Provincial and General.

Otago Witness, Issue 1499, 7 August 1880, Page 8

Provincial and General.

AN INTERESTING PRISONER.

The following is au fcxtr»cfc from a private letter from the Pnujaub :— " April 13fch. There js a very fine fellow hero, a flon of State priso ncr, Daood Sha, the Cftbul general who, (hey say, tried to stop *h<? m«*saore of poor CftVagnari. Ho h six feefc four iuohe3 high, and a handsome Jewish-looking manlike all Afghan*. Tho officer, in who*e charge he is, bring? him to the club to read ths papers to Mm sometimes, for he is a moat interested student of events, and very eager for telegrams. His comments on European politics are amusing, though it is haul to make him fairly understand Radical and Tory, »md Russian NihilSHm. Still, hw is wouckrfully well informed, and a striking eonti-nst for mental ncf.ivifcy and general vigour to Indian swelß Wo want to get him a kriegspid, or war game; f.r ha is an enthusiastic hJilur, »nd a great student of battles and plans thereof. Wo made a mistake in underrating opponents like tbofe. He is out of ife now, of course; but he freely criticises General Roberts, and p<ints onthia mistakes. It is a pity to keep a mountaineer like him down here i:i the beat. We oil say he tshonld bo sent to Simla to tench our Commander-in-in-chief the ait of war, The-e Afghans are a queer folk. Ha is the mildest-mannered man that ever cm a tbroat, and yet throat-cutting would come as easy to him as eayiug his prayers. He prays devoutly five iimeß daily." MATRIMONIAL SELECTION. In the course of a rtcent lecture in England, Professor Humphry, approached & delioafce Bubject.^ " Friw thiugß," he said, " would tend to the improvement of the race so much as judicious a)ra»g*rofluts with regard to matrimonial selection, I am not aware that any such arrangements have cvi* been seriously contemplated, and the tinw is not yet ripe for them ; but I cannot doubt that something in this direction will be done when the attention of the peoph and their legislators has bsen safficienT.ly arousad to the imporfcaace of pro viding fur a healthful race in the future " But why their legislators? (asks an Ergliih j mrnal). If thTu is a field whero the legislator would hardy ba t'udnrad, and where he would be nure to d/> mischief if he were andared, ifc ia here. Th>3 freo action of public opinion muft bo left 'o .go ths wo<-k which Professor Humphry foreaaea as necessary. What is wanted U tho impr <vemenfc of opinion about "matrimonial selection," and this im provemeut in perhaps not liksly to be rapid. FASHION IN DEFORMITY. Proffcgsor Flower has beeu delivering: a Hecture upon ''Fashion in Defurinlty." Itßeemi that the tßste for personal disfigurement is universal, especially among female*. Earrings are only a new development— a tort of aids issue — ef nose-rings. Tiiefeet of Cbioesa ladies are the models of our own high-heeled enslavers) The preference of black teeth to white (as among the Malays) and the enlarging of lips and eara by wooden plugs (as with the negro race) are only another form of the present taste for aristocratio hobbles and waspish waists The Professor had the audacity to produce a figure of the Venus of Milo and 10 contrast it with one from last Paris fashion-book. Up to the preeent date (says the correspondent of a contemporary) I have beard of no catastrophe having overtaken him, but gentlemen have been killed by ladies {vide Lemptiere passim) before this for much less. AN OLD OTOTOM AND ITS ORIGIN. At the first sittiog of a new Parliament it is customary (observes tho London City Pres-) for the four city members to attend in court Buits or in uniform, and to take their seats on the front Treasiiry bench, which seats they afterwards vacate in favour of the Ministry of the day. This honorary position is aooor ded to to them in conscquenoe of the City of London having saved the privileges of Parliament in tha year 1640, when Cfoarlea I. attempted to arreßt Haiupilen Pyoi and the reso of the " five members " who fled to the city for protection, and wera sheltered there by the Corporation, WHERE REFORM IS NEEDED. A correspondent of a Melbourne paper makes the following remarks apropos of the late elections and the abuse of public meetiuga :—: — •' I contend, Sir, that the man who has eatnorl for himself a name in the district in which he resides for industry, thrift, axid petsovertttice, combined with good business qualities, and wf unblemished moral character, it the proper <nan to be entrusted with — what outfit* to be— the high honour of managiujj she biwineS') of the country. This, also, 1 think will bn Admitted, but now comes the d mouity. The man so eminently fitted ia every respsct for the office declines tL« hoiwvir. Why ? Btcause, Sir, he whom ia his private and inu>iue»'B capacities no uun dare inaull is Hudile»ly called upon to Bubmifc to the moot humiliating and degrading insuits wbich ifc po-sible u> heap up'»n Mai • — to be bullie<i, thn- atoned, tnoeked, ami perhaps assaulted. V>y t,be lowpst ragamuflina and Hcouadiels of tbe district. It j ought to nwiko overy right-mindori man in the country blush to think that he who, at the sincere wish of thohe who de^ir© only the welfare of the Colony, allows tiiuia-lf to be nominated as a cundidatß for Parliament — saciificinß his own personal comfort for the good of the country— should bo in public meetings treated in such anontrageous manner by men (?) v/ho ia comparison »re not fit to clean his shoes. This is the matter wbich requires reform, and immediate reform. I have seen such sights, and trembled for the future welfare of the Colony. Can we wonder that but very few good men care to submit to such tieatment ? Can we wonder when we find the needy self-seeking adventurer pandering to the lowest passions of th» people, filling those positions of trust intended only for the good and tried man ? Need we be surprised, while such a state of things lasts, that we find politicians trading on these passions, encouraging and helping the people on the veiy easy way to ruin ?" HOW HE LEARNED ALL ABOUT IT. A number of amusing storieß (says an English paper) are being circulated by the supporters of tho late Government at the expense of the new Ministry. According to one of th«se, Lord Hartingtcn, on ■ being appointed India Secretary, lounged down toiha India Office with his habitual air of blase boredom, and demanded to ccc a map of India. When the map was "pro* ducod, he carefully studied for some minutea the namts in the intermediate vicinity of Calcutta, and then returned the map with the observation thai; it; oould not bo a good one, an he was not able to find Simla marked on it au ail. He seemed a little surprised wh«n aa enterprising official pointed out to him that Simla really was on tho map, but that it was not quitej in the particular portion where he had been seeking for it. This is rather hard on Lord Hwtington, but it is a Btandiug joke to assume that all newly-appointed Indian officials know aothingoi: India, and Mr HtiaU himself tflls a Btoiy of aetin;; a freshly-mad-} Viceroy W.vuig Englund wish a volume ot Mill's ".BrUiah India" in his band from which he was endoavouriug to exfcracc some hasty knor/ledge as to #ie country ho was about to govern.

TALKING RUBBISH AT DINNERS The writer of ) "London Town Talk" in the Melbourne Argus says:— "France^ which has •set some very bad fashions in its time, has at last set a very good one. At the annual dinner of the committee of dramatic authors last week, M. Labicho, Hie new Academician, was asked for a speech, and fUtly refused. 'Je ne demande que dcs cigares,' said he. He wished to add to tha sum of human happiness and not to diminish it. For what but vanity dictates the desire to make an after-dinner speech, and what but repletion and obfuscution to listen to it. M. Labiche'd conduct was warmly applauded, and his health enthusiastically drunk upon tho understanding that he was not to return thanks for it." THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. Engineering says :— Waba*b, Indiana, is tho first town lightpd by the electric light. As a »ieana of interior illumination in ships, the Bru-ih light is being largely adopted in America ; and it has given considerable satisfaction ti our own naval authorities. Indeed it is reported that the Brush Electric Light Company have received a large order from Govern ment for irmn-of-wac purposes. Next mouth there will be n competitive trial of the bestkuown French electric lights, those of Jablochkoff, Werdermann, Lontin-Mersanne, &c, within the Paris Opera Houoe. Lontin's light has been considerably improved of late by the addition of the De Mersanne regulator, ai:d it now burns all night at the Lyons and Mediterranean railway station without attention. A company had beeu formed to worked the Jamin candle, and the shares are now in the market. This caudle, it will be remembered, ia pimply a Wilde candle of two upright rods of carbon side by side, with the arc formed at their upper ends drawn out to a point, by means of electro magnetic attraction, j It remains to be seen whether it -will prove j serviceable as a domestic light. Afc Home tha next ovent in electric lightiug will ho the illumination of tha Victoria Extension Dock 9by the Siemens rvs! em. Tha length of the wharves w nearly 10,000 feet, and they will he lighted by 25 lamp'd erected on iron pillars 70 feet above the ground. A USEFDL INNOVATION. Prof efisor Fawcett, as the head of the large eatabli-thmeut of St. Martin'a-le-Graud, has iatroduced a bill in the Mouse of Cormnouo which will authorise any person who haa taken out a money-ordor to present tbe frame at any post-office in the Unitsd Kingdom, and receive paymont for the same without any latter of advice. ' The convenience and utility of finch au arrangement will be very obvious ; and a person wishing to travel through the country could provide himself, if he thought proper, and at a trifling cost, with a fiheaf of orders »b negotiable as Bank of Eoglaad uofcea, and much safer to carry, because the money order would not bo honoured without the bonrer of it filling in his name. The scalo of: prices is also to be lowered. At the present time, in the Mother Country, it is twopence for any sum less than ten shillings, threepence for anything between that amount and three pounds, and fo on. By the new bill, a halfpenny will be charged for a shilling order ; a penny for anything between one and ten shillings ; and twopence for larger sums. For persons wishing to make payments or remit subscriptions, or forward gratuities of small amounts to other persons residing at a distance, this cheapening of post-office ordera will be a great convenience; and that there is no reason to apprehend that its? success will not bo commensurate with the advantage it holds out to the community. The Standard suggests that Mr Fawcett should perfect the improvement by adopting the system in force throughout the German Empire, where the payer directs the post-office to pay a certain sum — which he deposits—to the payee, and the po«tman calld at his house, takes his receipt, and gives him an order payable at any post-office. But this, perhaps, will follow in due time.