BRIEF MENTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVII, Issue 87, 15 April 1903, Page 3

BRIEF MENTION.

The busy bee.

A Clutha settlor has an output of over six tons of honey this season. At 3*d per lb this is worth something under £200.

An offer of £1500 for the champion trotter, Ribbonwood, at Christchurch, was refused.

The owner intends to take him to Melbourne. For persisting in smoking in the pib of the theatre in Napier the other night a man was fined 5s without costs. Mr Kinsella, Chief Dairy Expert of this colony, has been offered the position of principal dairy expert of the Transvaal. The Conference of Premiers will open at Sydney on Wednesday. A number of important inter-State questions will be dealt with.

The influx of out-of-works from the Australian colonies into New Zealand still goes on. Six stowaways from Hobart by the Turakina were handed over to the police on the arrival of the vessel in Wellington. Hollanders who have returned from the Cape declare thatiDr. Leyds paid their passages out;.

Daring last year 32,098 Germans immigrated into the United States, and 8000 Greeks have gone thither since December last. Unprecedented shoals of'garfish have been met with along the Sydney coast, and some very large catches have been made.

There are some model bakers in Hobart. A recent inspection of the bread from nineteen bakeries showed that in every case loaves were overweight, and all made of the best flour.

The Rev. Mr Evans, formerly Vicar of Sb. Michaels, Shoreditch, who was recently suspended, has gone over to the Church of Rome, with many of his congregation. The Government offices throughout the colony will be closed on Thursday, 23rd April, being St. George's Day.

A Ponsonby barber is not very flattering to his customers, for his sign reads, *' Haredressing done here." This is worse than calling your friend an ass.

How seek the way which leadeth to our wishes ! By renouncing our wishes. The crown of excellence is renunciation.—Hafiz.

A British officer, when in uniform, is not allowed to carry an umbrella, no matter if the rain is falling in torrents.

At a ball in Gotsbprg, Sweden, a young lady was thrown by her dress becoming entangled with an officer's spurs, and killed by a heavy hairpin which penetrated her brain.

The cost of travelling in South Africa just now is enormous. Two New Zealandefs who recently took a pleasure jaunb through that country found that the expenses—without extravagance— totted up to £700.

" What do you consider the most important branch of education ?'' the new teacher, anxious to please, asked one of his leading constituents, a well-to-do local farmer.

" Arithmetic," was the reply ; " give a boy plenty of arithmetic. "What blights the careers of so many young men nowadays is the failure to realise that you can't subtract £300 expense account from a £150"income."

The London Road Car Company is arranging for 500 motor otnnibusses, and is abolishing over 5000 horses. The London General Omnibus Company is also experimenting in a similar direction.

The shareholders in the Alsoppßrewery Company have agreed to the redaction of the capital of the company to £1,870,000. "^ "Were you so very wicked wjj^n -you- wer.e.young,. Mr. Sawfeeil V" *"*wd, my dear) not half as wicked as I would like to have been," and he sighed deeply. They've battled best who've boldest borne; ' The kingliest kiDgs are crowned with thorn. —Massey. To encourage thrift among their employees the directors ox the Great North of Scotland railway have established in their behalf a savings bank, in which depositors are allowed interest at the rate,of 4 per cent. A typical British method ot dealing with good luck in the State lottery has occurred at Madrid. The first prize of £20,000 has fallen to the ticket held by Mr John Oliver, who is engaged in the iron trade.

The fortunate winner has handed over the prize for distribution among the work people employed by him, and the money has brought great happiness to the recipients, the majority of whom are very poor.

In one of the most fashionable churches at Cortland, New "iork, the Rev. R. S. Brown refused to preach until the women removed their hats. For a time no one moved. Then one of the society leaders quietly took off her bonnet. All over the church a rustling and fluttering instantly followed, and soon every lady in the congregation was bareheaded.

As Mr Seddon has determined to exclude newspaper reporters from participating in the pleasures of the South Sea Island trip, it is understood that they will hire a boat of their own, "and be there all the time." Half of the expense will be borne by the wives of the members, and the other half by " those whom it may concern." —Feilding Star.