By the Way.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 17, Issue 17, 12 April 1895, Page 6

By the Way.

— .*- Good Friday. Hot cross buns. Gore Hibernian Sports and Riverton Races on Easter Monday. Special excursion trains— Gore to Riverton and Invercargill to Gore, The long-looked-for bridge proclamation appears at last. Timaru Harbor Board has appointed Mr J. P. Maxwell consulting engineer. Parisian society is astonished at Oscar Wilde's exposure. Parliament is further prorogued till May 30th. Tbe Gore-bred horse Johnny Faa won the Reefton Handicap on Monday. Ten families on the Milton plain can number 100 children between them. What need of immigration ? Reported that a " New Australia " official, whose headquarters were at Sydney, has disappeared with all the funds. The world's record for 440 yds hurdles broken at Auckland on Wednesday by T. Roberta— 6o-_*seos. Mr Justice Denniston has granted a mandamus to compel the Registrargeneral -to recognise the right of the saintly Worthington to " tie the knot.'' On Wednesday Shorland, the crack cyclist, failed to lower the DunedinInvercargill record. He was about five minutes behind Sanders' time. Moody Campbell, a jockey, died at Oamaru on Tuesday. He fell from . his horse in the Novel Race and was severely injured. The Mosgiel Woollen Factory 00. declare an interim dividend at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum. Rev. W. Hewitson, 8.A., of Brunswick, Melbourne, " called " as Dr Stuart's successor at Knox Church. Silver is still advancing. The cable on Tuesday reported the price in London as 2s 6_-d. The Hon. Captain Russell has consented to deliver a political address in the Garrison Hall, Danedin, on Wednesd ay, 16th inst. Last year, for the first time since 1890, the births exceeded the deaths in France, but that excess only amounted to 7000. It is stated that the Midland Railway Company have set aside L 50,000 to meet expenses in connection with the arbitration case. The 'Post' considers the ablest and most exhaustive political deliverance placed before the public for many years was that of Mr G. Hutchison at Wanganui last week. In Trieste recently, the Bora (north wind) raged so fearfully that in the exposed parts of the town ropos had to bo hung out on the houses for the passers-by to hold on to. Mr John Gammell, 8.A., is giving his series of rationalistic lectures in Dunedin. " Mica_. tho Henotheist " is the somewhat alarming title of the last discourse. Pentonville Prison is claimed to be the healthiest spot in England. No fewer than 12,050 criminals passed through it during last year, there being only nine deaths. A Wellington medico says magnesia is the first antidote in cases of phosphorus poisoning, and should be kept in every houso where there are children. In five years tho Australasian colonies havo increased their wool production by '305,000 bales, yet receive absolutely L 950 000 less money for tUe entire clip. A Kaitangata sportsman, when out on shooting intent, found a whale on the beach, which he is now boiling down for the oil, and expects to make a good " bag " out of it. An electric lighting plant for Tapanui can be secured for LllO, and a revenue of LIOO per annum is assured, so that there is every prospect of the town being shortly lighted electrically. Only 346 acres of wheat were grown in tbo Nor,th Wairarapa County last season, as compared with 845 acres in 1894 tfnd 1973 aores in 1893. A fatal fire occurred at Christchuroh on Monday night. Mrs Burns, who had only been confined a few days, was got out safely, but her 2J--year-old child perished, and it was at one time thought that another child had been burned. The Ministerial organ thinks the new corporative scheme of the Government, by which land and labor will go hand in hand, and, with the aid of the Government sawmills, scatter peace and plenty ovor a smiling land, will solve the problem of the unemployed iabor as easily as falling off a log.

Mr Flatman, M.H.R., said that when he went to Parliament he looked round the House for purity, and was sorry to say he could not see it on either side. He might as well look for a needle in a haystack. Plat man to even look for it. One of the Napier papers recently felt compelled to protest against the indecent haste with which the proceedings of the local Education Board wero rushed through, in order to allow some members to attend a race meeting. An American contemporary remarks that the giving away of the bride by her father is not an essential part of tho j marriage ceremony, bufc that the giving I away of some maidens by their little i brothers has prevented many marriages. j A teacher, having requested each of her class of small boys to bring in three items of information about the Thames that they could prove to be facts, received from a bright seven-year-old the following :" I have lived neer it. I have saled over it. I have fallun into it. Facks." The popularity of cremation still grows. The annual report of the Manchester Crematorium, Limited, just issued, states that 75 bodies have been disposed of by the process during tbe past twelve months, a considerable increase upon the number for the previous year. A fee of only two guineas is charged for a cremation in the case of the poorer classes. A friend was condoling with a man who was very ill, and the sick man said : " Yes, I feel very much to have to leave my poor wife and children." " Never J mind us," said the wife, " you just go on with your dying ; we'll get; on very well." If we had been that man we would have sent for a doctor and got repaired. We wouldn't please such an unfeeling wife by dying. Recently, it is related by a weekly paper, the Duke of Norfolk, while walking through the streets of London, happened to see an old lady in evident distress. She wanted a cab, but could not attract the cabman's notice. His Grace called a vehicle, and saw her into it safely. *To his surprise he found three coppers slipped into his hand, and the old lady said, " There you are, my man ; go and get yourself a glass of beer I" A settler e»i Masterton district ieeently brought a small flock of sheep about 50 miles to dispose of them by auction. The sum he netted was 8d per head. He returned disgusted to his farm, killed and skinned the sheep- which he did not require, buried the carcases, and old the skins for ls 3d each. Mr Hutchison, M.H.R=, speaking at Wanganui, referred to the hanky-panky finance of the Government, and in doing so drew a parallel between the Colonial Treasurer's method's and those of Dickens's immortal Micawber of IOU fame, ending up with the following pretty thrust : — " Wilkins Micawber emigrated to the colonies, and'for aught we know may, if only in a measure, be responsible for our more recent Financial Statements.'' There is a longing among the Japanese for a larger stature. The Mikado's Go« vernment have come to the conclusion that both stature aud physique of the Japanese people are unsatisfactory, and in need of improvement. A parliamentary commission appointed to investigate the causes of this lack of stamina has, after a prolonged investigation, ascribed it to the vegetable diet to which the Japanese have hitherto mainly confined themselves. John Burns has been doing some tall talking in America. He described Chicago as " a pocket edition of hell." He denounced the lesson inculcated in certain schooi text-books, for example, " From Log Cabin to White House," as injurious and immoral. "Ib waa a lesson," he said, " which inculcated the duty of rising above one's fellows, instead of a lesson of helping one's fellows to rise." The Surveyor-General is urging the establishment of settlements at the Chatham Islands under the existing New Zealand land laws, and the Minister for Lands is considering the question. Mr Smith's suggestion is that Nativa land purchase operations should be extended to the Chathams, where there is a good deal of fertile land available, but none in J the hands ofthe Crown. Mr James Payn says that he remembers a very puzzling collection of letters, ERLYAATB, which was said to have been bit upon by Lord Palmerston, and which kept Her Majesty the Queen awake all night. Mr Payn says it is not at all an out-of-the-way word, yet he has only known one person who succeeded in discovering it.