News and Notes.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8071, 23 August 1905, Page 6

News and Notes.

A Supreme Court juryman obtained release from duty at Auckland last week on the strength of the birth ol a baby in hil house.

The latest conundrum: Why is Tommy Taylor a bad tailor ? Because he can't make publicans' close.

It was Disraeli who said .that '.* ambition is the desire to receive £1200 a year; opposition is the endeavour-to receive JEI2OO a year ; success s the receipt of £1200 a year."

Father Hays has received news of the death in Liverpool of his only uncle, the Yen. and Eight Eev. Mgr. Nugent, one of the greatest philanthropists and best known priests in England.

.There are 4560 persone at present employed on Government co-operative works -2711 by the Public Works Department (including 1226 on the North Island Main Trunk railway) and 1849 by the Department of Koads.

The New York Tribune states positively that S;r Thomas Lipton has commissioned Mr Alfred Milne, a' partner of the late Mi- George Watson,, the famous yacht designer, to construct Shamrock IV to compete for the America Cup.

The extraordinary traffic case of Eangitikei County v. Gardner and Sons, at Taihape was dismissed, on the ground of insufficiency of evidence as to the offence, and other eases under the same portion of the by-laws were subsequently withdrawn. ■

"How people," remarked an urban cleric in Christchureh last Sunday, " can reconcile themselves to offer a threepenny bit with a hand clothed in a 8s 6d glove is beyond my comprehension." It is probably this feeling that induces conscience-stricken people to give nothing at all.

Angora goats aro reported to be very useful as scrub exterminators, and may yet prove equal to destroying blackberries. At Hawke's Bay a small flock of Angoras are said to be keeping blackberries in subjection on the farm, and it is believed that as the flock increases in number the pest will be killed out, as even blackberries cannot stand being continuously nibbled.

Worried by the heat and noise of an over-crowded room, a North-country Sunday school superintendent swooped down on an unoffending class, and seizing a boy a little taller than the others, deported him bodily to his own department. Socn afterwards a small lad came timidly forward, and, holding up his hand, said," Please, sir, you've got our teacher 1"

" I was greeted with hoots and groans and every possible insult they were capable of in the way of vocal noises " —•Extract from a letter of a Rugby football referee who complained to the Management Committee of the Wellington Union on Thursday night of the manner m which certain players had treated him after a recent " friendly game."

Mr W. B. Leffingwell, an American who is representing several newspapers m this colony, is visiting New Zealand at the instance of Mr Donne. The Premier says Mr Leffingwell has never asked the Government for payment or compensation for his work, and does not intend to do so. Mr Donne was advised aji St. Louis that, if he could induce this gen.tleman to visit New Zealand, the couytesy of a railway pass >ould be ex tended to himself, his wife, and his secretary, ho other services of the colony have been placed at his disposal.

In the opinion of the Hon. J. D Ormopd the Maori Land Councils have been a failure. The Hon. G. McLean, in supporting the above statement in the Legislative Council, said the Councils had done nothing but draw their pay, and that they should be forced to do something or else dissolve. He, as well as the Hon. T. Kennedy Macdonalfl. who spoke next, convoisnted upon the nolicy^ol- iW Government in spending large sums of money in buying private estates, whilst such vast areas of land were lying idle in the North Island. Mr Macdonald said that if there had been one fiasco greater than any other in connection with native lands adminisstration, it had been that of the Maori Land Councils. The best thing to do, he said, wou'd be to allow the Councils to expire. It would be a great mistake to extend their lease of life.

" Children must on no account be detained or punished for dulness," ia one clause in a striking set of rules concerning punishment just issued by the Glamorganshire Eduaction Committee. Corporal punishment it is also pointed out, should be resorted to only where other methods have failed, excepting in the cases of most serious offences. In each department corporal punishment may be inflicted by the head teacher only, except in departments exceeding 100 in average attendance, where the head may delegate the power to one assistant, holding a parchment certificate, whom he selects for the purpose, the punishment to be recorded in a book With regard to girls and infants, this method of punishment (the rules continue) ought in practice to be dispensed with.

A curious divorce case is likely to come into the Paris courts shortly. In 1889 a struggling young cleric, who is now a wealthy Parisian merchant, married a young woman of great beauty. A few months after the marriage she eloped with another man, buii in April last she reappeared and begged her husband's forgiveness. He decided to take her back. Subsequent inquiries have shown, however, that the woman whom the merchant has taken for his penitent wife is in reality her younger sister, who bears a striking resemblance to her, and who, acting on the suggestion of her elder sister, posed as the wife because she knew the merchant had acquired wealth. The merchant, however, has grown so fond of the "imposter" that he seeking a divorce from his real wife in order that he may marry