BRIEF MENTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 132, 7 June 1906, Page 4

BRIEF MENTION.

Many of tho fowls at the egg-laying competition arc still recording " duck " eggs. Elcrcn o'clock licenses havo been granted at Palmorston North. The Channel Tunnel scheme is to be revived. America is alarmed at the enormous influx of immigrants. It is four years since peace was arranged between Britain and the Boers. It is said that half the population of Glasgow are without any church connection. ." George." said his mother-in-law, " I saw you coining out of a bar-room yesterday." " Yes," answered George, " I had had to catch a train." According to the statement of the paasenger agent of the Milwaukee Railway, 150,000 Americans will remove to Western Canada during the coming summer. The Berlin leaders of the social democracy have determined to organise the domestic servants, washerwomen, and charwomen of Germany into a trade union. Self-made Man (examining school of which he is a manager) : " Now, boy, what's the capital of 'Olland ?" Boy : " An ' H/ sir." During the past five years Invercargill's population has increased by 1877. A Wellington builder states that twothirds of the six-roomed houses in that city are sub-let. "Charlie promised that on the day he. married me that he would stop drinking." " Did he keep his promise ?" " Oh, yes. He didn't take a drink all that day." According to a Government statistical return, the population of West Australia (exclusive of full-blooded aboriginals) on April 30th, was 258,461. The population of Perth and suburbs on December 31st last was 52,300. gMistress:" Jane, I saw the milkman kiss you this morning. In future I will take the milk in." Jane : " Twouldn't be no use mum. He's promised never to kiss anybody but me." Probably the very largest fire insurance policy in existence, or even written, is that covering the property of the Santa Pc Eailway Company. It was issued by the Phoenix Fire Office of London, is in amount ,£3,400,000, and takes a premium of .£34,000 to carry. The exodus of British families (from Moscow continues, owing to the unsettled condition of the country. Members of the colony complain that they have even been menaced by armed guards while on their way to service ab the Anglican church. " And what are you doing in the capital?" said the Washington citizen to a friend from the West. " Oh, I came to see Congress make a few laws." " Indeed ? then you intend to reside here for a number of years ?"

A sailor, who was looking for work, called at a certain farm to see if the farmer could find him a job. Farmer: "Been working anywhere since you left your ship ?" Sailor: "Yes." Fanner: " What sort of work ?" Sailor: " Well, I dunno exactly. It was on some sort of machine. They put all the wheat down her main hatch, an' the straw came right out of her bows, an' there was two bags hooked on to her stern to catch the other stuff." A cheque for .£IO,OOO for King Edward's Hospital Fund for London has been received from an anonymous donor. They were walking out together on a cloudless night under the light of a big round moon which seemed unusually bright and beautiful. Suddenly he stopped, clasped his hands, and cried rapturously : " Oh, Mary ! Look -at the moon to-night. Isn't it beautiful —magnificent ?" " Yes, ain't it William ?" she replied with equal enthusiasm. "It looks just like a big fried egg, don't it, dear ?" The late Mr Frederick J. Horniman, a London tea merchant, left bequests amounting to forty thousand pounds to his employees. A serious matter nationally ! The birth rate of England and Wales last year was only, according to the Registrar General, 27*2 per thousand of population. It is proposed to organise a floral fete in connection with the New Zealand Exhibition. Some time ago a Scottish laird lost his purse, which was found by a local half wit who called at the big house very early in the morning to hand it over. The laird, who had been aroused from sleep, as Jamie would have no denial, received the lad in a somewhat irascible frame of mind, and asked him what the dickens, and something stronger, he wanted so—so early. "Well," pleaded Jamie, " I jist cam' aa' as long as I had fcho upper hand for I can tell ye the deil an' me hae had a gey nicht o't!"