BRIEF MENTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXV, Issue 147, 28 June 1901, Page 3

BRIEF MENTION.

Railway social atPicton this evening. Will eclipse anything o£ the land hitherto held there.

Some examination gems arc as fol- | lows —

What is a circle.—A circle is a round straight line with a hole in the middle of it. How are the seasons caused?— The earth's axis is a pole which goes through the centre of the sun, and as the sun goes round it turns our axis round, and thus we get our seasons. Give the future of drink.—Present, he drinks : future, he will be drunk.

Explain "gender," — Masculine, man; feminine, woman; neuter, corpse.

What is the difference between climate and weather ?—Climate lasts all .the time, but weather lasts only a few

days. So far the bazaar in Wellington in aid of tho Victorian Home for Incurables has brought in £3200.

The amount will be supplemented by a Government subsidy of 24s in the £.

During the royal celebrations in Wellington 97,943 passengers were carried on tho Wellington Corporation tramways. The total receipts amounted to £820.

The following is a chunk from a report of the Maori shivoo recently held at Rotorua: —

" The Maori costumes were marvellous. That the colors should be vivid seemed the first desire of tho native woman of fashion. Orange, emerald, sapphire, and magenta, all were pressed into the service.

"One society belle walked about in a tailor-made black satin, with a novel sort of toque made out of a black and white feather boa twisted round her.

" Coats and skirts are much affected by the Maori women, and they have them made with room and to spare even for their capacious forms.

"Yet, though the Maori wears a cevise petticoat, a green loose blouse, and a sulphur-colored silk handkerchief, she is a color harmony, and exactly what the landscape requires.

"The dull monotony of the sailor hat they brighten by feathers, wreaths of lycopodium, moss and colored gauze, and tan boots buttoned high up the bare brown legs finish off the toilette.

"One original lady had apparently _ -laid toa stock of feather dusters, and decorated ber_muslin skirt with the brilliant feathers until she looked like a half-fledged tropic bird.

" Some of the girls had the most marvellous hair, reaching almost to the knees, and of a golden chestnxit color. As they moved the sun at^^e£; backs iJ^»^fels"VfittJ^AfUlMß^glbTy that broke and formed again as'the tresses rose and fell in tho movements of the dance."

"Working men pay little attention to politics so long as they are fully employed," said Mr Arnold, the member for Dunedin, last week in addressing his constituents. "It is only when they are idle that they can be depended upon to turn up in numbers at a political meeting." Arnold is right.

A Jewish officer in the Austrian army, condemned to five years' imprisonment on the charge of selling details of frontier defences to Russia, has (states a Vienna telegram) been released after four years and reinstated in the army, it having been ascertained that he was not guilty.

The question as to the oldest living ex-Mayor of any town in New Zealand is being discussed in the Dunedin papers. One correspondent, "An Old Crotnwellian," thinlis that Mr William Jackson Barry, now eighty-five years of age, holds the record. He was elected Mayor of Cromwell in 1866, Mr H. A. Stratford, S.M., being the Returning Officer.

A marked and permanent rise in the Dead Sea, causing the formation of a tflroaA V&gomijon the north side of the Jordan delta, -k-attributed to the raising of the entire bottom by volcanic action.

A tunnel 25 miles long, reaching a depth of 1800 ft below sea level, is planned between Vaqueros Bay, Spain, and Tangier, in Africa. It would bo tho deepest in the world. A small boy at Kaiata while engaged in cleaning his bicycle a few days ago managed to get one of his fingers M entangled in the chain, with the result that it was cut clean off. The plucky llitfcle fellow—he is only 11 years of age v-picked up the piece, and, wrapping iMs finger in a handkerchief, tramped into town through the heavy rain, and -with the utmost nonchalance asked the doctor if he " could put that piece on again."—Grey Star.

The following epigram, attributed to the late Dr Crighton, Bishop of London, may have an appropriate lesson for this season of the year : —

The rain, it raineth every day Upon the just and unjust feller ; But more upon the just, because The unjust takes the just's umbrella.

The Western Mail, Cardiff, says:— " The pranks of the lynotype are perfectly De Wettish. This is what a Newport newspaper printed on the sth nit.: *We understand that the Newport tramway men were paid in full last week, although the cars were not run on Saturday. Newport was thus one of the few big towns in the kingdom in which the henzollern passes the Nore.' " We think we can sympathise with our contemporary.