the roof which in winter have to be kept from freezing by heating furnaces in the lofts below. It is said that before the .Russian architectural mind thought of these furnaces tho water in tho cisterns was kept in a liquid state during winter by redhot cannon balls, which, after being heated on the roof were dropped into the water. When one of these forced its way through the lead into a lady's apartment, nearly setting fire to the Palace, tho system of heating was changed. Theatre Royal—Simonsen's Opera Company, " The Hermit's Bell." r J he Northern Investment Company of New Zealand is prepared to make advances on securities. Mr. E. Lyndon sells, on March 23, seven sections of land on the Arlington estate. Mr. E. Lyndon will sell on the same date, Napier suburban section No. 88, in part. Mr. T. K. Newton will sell on Tuesday next blankets, clothing, groceries, &c. Mr. H. Monteith will sell farm produce to-morrow previous to his sale of horses. [Ratepayers in the Heretaunga district are requested to pay their rates beforo the 31st instant at the office of the Board. Tenders are invited for re-erecting seven chimneys at Messrs Gilberd and Co.'s. A passenger by the train yesterday lost his hat.