BREVITIES.

Evening Star, Issue 11824, 2 March 1903, Page 1

BREVITIES.

The vital statistics for February are as follow:—Births 109,, deaths 50, maniages : 37. For* February last year: Births HQ, deaths 55, marriages 42. . The annual dinner of the Seventh New Zealand Contingent, held at Wellington cn Saturday night, was attended by about 200 members, Colonel • Porter presiding. The Minister of Education and the Minister of Customs each paid a tribute to the valor of our soldiers in the recent war. ’ /• At Pontefract the other day Ernest Young; for thirteen years a constable of the West Riding forte, was summoned for an assault upon a single'young woman, who keeps house for her two brothers and a lodger at Prospect Cottages, South Kirkby. The allegation was that on New, Year’s morning defendant “let the New Year in” at several houses, including complainant’s, and kissed the complainant, in spite of, her resistance. . He had already been dismissed from the police force. In view of that fact the Bench only called upon him to pay the costs (17s 6d). Dundee magistrates have just inaugurated a system of public-house inspection by two plain-clothes constables, - The men walk about the call at publichouses, and send reports to the chief constable. In a book they enter details of each visit, stating the number present in the bar and the persons intoxicated (if any), the landlord being furnished with the report on a counterfoil. To prevent collusion with the publicans the inspectors are changed monthly. The old man 61 Garforth, near Leeds, who recently tried to commit suicide rather then destroy his dog, as ordered by the West Riding Bench, has completely recovered. There is an interesting sequel to the pathetic story. A lady of Badminton, having read the paragraph recording the circumstances, has proposed not only to send the old fellow a fresh dog, but. to pay the dog tax The man is in poor circumstances, and his exclamation over his dog,. “We will both die together, Rosie, if thee has to die,” having touched the heart of the lady, it is not likely that in me end he will be a sufferer from the action of the police. . The Yarmouth School Board are starting a cookery class for the instruction of a limited number of hoy scholars in the Gorleston schools. The idea is to give them some knowledge of plain cooking, so that they may be better fitted for the positions many will occupy on board fishing vessels. The Falls of Niagara have recently been the scene of the most curious event which has been recorded since they were discovered by man. This has been the lodging of a piece of timber on the very edge of the waterfall on the American side, of the nven It was a piece of timber from one of tne lumber yards at Tonawanda, and for some unexplained reason it stuck in its remarkable position,, and remained there for several days in spite of the overwhelming force of the water which rushed by. When eventually it fell into the gorge it is believed that it carried a portion of the limestone ledge with it. The first United States stamp to bear tbe head of a woman has just been issued to commemorate the death of Martha Washington, wife of the first President of the States. Before she became Mrs Washington, in 1758,' she wasa wealthy young widow named Martha Curtis. The stamp, which is rather prettily designed, is somewhat after the style of some of the earlier issues. According to official statistics, 143'329 emigrants left Bremen last year, as compared with 110,606 in 1901. The figures afford some slight measure of the depth of the industrial depression in Germany. The flowers imported into England from the South of France in the past Seven mopths were valued at nearly a quarter of a million sterling. I Dr Samuel Smiles, of ‘Self Help? fame, has celebrated his ninetieth birthday. The veteran still retains his interest in literature and politics, and enjoys what for a man of ninety must be regarded as excellent health. Lady Sargood intends to sell the beautiful property at Elstemwick known as “ Rippon . Lea,” and take up her residence in England. D