BREVITIES.

Evening Star, Issue 11693, 26 September 1902, Page 1

BREVITIES.

Mr E. W. Petoerick has offered his private mnsemn, a rare and valuable collection, as an unconditional gift to the citizena of Wellington. The City' Council Committee, in recomtbending the acceptance generous , gilt, suggested ’that a . building should be erected at a s cost, of £6,200,t0 ; provide toe necessary accommodation - for an art' gallery and museum; and .further necessary accommodation for a public library; • - - v ■ ■ The Crown Land Board, Wellington, have resolved to out that tenants; have' no Authority to sub-let any portion of their holdings for timber-cutting cr, allow- marketable timber to be removed without The consent of therßoard. .■ Mr Haselden, S.M;, who was', appointed a Commissioner to hear evidence-: in; connec- • torn with • .objections; lodged against an Order-in-Cotmwl being issued to ,permit the construction •of electric tramways by . toe; Wellington City .Council, finds thaA .no valid reason has been, afforded by'the objectors to the authorising ■ order, being, issued, and adjudges the objectors liable to costs, amounting to J850,18s 6<J.. The London ‘ Morning Post,’ in its description of the dresses at the Coronation, reports that .“Mrs Seddon, wife of the Premier of New Zealand, was handsomely dressed, in violet velvet, combined with embroidered blonde and bale ■ mauve chiff6n J while her Jewels were smen did.” • The Duke ,of Argyle had occasion one .day to wait for a boat at a small landing stage in Scotland, and, walking along the • came across an old ■ Scotch lassie, waiting like himself, with whom he entered into conversation. He felt somewhat annoyed at the abrupt manner in which she treated him, and at last said: “My good woman, do you know whom you are" speak•n®>to?” “No; and who might you be?” Why, lam the Duke of Argyle.” “ Good gracious! you the Duke of Argyle; why I always thought the Duke of Argyle waft steamer!” , Hokitika proposes to. borrow £IO,OOO for drainage purposes. i ■ov*l(v<*° rs Wellington district a T e aj0,020 m arrears of rent. The Wellington Harbor Board’s new dredge is to' cost £38,150. The latest manifesto of the Boer genenu* a about British ingirat:toae. Ihey declare that their rieople sacrificed everything in order to fight for their covntry s xodependence. Now that, the struggle is over the Boerare rumed. Thirty thousand farms were destroyed by the British'; villages wer burned; orchards ruined; implements broken; nulls destroyed ; and every livine ciiimal was killed ' Their widows and or puans had to be abandoned. And in thi presence of such stupendous misery, say the generals. British svmpalhy has been praeticalty nil. The English Press ascribe the manifesto to the malign influence of Leyds and Reitz, “and declare that the gcnerals'have not beei impressed by their rebuff by the ColoniaOffice. ‘ The Times ’ declares that the manifesto slows that covert and insidious hostility to the Empire still exists. Germany has received the,manifesto with, ctolness and caution. ‘ The .English Press warn the generals that England will not tolerate the ■ organisation of a fund to be distributed at the generals’ sole discretion. Mr. Phipps, a member -of the Pittehdrr Steel -Trust, has given £2Q,OOQ.to toe Bder Fhndj-.and' has'named Louis Botha,' De la Rey, and Mr Arnold White as trustees. Botha, in acknowledging toe money, says it will be expended entirely in phflanthfopy. For himself, the ex-JJoer Commander-in-Chief says, he accepts" the surrender termt in their fullest sense, and will work to restore happiness and contentment. Botha has suggested that Sir W. Rose-Innes (Chief Justice of the Transvaal), Mr Solomon (Attorney-General at toe Cape!, or Mr Goold Adams should be a member •vf tho trust. Mr Chamberlain, who was consulted before the gift was announced, agrees that a conhuttee and an independent audit would give the British public confidence in the administration of the fund, and with Mr Phipps’s consent he is prepared to nominate the British member of the Committee. The Colonial Secretary says that if the scope of the trust were to assist, irrespective of race or politics, all widows and orphans who had suffered by the war. toe fund would mire strongly appeal to British sympathy, bur, if confined to Boers he will still assist to secure its proper administration. The Rev. Mr Botha, who, ir* September, 1901, recommended the acceptance of British rule, and said that resistance on the part; of his countrymen was a crime, has recanted, and asks toe Afrikainders to forgive his heresy. He is now full of sympathy for them. * ' * The ‘ Cape Times ’ ascribes this amazing recantation to Afrikander- Bond terrorism. Under cover of the United States flag toe Venezuelan Government gunboat RestArador shelled the town of Cuidad; in Bolivia. The Venezuelans were afterwards obliged to apologise arid salute toe. American flag. Dr Smartt, toe Progressive Leader, has challenged toe Afrikander Bond to condemn tlie rebellion, and says,he will rejoice if the Bond recognise that the question of supremacy has been settled. But meanwhile the Loyalists will not be lulled into fa|e security. The Republicans of New York revolt against President Roosevelt’s recent declaration against tariffs, while toe Republican Ccnvention at Saratoga have affirmed that Protection must remain a leading plank of the party' platform. Mr G. H. Reid, Leader of the Opposition, has opened the debate in toe Federal Parliament on the Budget A factory has been erected at Sangfjorden, in Norway, for toe treatment of peat by electricity and obtaining from it • gas, tar, oils, charcoal or coke, paraffin ammonitun sulphate and methyl alcohol. Twelve retorts are in use, and one hundred tons of peat can- be treated, daily. The me-, tbod is known as the Jebsen process, and it is contemplated at an early date to set up a plant in the Emerald Me, where there is plenty of peat and sufficient water-power to drive the turbines for the production of the electric energy.

During this summer a competition will he organised among the bird-charmers of Paris. In all the public gardens of the capital there are those who go eveiy day to feed the sparrows with crumbs of bread, and rome of them know their, feathered friends so well that they have given them names, to which the birds respond. It is therefore proposed, with a view of encouraging kindness to the feathered community, to form a Jury, who;toad deliver rewards .and diplomas to who have attained the greatest perfection in bird charming. ■ Two aboriginals named Billy and Joe have been committed for trial at Norroanton on a charge of murdering another aboriginal, an ex-trooper named • Barney. The murder is said to have been due to Barney refusing, to* hand over his gin to B lly. It is alleged that six spears penetrated Barney’s body, and that tomahawks were used subsequently.