BRIEF MENTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVII, Issue 169, 18 July 1903, Page 3

BRIEF MENTION.

♦ Moderate sea in the Straits. At Hull the charge for cremation is only a guinea. An hotel exclusively for women has been opened in New York. Athens is the only capital in Europe which cannot be reached by rail. Thirty years ago Japan boasted one newspaper. To day there are 900. Umbrellas made of varnished paper are coming into favor in France. Judge: "Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" Witness: "I do:" • „,. Judge:" What is your occupation ? Witness: "I am employed in the Weather Bureau." Judge: "You are excused." The limpet adheres to a rock with a force equal to 2000 times its own weight. Exchange of money orders has been agreed upbn between the Transvaal and Canada, Married couples in Norway are privileged to travel on railways at a fare and a-half. The women of Morocco never celebrate their birthday, and few of them know their ages. 11 If the man goes to gaol for seven years it is a ground for divorce, but if it is the wife who i 9 in gaol for seven years it is not a ground for divorce."— MrJellicoe. The Mayor of Palmerston is exMajor Dunk. He rather startled councillors at a recent meeting by a* sharp and stentorian " As you werel" The effect was very satisfactory. " How do you suppose she manages to make her husband still love her?" " Why, she won't let him draw on her principal, and that of course keeps up the interest." Towards the million guineas' scheme of the Wesleyan Methodist Church the total amount of money received now exceeds £952,000. " Madam," said the impatient ticket seller* " you are keeping forty people waiting." " What if I am," retorted the lady. "It is only one wait apiece for all of them, isn't it." The capital of the Hawke's Bay Motor Company has been increased to £12,000, of which £10,000 is divided into £1 shares. The company are bent on business. Mr Ezra Brook, who was organist of St Mary's Anglican Church, New Plymouth, some few years ago, has been appointed organist at the St. Louis (U.S.A.) World's Exposition next year. An Austrian folk-Jorist asserts that the Albanians have the richest and most incisive collection of proverbs in Europe. Here ore a few of them:— '• If you fear God you will not fear man. . If you do not keep your tongue at rest it is often in contact with an ach ing tooth. The devil was not long in finding man. If you follow a crow long enough you light on carrion* Words are feminine; deeds masculine. . Words won't make the wheels of a mill go round. If you don't obey your mother you'll obey your stepmother. A pig won't spare even the most beautiful fruit. You cannot have harmony without noise. Fire, water, and governments don't understand mercy. I During a conference on juvenile smokers the provost of Gifvan, Ayrshire, said he had been amazed by an urchin hailing him with the request: " Hey, provost, gie's a lioht." A touching coincidence is reported from Celbridge, County Kildare. Thomas Copeland died at the age of eighty-one years, and his wife Anne died on the same day, also at the age of eighty-one. Both funerals took place together. An epitaph on the tombstone of a Tennessee farmer, who died very suddenly, read as follows:— Ail his virtues now allowing, Sudden did his life work cease; He has passed from pain and ploughing To a harvest that is peace. Another one in Ringold, Alabama, reads:— He left this world at sixty eight, This world so sad and dim ; He boldly entered heaven's gate, And shut it after him. An addition of two more storeys is to be made to the already fine building known as the Empire Hotel, Wellington, at a cost of between £15,000 and £20,000. An electric liftwil be employed to give access to the higher quarters of the building. Lake Takapuna road afforded quite an imposing spectacle on Saturday afternoon last, when nine motor cars were to be seen spinning along. Nothing disturbed the serenity of the trip except for one car catching fire, another colliding, and four waggon horses taking refuge in a ditch through fear. * The Tapanui paper says:—"lt is now apparent that the taint of sly-gros: selling cases permeates the whole community, and that perjury is committed freely and without restraint." It is reported that a package addressed to a well-known prohibition advocate got broken at a railway station in the Taranaki district, the other day, and, the nature of the contents that were revealed somewhat astonished those who were about. The consignment, it is stated, was not composed of gooseberry wine or ginger pop.