BRIEF MENTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXV, Issue 88, 19 April 1901, Page 3

BRIEF MENTION.

A fine bracing temperature.

Heavy snowfall on the ranges.

• Primrose Day. Anniversary of Lord Beaconsfleld's (Disraeli) death to-day.

The King spent 17 weeks in India in 1876.

England spends £580,000 a year on blacking. '

Indian opium sold in China fetches £1900 a ton.

The Masterton Borough Council has now a net overdraft of £2173.

In its comments on the conduct of the Wellington City Council the Times says :—" The only safety of the democracy in such circumstances is, in American phrase, to " turn the rascals oat." -.

The same paper also remarks : " The opportunity is unique for cleansing the Augean stable of corruption and incompetency."

The King's first official appearance in the city of London was in October, 1849. He and his father went in a State barge, rowed by 26 watermen.

It is said that a lot of holders of West Coast dredging shares are " biting their fingers" at present.

At the Riccarton Church reopening recently, Bishop Julius read right through the prayer for Queen Victoria, without remembering that the dear old lady had been for over two'months in her grave I

An incident occurred the other day which shows that the Maori can grasp the political situation.

An Englishman met a Maori in a .country district. The Maori was riding, carrying something in front of him in a sack, and the European asked, *' What have you got there —a pig?"

The Maori replied in the affirmative. " A boar pig," queried the European. " No bloomin' fear," said the Maori, "English pig." Who will say the Maoris are not loyal after that?

The dog of old Mother Hubbard is aptly matched with De Wet in some verses in the Onlooker :—

They cornered him tight in a well-

devised trap, And found him conducting a British' mishap.

They sent a detachment to fetch him away, And he asked them all in and constrained them to stay. They blew lain to bits with superior forces, When they went to inter him he collared their horses. They sat down to write his obituary quick, And found he'd walked off with the portable "-Slick." When last seen—soon after his finalest rout, He was thumbing his nose, with his fingers spread out. The oldest living vicar in the United Kingdom is the Rev. G. D. Grundy, vicar of Hey, who was presented in ' 1838, and is now 94. Two Maori couples were being marwed at Hohoura, Auckland, when an alarm of fire was raised from a neighboring, hotel. The wedding ceremony . was promptly abandoned until the nre was subdued, when it was resumed. The Village Mrs M.alaprop.—The Pastor : " Ah, Mrs Blythe, I'm glad to see you about again. Are you quite better now?" Mrs Blythe: "Well, I am a bit better, but I canna domesticate ma food right yet." " There is nothing, so far as I can see," said the Hon. W. Rolleston at the meeting of the delegates re federation, " which will compensate New Zealand for^^^^^^^er power of self-governmi^^^^^g_the Federa-

Gratitude at the Hairdresser's.— Schoolboy (who has just been relieved of some inches of down, to operator): "Look hero, I must give you a tip. I haven't had such a splendid shave for years."

An attempt is to be made to acclimatise American fish in Ireland. A vessel has left New York with 700,000 eggs of the shad, which will be deposited in the Shannon. Dirty Work.—"l shall require the use of the bath every morning," said a boarder to his landlady in Dublin. The landlady looked astonished, and replied: "Yez must be employed at dirty work entoirely!" South Dunedin boasts of a centenarian in Mrs T. Hutcheson, who was born on board an English man-of-war, on April 12, 1801. The aged lady is still able to walk out of doors, and is iv good health and spirits. A visitor to the Thames, who has just returned from the South Sea Islands, states that the Fijians and Samoans take a very keen and intelligent interest in the South African war.

A Definition. —A school inspector, examining a small school near Ennis, asked a class of the more advanced pupils for a definition of tho word " Atheist."

One pupil promptly answered: "One thatdoesnot believe." The Inspector : '' That is fairly good. Can anyone give a better definition ?" Another pupil: "Yes, sir; an Athiest is a Presbyterian."

" Blackberry bushes have spread so rapidly in some parts of the Waikato as to have become a perfect pest to landowners. One farmer states that the value of his property has depreciated fully £1000, notwithstanding that he has spent on an average about £100 annually in trying to cope with the pesfc.

The Right Hon. R. J. Seddon, P.G.M. of New Zealand Freemasons, has accepted an invitation to act as Installing Officer when the present Grand Master, Bro. A. S. Russell, of Auckland, will be installed for the second year. The ceremony will take place in Christchurch at the end of the month.