CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10106, 3 August 1893, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

A return has been laid on the table of the House of Commons giving: the names of those Ministers who enjoy pensions from the Crown for long political services. They amount in all to ten, two of whom (Lord Iddesleigh and Lord Headlam) are dead, and two have resigned their pensions .—namely, the Duke of and Mr Shaw Lefevre. The remaining six are as follows: —Mr Childers, whose pension is £1133 6a 8d; Mr C. P. Villiers, £1200; Lord Emly, £I2OO. These three men were all followers of Mr Gladstone when in office. The Conservatives are Lord Cross, £2000; Lord George Hamilton, £1200 ; and Sir M. Hicks-Beaeh, £I2OO.

A German contemporary gives a comparative statement of tho military outlay in different European countries, showing the percentage of the cost for the Army and Navy to the whole budgetary expenditure. The figures, which apply to the fiscal year 1892-98, are these Great Britain, 36'9; Russia, 29'7; France, 27*1 j Italy, 22*4; Germany, 17’8; and AustriaHungary, 17-6 per cent. The expenditure for the interest and sinking fund on tho Public Debts of the different countries amounted in Italy to 48'8; in AustriaHungary to 29'3; in Prance to 28’4; in Great Britain to 27‘9; in Russia to 25'7 5 and in Germany to 12-9 per cent of the whole Budget. A. distinctive progress in gun-making is recorded. A gun has been tested in France, which, upon trial, has given most remarkable results. It is of 6,8 inches calibre and over 47ft long. To this enormous length the wonderful initial velocity of its projectile is attributed. This velocity reached the phenomenal figure of almost 4000 ft a second, surpassing all previous records. The gun is impracticable for use on board ship, under present conditions, but it does not necessarily follow that it may not be used with advantage on shore, especially in seacoast defences, where such, high initial velocities would be greatly desirable for the purpose of piercing the armour of hostile war vessels, provided, of course, that a projectile could be found of such hardness as to pass through the opposing armour.

It will be probably remembered by some that the late Dr Featherstoue, the first Agent-General for New Zealand, left a very excellent and most interesting collection he had made of Maori weapons, ornamental feather work, and mats and cloaks made of woven fibres. These relics were kept at the Agency, and in 1886 were shown at the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, and then transferred, for the purpose of being exhibited, to the British Museum, with, however, the understanding that as soon as the Imperial Institute was opened they would be sent to the New Zealand Court there. Tho Maori relics have been received from the British Museum, and they will now furnish a very interesting and noticeable feature at the Imperial Institute. Sir Walter Duller is having soma figures prepared for the purpose of showing off the weapons and articles of clothing to greater advantage.

Four years ago (says the Pall Mall Gazette ), Robert Fleming Jones, a young clerk in the Birmingham Telegraph Office, disgusted with the slow progress he was making, threw up his appointment, and sought to better his fortunes in the States. He was engaged by the Western Union Company aa a telegraphist, at Chicago, and finding himself with a good deal of leisure, devoted it to the study of medicine. In a year or two be graduated in Louisiana, and shortly blossomed out as medicine officer of the Louisiana State Board of Health. Then he became quarantine physician on the steamship Pizzati, which traded with Honduras, and was secretly chartered to the Government of that country in the late rebellion, so that before he appreciated the situation the ship was shelling Ceiba, a port then held by the rebels. After the town was carried by assault. Dr Jones went ashore, and at great personal risk extemporised a hospital, for which service the Honduras Government has granted him a commission in the army, with the rank of LieutenantColonel. The days of adventure are evidently not over—at least, for the adventurous.

By way of illustration of the proverbial craftiness of the Norman peasantry, the Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph tells an amusing story, which, he remarks, if not in strict accordance with fact, has at least the merit of originality. A certain baker, in business in a small town, obtained his supply of butter from a farmer in the neighbourhood. One day he discovered that the pats, which were supposed to weigh three pounds each, were not up to the standard, and further examination revealed a steady diminution. At last the baker lodged a complaint against the farmer, and the affair was brought before the Court. “ Have you any scales P" inquired the magistrate. “ Yes,” was the reply. “And have you any weights?" continued the judge. An answer this time in the negative was given. r * But how did you manage to weigh your butter P” aijked the magistrate. Then the farmer related that ever since the baker had taken the butter he had returned the compliment by buying his bread. The baker supplied him with 31b loaves, and ha used them as weights for his butter. “It is his fault, not mine, if the weight is not correct,” added the farmer, who was speedily acquitted, and loft the Court in triumph with an escort of friends.