A GENUINE SPECIMEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 522, 30 November 1861, Page 6

A GENUINE SPECIMEN.

A very fine sample of a colonial servant girl, without flaw or defect, and oup -which would have carried off thf> prize at the Melbourne Exhibition, had specimens of this nctnre been called for, appeared at the Police Ofnse on Monday moruinir last, to claim £4 6s. Bd., being the amount of two month's wages, which she demanded in consideration of three week's services., certainly not pei formed as shown in | evidence. Miss Lion«, for this was the young lady's name, stated that she had been" engaged as servant, to Mr. Sinclair, the defendant, and that one afternoon while washing clothes, her mistress came into the kitchen aud told her she must net on quicker. As she was "jetting I on as quick as she could, and could "bo no quicker, she at once -left the suds, gave over work, and quitted her place. The Mayor : — How long have you been in the country? Miss Lions: — Sivin months, your Wnrtship, and God forgive me for coming to sich a country. Mayor .-—And was it because your mistress told you to get on with your work that\made you leave your place ? Miss Lions : — Sure.now wasn't that enough, afther the mast her telling me that I could' hook it? Mayor: — It seems yon have been long enough here to know what that term means. Miss Lions :— And the tae was bad, and the mate worse, and bad tae and mate that wasn't ateable at all I got. Mr. Sinclair : — On your oath do you mean to say you only got tea and meat ? Miss Lions: — May be I might get butter and potaties. ' Mr. Sinclair:— Was there not a bullock killed while you were there? Miss Lions : — Sure I know it. Mr. Sinclair :— Did you not eat the same as I did ? Miss Lions : — Xe'er a bit I iver touched ; share, and what was it to me what you ate. I have not been used to eat anything'like it before. The Mayor (sarcastically) :— F should say not. You've not been used to see a bullock l^"gf«F s ep^m^^OU'rlivea4nJ.he.old country, to cut at whenever you liked. Miss Lions : — Was it mate liko what he gave mo that was fit for a dacent girl to ate ? Mr. Sinclair : — Xow I ask you on your oath, did you do your washing as quickly as you could ? Did you wash a dozen pieces that day ? - Miss Lions: — Were they filthy rags thad to wash ? — were they dacent for dacent people to be afther wearing ? The Mayor : — That is enough. I hope the next place you get will be such a one as you deserve, and that }*ou will not be where there's a bullock, butter, ten, potatoes, and bread, to go at whenever you like. Claim for £1 6s. Bd. reduced to £1 10s, without costs. More imprudence, dirt, and worthlessness could scarcely have been concentrated in any young girl calling herself a colonial servant, and this is saving very much. — Geelong Chronicle, 23rd October. The Rise or the Rothschilds. — When George 111 came to the throne there was a little boy at Frankfort who did not dream of ever having anything to do, personally, with the Sovereigns of Europe. He was in the first stages of training for the Jewish priesthood. His name was Meyer Anselm Rothschild. For some reason or other he was placed into a counting house at Hanover, and he soon discovered what he was fit for. He began humbly as an exchange broker, and went on to be the banker of the Landgrave of Hesse, jvhose private fortune he saved by his shrewdness, when Napoleon overran Germany. How he left a large fortune, and a commercial character of the highest order, and how his five sons settled in live of the great cities of Europe, and have had more authority over war and destinies of nations than the Sovereigns themselves, the world pretty well knows Despot monarchs must be dependent upon money lenders, unless they are free i from debt and can command unlimited ' revenues for untold purposes — which is never > true of despotic Sovereigns. Constitutional rulers are free from the responsibility and the difficult}', and our Sovereigns are supplied by Parliamentary vote, and need not stoop to i borrow. Yet there is room for a Rothschild ! in London, where loans are negotiated for all countries, aud which is a kind of central office for tjie financial news of the world. — Once a Week. A Message prom this Ska. — A slip of paper was^immd in a bottle some weeks ago, on the western coast of Uist, in the Hebrides, and forwarded to us by our ngent at Stornoway. The paper, apparently the leaf of a pocketbook used in the hurry of the moment, was covered on both sides with pencil narks, from which the following was with difficulty deciphered :—: — "On board the Pacific, from L'poul to jST. York. Ship going down. (Great) confusion on board. Icebergs around us on every side. I know I cannot escape. I write the cause of our loss that friends may not live in suspense. The finder of this will please get it published. Win. Graham." If we are right in our conjecture, the ship here named is the Pacific, one of the Collins line of steamers, which vessel left Liverpool on January 23rd, 18J6, three days before the Persia, and has not since been beard of; and this slip of paper, three inches by two, is probably the only record of the fate of that missing ship. — Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. The Melbourne Argus states : — An inge- j nious invention for filtering water has recently j been introduced by Messrs. Sartorius and 1 Ivlug, of Lonsdale-strect East. It is of Prussian origin, and, as an invention, is simplicity ' itself. The apparatus consists of a hollow j charcoal ball, perforated, aud to which a, short i tube of inditi rubber is attached, with a Uiouth- 1 piece. The ball, placed in muddy water, and the air in tha tube exhausted by suction, the tube becomes a syphon, and the water flows iustantancously in the purest condition. These niters are of various sizes, but the smallest is convenient for a horseman ; and we can scarcely conceive a more useful addition to the ontiit of a traveller in the bush in this colony, i The instrument is easily cleaned, and is uu- ! failing iv its operation.