A MOEERN SOLOMON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2317, 28 July 1898, Page 34

A MOEERN SOLOMON.

A recent French judgment (says the Tunis correspondent of the Morniug Post) may be cited us an illustration of Arab manners And Gallic astuteness. An Arab w»s travelling through the interior with his wife ; he was on donkeyback, and she was afeofc. By came a rich Arab oa horseback, and offered her a lift behind him. She aceep'.ecl, and presently, in ths course of the purvey, confided fchat ihe was unhappily married. Her companion proposed » plan by which she mighfc elope with him, and she agreed to iS readily. Accordingly, when they came to a branch road they increased their pace, and paid no teed to the • protestations bf the husband, who was booh left behind. He succeeded in hacking them to the licreeman's village, only to fLid that precautions had be^a tak»n iigainsb hia arrival, fcr everyb{ dy asserted thsit they had known the runaway pair for ma/iy yeire as man and wife, and that the real Lu;bao-J mu^fc be an impudent impostor. The unfortunate man had lecourpe to the FreDcb, who were at first puzzled how to act iv the face of a village's unanimous testimony. At lash a happy thought occurred to the judge. He placed tho real luißbana's dogs in one room, those of tbe other man in another, and confronted the woman with both. Arab dogs are very fuithfnl to thenown households and very fierce towards all strangers ; so, though she did her utmost to irritate her own dog?, tbey could nob be restrained from fawning on hsr, and though sho lavished every blandishment towards tfce dopja tf ber mw home they barked and ehowed their teeth with ever-jt.crehj.ing fn r y. Tfce judgs thereupon ordered ber so bs j,' veu back to hor husband, acd be placarded the village with the following notice :— " The testimony of one dog ia here more to be believed than that of 10 Arabs." As a dog is ona of the Arab's worst tanns of opprobriam, this net cy was deemed a worse punishment than Sues or imprisonment.

Instend ot the usnal pyramid to represent the amount oT gold produced in Auckland province, it. b«s b:eu decided co have »fc the Auckland Exhibition o huge sovereigu, 14ft 6in high by lC^in (bid-, representing an output of £8,000,000, mounted on v pedestal, round which mining implements will be grouped.

Tho first of r. series of first; aid lentnrea to ni' n. under tha auspices of tbe St. Jnhn Ambu'aDce Association, was given, fey Di Jbliiiiop in the OidMlows' Hf.ll, Falineroton, on Wednesday, 20tb. There was a good attendance, 24 cumbers being present;, and the lecture was listened to wilh the closest attentiou. The first aid clafs for women w&s commenced on Saturdn3', io the Oddfellows' H*li, when about 15 ladies were present. After some discussion ifc was decided to meet on Saturdsy afternoons at 230 o'clock, the introductory kcturefco be giveD oa tbe 30tb iust, Mrs W. B, Gallow&y was ftnuoiutcd class fieoratarif