BREVITIES

Evening Star, Issue 11889, 18 May 1903, Page 1

BREVITIES

At a meeting of the Masterton branch of the Farmers’ Union Mr T. B. Lett, a igenibar, resigned on the ground that when bo joined he did so on the understanding tnat the 'Organisation was not political The president (Mr Cockbnrn Hood) said it was absurd to talk of banishing politics from their meetings. All legislation appertaining to or affecting the interests of landowners must come into the life of the Union. 'lt was utter nonsense to talk of its being kept out. He further desired it distinctly understood that he would decline to represent the Board at. the Conference if he were not allowed to discuss the legislation of the country.t ,The meeting decided that Mr Cockbnrn Hood should, bo entirely free to act according to his judgment. The land mortgage case Hamilton Bank of New Zealand and Assets Realisation Board, dealing with the Mangotoro block, is not concluded at Napier. The body of Henry Batchelor, who was missed from Little River, Canterbury, was found floating in Lytteltbn Harbor yesterday afternoon.

Americas papers report the death of Mrs Margaret Shepherd, the ex-nun who recently visited New Zealand on a lecturing tour. She died in a Detroit hospital after an operation. Official publications of Zion' City definitely announce that the Rev. J. A., Dowie and his wife and son will take a five months’ rest, beginning next January, during which time they will visit Australia, India, Europe, and the British Isles. -^ e _ amount spent' on intoxicating Liquors in New South Wales last year was £4,817,819. which means £3 9s 2d per head, or £l7 5s lOd for each family of five persons. There was a decrease compared with the preceding year of £200,039, or 4s 3d per head. The Fitzroy Dock at Sydney, which is a Government concern, has sent in tendirs for two contracts which are to be let by the Government. The first was for the mannfacture and erection of an ironwork electric light station and workshop, and the price was £3,696. A Gou!bum firm tendered as low as £1,391, and the highest tender by a private firm was £2,214. In the second contract, for the manufacture and erection of ironwork at the female prison, the amount of the Fitzroy Dock tender was £3,105. The highest tender by a jvlTfcf wa3 E3,215, b’ftt the lowest was According to report, the Czar wears a ring in which he believes is embedded a piece of the true Cross. It was originally one of the treasures of ‘ the Vatican, and was presented to an ancestor of the Czar for diplomatic reasons. Some years ago the Czar was travelling from St. Peters,to Moscow. H e suddenly discovered that he had forgotten the ring. The train was stopped immediately, and a special messenger sent flying back on an express engine for it. Edward Hugh Mackay, licensee of* the iuranganni Hotel, Gisborne, was fined £lO f P£ exposing liquor for sale on Sunday, and ... f ° r . beeping open premises, one conviction being recorded on the license. Notire of appeal was given. Mr Barton,-S.M., said that he disbelieved two witnesses who BW YT e they were not served with liquor. The Gisborne Liberal Association have passed a resolution inviting the Premier and the Hon. W. Hall-Jones to call at Gisborne on their way south, and spend a few days in the district. . The _ Maponrika, with the parliamentary excursionists, is timed to fetum to Auckland on the 30th inst. She is due at Vavau to-morrow, at Tonga next day, at Stva on the 23rd, and at Levuka on the 24th. Electric sticks for drovers are the latest device for getting cattle to the slaughterhouse. Two insulated wires are carried along a stick, which two brass knobs at the end. The cattle are touched with the puncher ” and receive a shock of 125 volts, which is just sufficient to give the beasts a sharp sting, and make them hurry up. There is no brutality about this method as with the ordinary stick or goad, and the flesh is not bruised. A tumbler cleaner is an apparatus for use chiefly m hotels. When not in use it pre sent* the appearance of. a sponge (shaped, like a tumbler) protruding on a rod from a' small! water tank. To use it you place the glass over the sponge and press downwards; the rod sinksinto the water, turning round at it descends, until the glass is submerged The rotating movement of the sponge cleans the ip side, while submersion and subsequent wiping does the same for the outside. Everybody knows the tonic value of apples upon the system. Of all our ordinary fruits, apples, if eaten regularly, ar» mast generally beneficial. Indeed, an old adage says: “An applet a day drives the doctor away.” And many a man or woman noted for his or her good health ascribes it to the plentiful eating of apples. A very simple and yet most effective remedy for diphtheria is nothing but the ji ice of the pineapple, which the patient should be forced to swallow. The fluid is of so pungent and corrosive a nature that it nts the diphtheria mucous and causes it to disappear. The corrosive nature of the juice is; shown by the fact that if a person in good health happens to take the juice of the pineapple before the latter is ripe the mucous membranes of the throat are apt to become sore. Over-cxercise is bad for thj individual It wastes vitality, weakens the system, fiils it with poisonous fatigue products, and, if persisted in, shortens life. But the ether extreme is equally bad. Failure to develop the muscles, or their degeneration for want of systematic, moderate use, predisposes to a disturbance of nutrition and l circulation, leading to an accumulation of fat on the cue hand and imperfect elimination on the other.

A post-mortem examination of the bodv of George Cooper, who died during the progress of a wrestling bout in New°York, shows that death was caused by a collar stad- The man fell against the ropes, and the shank of tho stud was driven into the back of his neck, dislocating the vertebrae. The possession of eleven door keys appeared serious circumstantial evidence against Samuel Day, charged at West London with being a suspected person. It turned out, however, that his wife had gone off with another man, and that he had bought the keys to try and gain admittance to her lodgings. He was discharged. Musical Parisians are of opinion that they have a boy Mozart in their midst. At a wedding celebrated in the Church of Saint Maur, in the absence of the organist, his, place was taken by a little boy in his ninth year, named Andre Chagnon, who played admirably through the service,, and added several voluntaries improvised by hhogoif JOie building site at the comer of Cheape and Paternoster row, occupying a ground area of 945 ft, and with a frontage of 71ft, was lately let by auction on an. eightyyears’ building lease at £1,160 per annum being at the rate of £1 4s 4d per foot rental Capitalised at thirty years’ pur'chase, this would give a freehold value of £36 10s per foot. While threshing corn some months ago at Appleton, Wisconsin, Anthony Warren lost a large pig. Nothing was seen or heard of it till a day or two ago, when he heard grunts proceeding from within the straw stack. He immediately had the stack pulled down, and in the middlo was found the pig, still alive, though having subsisted three months without water. 6 The wedding of John Wilkinson" and Emma Harrison, of Cleveland, Ohio, has' had tp be, postponed until a second is obtained. The original document being missed, s search led to the discovery ofita last remnants disappearing down, the of the bride-elect’s baby, toother. '