ITEMS OE INTEREST.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXII, Issue 28, 3 February 1897, Page 4

ITEMS OE INTEREST.

At Wellington on Tuesday a prohibition order was issued against Hannah Morris. The lady, when told of the deoiaion of the Court, laughed merrily, and, snapping her fingers, declared between her bursts of merriment, " It'll only make n?e worse ; It'll only make me worse ; I'll get plenty." And the orderly had to put her out of Court m order to out short her tirade against her husband, who had taken out the order, On his way to England to attend the Lambeth Conference, the Primate of New Zealand was interviewed by a reporter of the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Asked if the granting of the franchise to the women had been m any sense a disappointment, Bishop Cowie emphatically declared that it had not. The generality of women, he claimed, were interested m the moral character cf men. He laughed heartily when reminded of Max O'Rell's prediction that the short trial of the experiment m New Zealand had resulted m a fervent desire for the immediate undoing of it, and exclaimed, "There was Dever a greater delusion. lam not speaking of Auokland only, for my duties take me all over New Zealand, and there is only one opinion." It is now claimed that the Caledonian early morning train from Carlisle to Aberdeen is the fastest train m the world, An expert m speed who made the trip says that for 20 miles the average was 72.3 miles an hour, and for two miles 81.6 The whole p6rforniauce is described as ta« ordinary work now on the Caledonian, and far m exceas of English times. The engine was the Dunalastair, which, m addition to large cylinders, has the largest boiler of any locomotive m Britain. Iv 10 years the Caledonian has reduced the time from Carlisle to Aberdeen from 7 bourß 22 minutes to 4 hours 31 minutes, and it is pointed out that if the English lines made the same speed 2 hours 17 minutes would be saved m the journey from London to Holy head, 53 raiuutes to Manchester, 52 to Liverpool, 18£' to Birmingham, 41 minutes to Exeter, and 64 minutes m the Midland Company's run to Carlisle. The newspaper controversy set m motion by the proposal to re-establish a Sunday train service between Napier and Hastings baa been taken up m the Wairarapa paper. A correspondent signing himself " Consistency" writes : ~"It seems strange that those who most leudly declaim Sunday trains and Sabbath desecration are themselves frequently the worst offenders. My attention was only drawn yesterday to a report that a Maßterton clergyman had induced a local blacksmith to shoe a horse for him on Bunday. I hops that the report is without foundation, and would be glad of a denial" Commenting upon the fact that the two sons of the Hod J. McKeDzie, Minister for LancU, have become "social pests" by purchasing one of the finest estates m the Middle Island from the Bink of New Zealand Assets Board (the Bushey Park Estate), the Ohrietchurcb. Press remarks ;— " There is only one thing that we cannot quit a understand, and that is why the attack on the Bank of New Zealand should have been made when the negotiations regarding the purchase of the Bushey Park estate have been pending. What did it mean ? We however, that we have not heard the last of such ( warning notes.' " Mr John D, Fyfe, formerly of Vyndham, writes from Johannssburg, an interesting letter to the Farmer. He describes it aB the most wonderful place he has been seen m all his travels, but his staying there is out of the question. "I used to laugh," he says, " at the idea of £2 a week m New Zealand being better than £6 here, and the wages puid are none too large for the discomforts and troubles the people here have to put up with." Some idea of the passion which Parisians evince for oyoliog is gainod from the fact that on one hun/lay leceutly it was impossible for orriagts to drive about m the Bois at all, as there were no fewer than thirty thousand cyclists there. In an interview m the Idler, Phil May tells of a fuuny experience he had on bis return from bis tour round the world for the Graphic. " When I cauee back I hastened to the office, and imagine my gratification when I saw everywhere respleudeut banners bearing the inscription m large letter?, • Welcome to Mtty.' I ttli you I waa elated. ' This ia indeed fame,' I thought, and when I g)t to the Graphic effico there wag another inscription with Mowers and all the rest of it, ' Welcome to M. and G. Ths G. worried me a bit, but then the imme of the man who went with me to do the letterpress began with aG. I told the editor of my aratincation. « Why, you idiot, you egotistical egregious idiot,' be remarked, politely, ' it's nothing to do with a low artist fellow like you. It's the marriage of Princa George and Princess May !' " One cannot but believe m these stone?, sagely remarked hia interviewer, when Mr May tells them. Reading matter continued on first page. Drapers' Handbills printed at the shortB st notice at the Express Office.