SCISSORS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4316, 28 May 1885, Page 4

SCISSORS.

"I husband my resources," said a matron to a young visitor, at the same time pointin" , to the good man of the house, who was busily engaged in washing up the tea things. Mr. J. W. Davison, for many years musical critic of The Times, died on March 2-i. The deceased was born in London October 5, 1813. He was an organist, a facile pianist, and composer of several songs and other works He wrote in the Musioal Examiner, and latterly in the Musical World. He subsequently became musical critic of The Times, which post he held at least_ 30 years. He was also for some years musical critic of the Graphic. In 1800 he married the celebrated pianist Madame Arabolla Goddard. Comparing the English insurance returns of the last 12 to M years the Insurance Journal thinks it by no means improbable that at the end of the present century the total premium income of the lifo insurance offices dointf business in England will have reached 2o millions sterling, and the interest on investments eight millions. It expects claims to amount to IG millions, the total life insurances in force to 670 millions sterling, and the total funds to 240 millions. Hcrr Rudolph Flab, whose theory of earthquakes has for some years been much discussed in scientific circles, and whoso predictions have frequently been substantiated by events, has just promulgated a new theory with reference to choke damp in mines. He says that explosions coincide for the most part with earthquakes, and ho predicts a very critical state of things shortly, when, he says, the greatest caution should be observed in mines. The next dates when he anticipates danger are June 12 and July 12. Will the youth Polo ever be readied by explorers? Sir Wyville Thompson thinks the answer must be unhesitatingly in the negative. Itoss's southernmost point was upward of seven hundred and Graham's Land one thousand two hundred miles from the South Pole. The remainder appeared IjO t>c n. "Derpendicmlar clifx of ice, from two hundred and thirty to two hundred and fifty foot in height, without shelter, kept in motion by the gales, and a great portion of it subject to high winds and incessant falls of snow. The North Polo, if not actually inaccessible, is much more difficult of access than has been imagined ; but disasters a hundred times multiplied may be anticipated should the South Polo become the goal of rivalry among the nations. The result of the Tauranga election is satisfactory, although the contest proved a much closer one than was anticipated. MiKelly must evidently have been supported by some powerful influences anxious to keep Mr Sheehan out of Parliament, for he had no merits of his own to depend on. Between the two men there could bo no comparison. Mr Shcohan is a man whose absence from the House is distinctly felt. Mr Kelly was a perfect nonentity while he sat there. Now that Mr Sheehan is once more in Parliament, we trust that, avoiding the errors which formerly shipwrecked him, he will assume and maintain the position which his "Teat natural talents and extensive experience in legal, native, and official matters so well entitle him to hold. He ought to be one of the leading men of the colony. It will be his own fault if, with the fresh opportunity now afforded him, he fails to become so. We are most sincerely glad that the Taurauga electors have chosen him, and we do not think that they are ever likely to have cause to regret the choice.— Post. Often we hear one friend ask this question of another. Is one's social duty done by accepting and giving invitations 'i What do we bind ourselves, to in accepting- the hospitality of a friend or acquaintance ? Is our duty by her done when we have entered the portal of our hostess and have given her o-rcotiii" , ? Wo wo owe anything to her Quests f Tf we are a man, do wo do our duty when we neglect speaking to the ladies whom we know 'i If wo see a chance when we can bo of service to our hostess in makin" , things incasant and agreeable for her, is not that our duty to be ready and happy to do her bidding or even to anticipate it P If we arc a woman our power to do more than tf) make ourselves as agreeable as we may is limited. We can then only bo kind, generous and considerate of other women as it comes in our way. Wo cannot seek the opportunities of being polite and making tho happiness of those about us as men can. Srllishues-S alas that we see so much of it where theie is the least excuse for it._ There is no part of Major Atkinson's political character that is more to bo admired than that dogged straightforwardness which impels him to seize every opportunity of impressing these hard savings on the public mind. Ho declares the time will come, and is not distant, when the public will see the truth of this, and •will realise how completely they have been iuo-gled with. He is perfectly right. But it may not come about as soon as ho anticipates If the people had only been deluded by Sir Julius "Vogel, they would have come to their senses again already. But it is worse than that. They deluded themselves quite as much as Sir Julius Vogel deluded them. They surrendered their judgment to a band of broken speculators and intriguing

capitalists, whose instrument Sir Julius Vogel is ; and, as Major Atkinson pointedly puts it, they insisted on believing that two and two make five instead of four. Selfdelusion is the worst of all delusion, the most binding and the most enduring. The people see already that Sir Julius Vosrel deceived them. Nobody really believes now in Ins power to remove the depression or restore prosperity "by leaps and hounds.' . If he were to pack up his traps and take his departure to-morrow, nobody would trouble their head about him. But that is not enough. The people have not yet iindeceived themselves as to the efficacy of fictitious methods of government and finance ; and until they do, we quite agree with Major Atkinson, we shall not see a revival of that confidence in the country and its resources which is the foundation of national welfare.—Wellington Press. One summer afternoon a group of children were playing at the end of a pier which projects into Lake Ontario, near Kingston, New York, U.S.A. The proverbial careless child of the party made the proverbial backward step off from the pier in the water. None of his companions could save him, and their cries had brought no one from tho shore, when, just as he was sinkintr for the third time, a superb Newfoundland dog rushed down the pier into tho water, nnA pulled tho boy out. Those of the children who did not accompany the boy home took the dog to a confectioners on tho shore, and fed him with as great a variety of cakes as ho could eat. So far the story is, of course, only typical of scores of well-known cases. Tho individuality of this case is left for the sequel. Tho next afternoon the same group of children were playing at the same place, when the canine hero of the day before came trotting down to them with the most friendly wags and nods. There being no occasion this time for supplying him with delicacies, the children only stroked and patted him. The dog, however, had not come out of pure sociability. A child in the water and cakes and candy stood to him in the close and obvious relation of cause and effect, and if this relation was not clear to the children, he resolved to impress it upon them. Watching his chance, ho crept up behind the child who was standing nearest to the edge of tho pier, gave a sudden push, which sent him into the water, then sprang in after him, and gravely brought him to shore.