BRIEF MENTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVII, Issue 97, 27 April 1903, Page 3

BRIEF MENTION.

LOW temperature throughout the colony. , , ~ Stoke Boy's Orphanage destroyed by firNo loss of Hfe is reported, but inmates escaped in their night clothes Mrs Fox (widow of the late Colonel Vox) aud family were passengers by the Tongariro for London on Saturday. The circus is a great draw. Astonishing how irresistible a circus is to the young;-and old likewise. Inspector (in despair): Well, at least you can tell me where the Magna Charta was signed? Student (cheerfully): Oh, yes. King John signed that at the bottom of the paper. A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master-spirit, embalmed ond treasured up on purpose to a lite beyond life.—Milton. The Prince of Wales, President o! the British Commission on the bt. Louis Exposition, is expected to visit the United States. The New "iork Sun, Mr Pierpont Morgan's organ, bitterly attacks President Roosevelt for having ab sorbed the Bryanite platform" and for becoming "the leader of trade unionism."

A girl named Anderson at Natimuk, 218 miles north-west of Melbourne, apparently died, but an undertaker *>ho arrived with a coffin found her to be alive, evidently in a trance. The girl, however, died the same evening. "And do you understand," asked the Sunday school teacher, " why you >%re?%S d«M° Elsie, "that's, so we'll be sure to have it fresh."

A visitor to Pieton happened to overhear a conversation the other day which nearly did for the color of his hair. They were on the wharf. Ist Lady: "Is Madame E. Rogers outyot?" 2nd Lady: " No, I knocked her over yesterday, and I expect I've done for her. _She looks awfully limp to-day. Ist Lady : " Oh, well, accidents will happen. I've killed Mrs Marphy anyway. I knew I would; and I believe I've doctored Bob too much—he's gone off a lot." . The young man s. hair rose, and ne was about to make a line to the nearest policeman, when he heard : — "Oh, well, everyone is the same. Mrs J. says her mams will not come out, and she's only one pot-plant to put in." Then he realised that they were talking flower show, and He went and had a drink.

On Wednesday a man, who was shooting on the hills to the north of Lyttelton, came across a he gehog, which he secured with the aid of his pocket handkerchief.

While drawing a cartridge which had missed fira from a breech-loading gun at Kimbolton, Mr Alex. Ross, of Feilding, had two fingers and a portion of his thumb blown off his left hand through the same exploding.

The new dredge Whakarire, built to the order of the Wellington Harbour Board, was successfully launched at Renfrew, Scotland, on the 15th inst.

" Mrs John H. Davis, formerly Miss Therese Sievwright, of Dunedin," says a writer in a London paper, "has already become a personage among New York's * four hundred,' and her beautiful home in Washington Square is one of the show places in that exclusive quarter."

In an office in Christchurch there is displayed on the wall the original printer's proof of the first time-table for the Christchurch-Lyttelton line. Ib is interesting to note that the time occupied in covering the distance was almost the same then as it is now.

Despite the recent line rains the potatoes sown in the Graf ton district, New South Wales, hava not struck. Investigation showed that the seed had rotted in the ground.

The body of Charles Lawson, a Customs officer, was found in the Mnlla poola River, near Eden, New South Wales. He was drowned while swim ming to his boat, which had gone ashore while he was robbing a bees' nest.

At the artillery practice at Bare* wood camp on Monday (says the Bruce Herald) one shell ricocheted over the hills and landed within 50 yards of a small store near Flat Stream. Tt is stated that the occupants of the house wisely sought shelter from the evident danger of shuffling off their mortal coil by hiding behind rocks until the firing was finished."

Two railway platelayers in the Bendigo district, who had been placed on reduced time, turned their attention to working a piece of alluvial ground at the back of Kangaroo Flat station, Victoria, and unearthed a nugget weighing 17oz 6dwt, which realised £69.

The other day a Hawera settler Was surprised to see a hen reeling in his farmyard with a weasel attached to her busily engaged in blood-sucking.

The Mataura Ensign reports a most remarkable accident on Mr Alex. Keir's farm at Oharlton. A mare put her foot through a stump which was flash with the surface, and it jambed fast in the hole. She made desperate efforts to get free, and finally, maddened with pain and fright, wrenched the foot off at the pastern joint. She had to be destroyed.

Three men were charged at Otautau, on the information of the local ranger of the Acclimatisation Society, with spearing trout contrary to the provisions of the Fisheries Conservation Acts and regulations, All three were oonvioted, one being discharged, whilst the other two were fined £1 and £1 9s costs, and £5 and £1 93 7d costs respectively.

The Superintendent of the Tourist Department, while in Taranaki, got the impression that red deer would thrive on the slopes of Mount Egmont, where there are thousands of acres of small scrub and tussock country. If red deer could be successfully installed on the mountain it would be a great attraction to English and Australian deerstalkers who may visit the colony.

Mr Chamberlain's South African speeches have undergone some curious changes in the local reports. At Maritzburg Mr Chamberlain asked whether the new colonies were yet able to " stand alone." The local report which altered the question into one as to the ability to " stand a loan" showed an excellent capacity for hint ing at the truth by accident. A young miner from Pitfleld, who was married at Ballarat the other day, sustained a misfortune the evening before his wedding. He was staying at a city hotel, and before retiring to rest placed his pipe containing live ashes in one of his trousers pockets, in which was a roll of bank notes of the value of £45. The burning tobacco set fire to the pocket, with the result that the notes were destroyed. In consequence of the loss thus sustained the honeymoon trip had to bo abandoned.

Although considerable additions in brick wore recently made to the Wanganui Girls' College, the popularity of the institution is so great that the strain on the boarding accommodation is again acute. On Monday night the Board of Governors had to consent to the leasing of a house near the school which will accommodate ton gii-ls and a teacher so as to cope with the overflow.