DOINGS AND SAYINGS.

Grey River Argus, 5 February 1908, Page 1

DOINGS AND SAYINGS.

Burglars who entered and ransacked ■the residence of a Mr Ball,, Loughborough road, Leicester, had the audacity to leave a receipt for the money they had taken. . "What are the wild wives saying?" is how some scoffers in the Old Country refer to the open-air sufragette speaker. The British Post Office Saving Banks are replacing male clerks by female pen drivers. It is said they are more expert— and then the salaries are much more modest. The latest statement about " 'the Rosyth naval base is that it will be commenced in earnest about the middle of the present year. A Judge of the New Old Bailey Court, London, the other day mentioned briefly that if something was not done to check the air draughts in ■Court there would probably soon be a vacancy on the Bench. Scotland first again. Harry Lander •has been playing golf in the United States, and has defeated the Aemerican amateur champion, in a contest, for a valuable loving cup. Already 20b tons of the Irish end of the Giant's Causway has, been shipped to America, and another 200 tons have ibeen arranged for. What the Yankees are to do with the stones is so far a mystery. A London Magistrate has decided "that a man was drunk when arrested although two doctors who examined him within forty minutes of the arrest certified that he was quite sober. The Magistrate was of opinion that the excitement of the arrest had a sobering effect upon him. * A small colony of the sea elephant, which was supposed to :be extinct, has been discovered on an island off the coast of Lower" California. The thing with a gun will probably hasten there and made the extinction definite, if the United States Government does not s-tep in and protect them, as it did when the sea lions. The Edinborough Exhibition Committee are insisting on the building contractors producing proof that they are paying Trades Union Kites of wages to all employees. Owing to the increased cost of paper in America some of the half-penny papers have been compelled to double their price. A St. Andrew's student, on his way home from a students' function, ordered by a policeman to make less noise, sat him down in the kerbstone and solemnly 'took off his boots and walked home in his stocking' soles. They are biddable chaps the St. Andrew's students ! A golfing paper comes to the conclusion that the possession of brains is a hindrance rather than an advantage in playing golf. This accounts for so many being e xpert players, now. adays. r - It is stated that many American visitors to Britian are at present in considerable straits owing to the difficulty in getting their letters of credit honoured. In some cases ladies have had to pawn their jewels in order to meet •their .hotel bills. Thfe is; s aid: ; to have provided' a new and delightful sensation. One speaker at a meeting called by Glasgow Distress Committee to consider the question of the providing work . for the unemployed, moved an 1 amendment to the resolution, "that everyone has a right to work," to the extent of adding^- "or be provided with the means of living." "Not everyone -was willing to work/ he naively added, "but we are all anxious to live." A Swiss chocolate-maker has had maps printed oh cakes of chocolate and distributed to different schoolmasters. (He has also reproduced famour scenes in Swiss history," so -as to encourage the young idea to learn — ■to eat his chocolate. But the Governing Council of Vaud stepped in and put a stop to his enterprising manner of advertising, Edinburgh has a bqardinghouse for widowers' children. The cost of "each child's board amounts' to .£ls per annum, half of Avhich , "is ,paid by the father of the child. There were more applicants than could be accommodated, and as the system has been found very helpful to mci who have lost their wives, an effort is to be made to extend it. Prince Nicholas of Montenegro through his children, nine in number, has made brilliant alliances. One daught;er is the Queen of Italy, another is a Russian Grand Duchess and the third became Duchess of Leuchtenberg It was a visitor to Cettinje who told the Prince that hts country was very beautiful, it appeared to have no valuablvi exports. "Sir," replied Nich : alas, "you forget my daughters." 1 A man who is aisd to be an Engr lishman has been exploiting the snobs of Pittsburg. He issued circulars to rich ladies offering his influence to introduce them to London Society and at the British Court. About 200 silly rich people are__said to' have responded and the cash rolled in handsomely. One sensible millionaire wrote offering to knock the head off i>he Englishman, and subsequently informed the police, and the Englishman w'll have to use all the influence he has in getting rid of' police attentions. - Eighteynseven in every' hundred Canadian farmers <> wn their own farms Life in the Dominion, however, is not altogether a bed of roses. Workmen engaged in divert-lnjj a roadway at Welwyn, Herts, found 4ft. below the surface five Roman tuns. Several drinking bawls, and some bronze plate. According to th' c teachers superannuation financial report for the quarter ending December 31, the net accumulations during that time were ■^6000. The statement showed that

.£55,000 stood to the credit of th-e f in>3. Nearly 3000 teachers are r.ow contributing to the fund. A gunner of Royal Artillery,. in fall uniform and wearing top boo.s, competed in a ploughing match, and won a prize, at Shalford, Essex. A Kairanga farmer calculates thai his wool clip this season, chiefly" from Jioggets, averaged 9 Jib. A Kimbolton farmer averaged a iolb clip from hoggets. Two eagle's eggs have besn hatched by a hen owned by a Philadelphia farmer. Both eagles are being well cared for by their proud foster-mother. "It is coming to a pretty pass," remarked Mr P. Smith at the meeting of sheep' farmers at Pahiatua, "if we cannot employ a boy to assist in the shearing without consulting Mr Andrew Col lins, or some other agitator, who actually tells us we do not know how to run our own business." Duke Carl Theodore of Bavaria is the only royal doctor. He has just completed his five thousandth aperation for cataract. H e takes.a fee only from those patients who can easily afford it. A courtship which began nearly half a century ago was renewed a few weeks back, and has hen happily end-^ ed by the marriage, at Tiverton, of Mr' John Manning with Mrs Sarah Wil-i' liams. "'",■■' Owing to the appearance of rabbits in the Pohangina district it is probable •that measures for their extermination will shortly be taken. The Duke of Wellington has many treasures of historic value, chief ofthem the service of plate which Portugal presnted to his famous ancestor. It is said to be worth £200,000. Playing cards have been known in some form or another for thousands of years in China, were first introduced into Europe fof the purpose of amusing a French king. Probably the best timekeeper in the world is the electric clock in the Berlin observatory. It is enclosed in an airtig-ht glass cylinder, and its deviation is practically nil. After the sale at Bampton of ponies bred on Exmoor, their new owners found that ponies no larger than Newfoundland dogs were too strong for one man to manage. While he was addressing an audience on the subject, "Are men N honest?" and the which he affirmed, Mr Sydney Burcher, ..of Boston, Massachusetts, had his gold watch stolen from his pocket. •The weight of man's brain has nothing to do with his mental power. It is a question of^climate, not of intellect. The colderihe climate the greater the size of the brain. The temperature of 4ooodeg or 5000 deg can be produced only between carbon points of an electric arc lights. The next hottest place in the world is the crucible of an electric fuf nace. ,After listening to lectures on maneliness, straightforwardness, erectness, moral character, and the like, a Stratford youngster sneaked out of the. school^ building and; let down the tyre s of all the bicycles he cojjld. find, and took away, the fitings tp, prevent .re-inflation. - ■ _~^:Jjjk Early in the morning of the gth mist, $ie Bbwden railway station, 1 South Australia, was entered^ by burglars, who blew -open the safe with dynamite, and got away with four sovereigns. The contents of the office were thrown about in great confusion Although a policeman was on the spot about four minutes after the explosion, the thieves escaped.