SCISSORS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4833, 5 February 1887, Page 4

SCISSORS.

Lord Carrington has decided to adopt the allotments system on his estates near Spaldiug. Some plots in the neighborhood are being offered to laborers at 17s 6d per rood. In Switzland more women than men are employed in the creation of watches at their own homes—as a matter of fact upwards of 20,000 women are employed in the canton of Neuehatel. Here is the return in reference to New South Wales:—4so men own 17,000,000 acres of land in New South Wales, 1600 persons hold in lease or fee-simple nearly two-thirds of the entire territory. Herr Douglas, a Conservative of the Eeichstag, who owns some very rich salt ..nines in Anhalt, and whocMms descent from the Scotch family of Douglas, has just been raised to the Prussian Peerage by the Emperor. In Winchester (England) -Cathedral recently a special temperance service was held,' five hundred people attended, and among them they managed to subscribe " one shilling and eightpenco " to the noble cause of temperance. A Birmingham barrister has been sent to prison for assault. Lord Clifton, Ivo Bligh's brother, has written to the convicting magistrates and denounced them as •'The swinish, sordid, jobbing bourgeois class which so grossly misgovern England." The feature of the emigration returns for the year ended November 31 is the increase of emigration to Australasia. More that one-third of the English emigrants went to the Antipodes last twelve months. The Irish are still faithful to the United States. Whereas 52,000 odd Irish emigrated to Yankeeland, only 4,500 chose Australia and New Zealand. An Auburn young man, banjo-struck, •was the cause of so much suffering to the gentleman that lodged in an adjoining room, that the latter bought a vice, a saw • and a file, and according to the report, "that night when ' White Wings' sifted through the wall it was met by a sonata in E on the saw." The duet was kept up until a late hour, when the banjoist gave in. A new industry has sprung up at Deal, where factories have been started for preserving fish in tins. For this purpose the boatmen have unlimited orders for sprats, which are caught in large quantities of the coast, and for which the fishermen have hitherto frequently been unable to find a market during the winter months. Between 400 and 300 persons, principally women and are employed at these factories.

The London correspondent of the Dunedin Star writes: —It is stated, I don't know with what truth, that the lucky purchaser who secured the splendidly-bred young sire Rotherhnl (by Lord Clifdon out of Laura, and therefore own brother to Petrarch) for 700 guineas, at Tattersall's, on Monday, was buying on behalf of the New Zealand Stud Company. Rotherhill is one of the putative sires of St. Gatien, The 'Rover being the other. ' . The latest phenomenon is the female fireman. There was a blaze the other day in the Liverpool Factory of Messrs Cope, and the female brigade turned out to a "man," and rapidly extinguished the flames before an*serious damage was done. The cigargirls of Cope's, of whom there aro a thou-! sand in one room, have formed a fire brigade of their own, which is regularly drilled, and, as the fire referred to proves, making excellent firemen. _ While at the Davis Straits whale-fishing this season, the master of a Dundee whaler was presented by an Esquimaux with a relic of one of the expeditions sent in search of Sir John Franklin. It consists of a email piece of copper sheeting, on which is painted the following words: —" Sacred to the memory of William Gundy, who died on board Her Majesty's ship Investigator, May 12, 1849, aged thirty-seven." The Investigator was one of the two ships first sent out by the Government. At Bow-street Arthur Foster, a shorthand writer, was committed for trial on the charge of obtaining £5200 by means of a forged authority, and to forging an endorsement to a cheque for tho above amount. The prisoner was arrested in Manchester, and the evidence already given showed that he had presented to Messrs White and Co., solicitors, of Bedford Row, an authority purporting to be signed by W. Bradley, solicitor, of Birmingham, for the payment of £5200 to aMr Wallis Nicholls. Prisoner called on Messrs White, and represented himself to be Mr Nicholls. The cheque for the amount was due to him, and he obtained cash for it at the London and Westminster Bank.

Mr Henniker-Heaton is naturally very cock-a-hoop over Mr Stanhope's reference to Ms pet scheme of a colonial penny post. Its meaning appears unmistakeable, viz., that should the Conference approve the idea the Government will back up Mr Heaton's Bill. No one (declares the Times), can deny that such a postage is eminently desirable, or that it would do a great deal towards " the drawing closer of the bonds that unite the various portions of tho Empire." This is the first time that the "thunderer" has declared openly and without reserve on the side of Mr Hoaton's proposition, and.shows which way the wind blows. Should - the Bill pass, a baronetcy will bo well within Henniker's grasp.

The Dry Goods Chronicle says that the late Mr Nathaniel Ripley Cobb, of Boston, was generous-hearted and conscientious in the highest degTee. In November, IS2I, htfdrew up the following remarkable document:—" By the grace of God, V I will never be worth more than 50,000 dpls. By tho grace of God, I will give one-fourth of the net profits of my business to charitable and religious uses. If I am ever worth 20,000 dols, I will give one-half my net profits, and if I am ever worth 30,000 dols, 1 will give three-fourths, and the whole, after my fiftieth thousand. So help me God, or give to a more faithful .steward and set me aside. Nov., 1821," He adhered to this covenant, it is stated, with the strictest fidelity.

The first person who invented a loom producing a tissue perfectly imitating the hand-knitter's web, of equal quality,' and with much greater speed, was the Rev. William Lee, of St. John's College, Cambridge. When the invention of a complicated knitting machine became known at Court, it was thought to be almost a miraculous event. On Queen Elizabeth seeing the machine she oxpressed approval of its ingenious construction, but disappointment that the product was a coarse worsted stocking (it was only eight loops to an inch in width) instead of the fine silk hose she had expected, Lee accordingly constructed a frame of twenty needles to the inch instead pf eight, and on which silk hose were made in 1598. Receiving, however, no encouragement in England, Lee took his invention to France, and thez - e died of a broken heart in IGIO.

Truth observes that it can hardly be said that the Irish members are nob literary. Mr T. P. O'Connor and Mr Justin M'Carthy have written works on contemporary history that have become text books. Besides this, Mr M'Carthy seldom allows a year to patls without sending forth, into the world of fiction at least one novel. In his last, " The Right Honorable," he has collaborated with Mrs Campbell Praed, and things political and things' social are cleverly blended, the hero of the book being a certain right honorable statesman, with whom another man's wife falls in love. It is a capital specimen of story tellingfull of incident and action, with numerous side sketches, which aro so skilfully woven into the main tde that they do not weaken the interest by interfering with its continuity. But Mr Justin M'Carthy is no t the only one literary man ef his family. His son, Mr Justin Huntley M'Carthy has already distinguished 'himself in the' field of history, drama, and poetiy. His latest work is called " Hadfiz in London," in which the Persian bard describes, in 'flowing Eastern verse, his thoughts and impressions of our Western doings. Did you ever hear of tyrannical parlors ? The costly carpets and curtains, the expensive ornaments, give a subdued tone to the room, destructive to real hospitality and good times. A neighborhood social met from houseefco house. One of the members was a bright boy; his mother had one of these tyrannical parlors, given up to formality and short calls. The bright boy said at one of the meetings—"l would like to invite you to my house, but we never have good times in our stuck-up drawing-room." The little fellow felt the difference between his own home surroundings and that of some others oi' the social club. At one house the wise parents made the parlor so attractive that the boys and girleof the family said they " would rather he , at home than .anywhere else." The carpet was not too nice to dance on or even to play blind man's buff: The chairs and tables were not heavy and cumbersome, but were light enough to bo_ tucked away, leaving a clear space. Tho children were encouraged to get up charades and tableaux. . A magic lantern exhibition added variety, and now and then a "card party.. " But that was'very wrong,", wiys one stern parent. No ! Father and mother.

took a; hand in the game, and there was not so much danger the children would seek questionable pleasures• ,mr .unprofitable places. ' s '■■~..": • The vacant throne of Bulgaria has beenoffered to a pastrycook. So says the' Berlin Das Echo. Polojuchtow, of Kharkoff, is; the greatest confectioner in Russia. His honey cakes are famous all over the empire,, and in his own neighborhood, his*, ambition is not less famous. He has been a great contributor to churches,- monasteries; and. the clergy. He possesses a large collection of medals, testimonials, and orders;. but outside the range of business a very small degree of common sense. A few clays ago he was waited upon "by three gentlemen, , who represented themselves as deputies from the Bulgarian Sobranje. ; They told him that it was the earnest desire of Parliament and people of Bulgaria that he should accept the vacant throne. While they were speaking, a telegram arrived from Sofia, with the same request. Polojuchtow told his visitors that he could not regard their strange offer as crediole. Meanwhile, how- • ever, he invited them to dine with him, promising to return in half an hour. He put on his uniform (for he is a member of ,the city council) and: drove to the rector of the university to ask his counsel in the question, whether it was his duty, supposing the offer to be gennine, to. accept the post. The rector advised him not to go to Bulgaria, but to the—lunatic asylum! Polojuchtow began to see that he was being hoaxed, and drove back to his house as fast as possible The deputation from Bulgaria had not waited for dinner, but had carried off all the valuables, money, and papers which they found in his bureau.