CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10258, 29 January 1894, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

Under the title of “ Confessions of a Lord Chief Justice,” the Law Tims? reprints some curious facts from the diary of John Scott, Lord Clonmel!, who was successively Attorney-General -and 'Lord Chief Justice of Ireland at-the end of last century. Here, for example, -is an entry headed “ Discipline of an 'AttorneyGeneral “ He should rise at four in the morning; he should read without fire, standing, if possible, until eight; -he should exercise, bathe and dress at nine j he should sea all persons until eleven; hsl should apply every minute until three in court business; to four he should set dpwii the report of the day; he should' upb drink wine at dinner, and eat of but 'fair, things and not much j he should not drink wine after seven, and from eight to twelve ho should apply to business.” As the Law Times says, the laudator Umporisacii will not find in Lord Clonmeirs diary muck foundation for hia faith. ,

What, asks the Boston Transcripi,i» the bistory of the moustache ? In Greece;and Rome no moustaches were worn without! beards, but m the conquering days, of the; Roman empire several half civilised races, who had come partially under the influence of the Romans, and who wished to, be rid of the name of barbari, or wearer* of beards, attempted to shave, in imitation of their conquerors. But as they had very imperfect implements for the purpose, and as the upper lip is notoriously, the hardest part of the face to shave in the case of anyone poorly skilled iq the. art, they wore unable to make a clean job, of it, and left a quantity of hair on the upper lip. This mark was characteristic - of several nations on the confines of Roman civilisation—of the Gauls in particular, of the Dacians and some others. See Roman statue of “The Dying Gaul aa the Museum of Fine Arts—perhaps the only classical representation of a moustache to be found in that institution, The Latin language has no word for moustache. This barbarous accident Was. unworthy of the honour of a Roman name.

A well-known Sydney society lady (soya an Australian contemporary) made a noyw departure last week in the form of social, entertainment in the shape of a bathing party for both sexes at the Bronte, baths. A number of well-known society ladies and gentlemen were present, and enjoyed the 1 ' novel situation immensely. This swimming party disported themselves in their picturesque costumes under the light of the moon, which was more becoming than the garish light of day,; which Would 1 be liable to show up possible defects ini' complexion or figure, after a dip in " the hr in, It is said that several other ladle* intend to organise similar! patties of this kind, for which the climate is BO suitable.

In spite of the strong comments of coroners and the publicity given to such cases in the press, the. public mind (says 1 the Southland Times) is as difficult to pece* trate as steel plate is by a bullet as to the; proper thing to do in a case, say, of suicide, or attempt at it, by hanging. l Tens of thousands of people believe that the proper thing to do iu such an event is to go for a policeman to cut down the suspended one; it does not matter that, the body shows signs of life,; someone in authority must cut the rope, if it. be houra later. Something of the same kind is reported in connection with the death of Horace Talbot iu the bush at Woodslea Downs. The unfortunate man was found dead under a<£reehe had felled on Saturday evening, but because a constable was not available the tree was not moved till Monday morning, and the body;' was left to the chances of mutilation by wild pigs.

Relative to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the Nautical News says-Proceed-ing westward from the Irish coast the ocean bed deepens very gradually; in fact, for the first two hundred and thirty miles the gradient is but six feet to the mile. Iu the next twenty miles, however,, the fall is over nine thousand feet, and eo ■ precipitous is the sudden descent that in many places depths of twelve hundred to sixteen hundred fathoms are encountered in very close proximity to the one hundred; fathom line. With the depth Of eighteen hundred to two thousand fathoms, the sea bed in this part of the Atlantic becomes a slightly undulating plain, whose gradients are so light that they show but little alteration of depth for twelve hundred miles. The extraordinary flatness of these submarine prairies renders the familiar simile of the basin rather inappropriate. The hollow of the Atlantic is ' not strictly a basin whose depth increases regularly towards the centre. It is rather a saucer or dish-like one, so even is the contour of its bed. The greatest depth in the Atlantic has been found some hundred miles to the northward of the island of 8 b Thomas, where soundings of three thousand eight hundred and seventy-five fathoms were obtained. The seas around Great Britain can hardly be regarded as forming part of the Atlantic hollow. They are rather a part of the platform banks of the European Continent which the ocean has overflowed.

By far the biggest snake in the reptile collection at the Loudon Zoo is the python in the case opposite the door. He is more than twenty feet long, and is seriously thinking of growing longer still- Tyrrell picks him up unceremoniously by the neck and shoves him head first into a tank of water when he seems to need a little stir and amusement* I think, perhaps, after all, the most remarkable being exhibited in the reptile house is Tyrrell, I don’t think much of the Indian snake charmers now. See a cobra raise its head and flatten out its neck till it looks like a demoniac flounder set on end. Keep in mind that a bite means death in a few minutes. Presently you will feel yourself possessed with a certain respect for a snake charmer who tootles on a flute while the thing crawls about him. But Tyrrell comes along without a flute —without ag much as a jewsharp—and carelessly grabs that cobra by the neok and strolls off with it wherever he thinks it ought to go, and you believe in the European after all.

Amongst the applicants for relief who came before the Wellington Benevolent Trustees a day or two ago was an old soldier who formerly belonged to the 2nd . Battalion of H.M.’s 18th Regiment, and whose career since leaving the service hat ( been rather chequered, if his own account of it may be trusted. After getting hit discharge, he went to Fiji, whence he returned in a few years with £6OO in hard cash. He locked up the money in his box, and, having occasion to leave Auckland for a time, he entrusted the box and the key of it to his landlady. When he returned he found that the custodian of hit wealth had " skipped ” with the box and its contents, and ha had never since heard of her. Of late years be had been living at Oamaru, and he came up to Wellington quite recently to push hia claims to a military land grant. The necessary papers, however, were lacking, and his mission bad consequently failed. He was now without means, but ha thought if he could get a passage to Blenheim ho could find work in that district. The trustees accordingly decided to pay bis expenses to Blenheim.