OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2510, 23 April 1902, Page 12

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

There will be a partial eclipse of the sun a loible in New Zealand on May 8. A 10 minutes' nap daily m ill, it is said, add 10 years to one's life. It is reported that the Labour party will run a candidate for the Buller district at the next general election. The dog tax has already provided the Horowhrmia Maori Council, Poverty Bay, with a revenue of nearly £300. In.-pector (iiilies says the hotels; in Wanganui aio bettei conducted than those of any town ho knows in the colony. A combined railway and traffic bridge is to bo erected over the Mataura River on tho Uiver'-dalo-Switzers railway line. Tin ie ucil- 22 commercial tra\eller-> in IJ;. man like our ingiit recently, and of that numDpr mx wore m the fancy goocU line. In connection with the recent band contest at New Plymouth nearly 3000 letter^, circulars, telegrams, etc., passed through the hands of the secretary. Mr Pcattie mentioned at rhe meeting of the Education Board on Thursday that at the piv^ent time the number of Standard VII cl'ildrpn in Dunedin and suburbs who were entitled to district high school privileges wa° 284, and in Oainaru district 72. The natural habit of human beings appi*s>r« to bo the utn of the teeth on the loft mi!<» of tho mouth for mastieatiue; the food. During a lengthened period of observation only one person out of 13 was found nho habitually used both <ides of his n nntli. Tlip band controversy still continue- at Waihi. and it is stated that arrangements aiv» being made for thr» making of sub-tan-tid! wager. .'3 to the relative merits of hand* and conductor* One enthusiast talk-, of arranging a uagpr for £300 a side, £200 to b" dpvote<( to the o\pense^- of a judge frc.m Home. They are making great progrp^ in Coroa. The Kmperor iides a bicycle, bis palace at Kooul is lighted by olpi-tricity and furnished with elevators, and the public officials got a«ay with public moneys last year to the amount of a couple of million yen. The official whose embezzlement amounts to more than 9.000 yen has suffered the penalty of death. A nov^l example of the way the Native* try to evade taxation was c-xperienced on the return of j-oine of the Natives who had been atteirlin:* the Waiomatitini meeting. '1 hey rpfu-ou to pay the ferry fees at Tiki tiki. About 30 Native*-, male and female, took oft their gairront-, and. holding them in a hiMidlc above their headc, thui crosbt-d the i n^c ' " M A P." hear> very extraordinary stoiie, of the price- which are being offered for London hou-es daring the Coronation sea->cMi For a i-omfortable, \veH-fuini>hed, but not va^t oi palatial hou'6 in Sloane <-n-pot (ii-rrict the owiipt hao been offered £1000 for three montha' usp. A family in (iro^venor Miuaro were offered £4500 for a .-imilar pt-nod. .md are holding out for S_ti-f,icfor/ progre - i= !>eing rr>ade with tho eieccioa of the machinery at the Bruce Woollen Mill*. The several machines for the various departments are all approaching completion. The period at which the mill will ->tart is variously estimated (says the Herald) at from five to mx week- from date, but it will hardly be m „ po-ition to do anything in the way of manufacturing beioie ».. Ica-^I tv a iix_iiii_i ,

Some amusement was caused m the Police Court on Thursday afternoon during the hearing of the paint charges by an objection from Mr Hanlon. A witness had said he could not see a document without spectacles, and Mr Fraser, Crown Prosecutor, handed over his. "I object, said Mr Hanlon. "to the witness looking through the Crown spectacles. He is bound to get quite a distorted view of the whole thing." Some discussion turned on the question of lighting at the meeting of the Caversham. Borough Council last week. It was stated that the present service cost £6 10s per annum per lamp, or £19 10s per month, and the Mayor ventured the opinion that if when the present agreement with the Gas Company expires, some six months hence, a lower rate could not be secured the borough should undertake the work itself. The marriage of the largest man and woman ;n the United States, if not in the world, was to have taken place at Heleua, Montana, U.S.A., a few vveek3 ago. The contracting parties are Miss Ella Murray, of Missouri, who is Bft lin tail and weighs over 4001b, and Edward Beaupre the " Montana Cowboy," who tips the scales at 3671b and is Bft in height. Beaupre is 21 years old and has never been out of the State. Mr Grimshay, of Summer Hill, Enniskerry, County Wicklovv, Ireland, calls the attention of the Irish Times to the fact that although, he is in the fields of one of the best sheepgrowing countries, where the sheep are actually grazing around the butcher's shop, New Zealand mutton is for sale in that village at Tjd per lb. He wants to' know how it is that it pays " to bring this stuff 12,000 miles and at the same time undersell the produce of the spot." On Friday evening a very enjoyable social in aid of the Warrington Church was held in the Seacliff Hall, kindly lent for the occasion by Dr King. The following contributed musical itpms: — Miss Findlay, Miss Ru«=ell, Miss Malcolm, Miss Puller, Messrs Parker and Buckley. During the evening refreshments were handed round by the ladies. Warrington is greatly indebted to Mr M'Tamney and all the Seat-lift" gentlemen who worked so hard to make the social a success. A new type of lawyer has sprung up in New York. He i« called an " Arnbuianca Chaser," and his aim is to work up damage cases against firms and corporations. Since the recent frightful tunnel disaster in New York these men have been usually active and bold. They have even tried to force their way into the hospitals to the bedsides of injured and dying men, in order to secure retainers in prospective daraait? suits. This is a new phase of medico-legal practice. — Melbourne Herald. Last week a lad named Rpginald Spencer had a marvellous escape at the Waterfalls, Adelaide. He was. crossing the stream ab the top of the big fall, when his foot slipped and 'he 6hot over the fall into the dam below, a distance of about 100 ft. 'The fall is not straight, and it is wonderful how he escaped striking the rocks before he reached the water at the foot. Spencer was rescued froru the pool, ta.ken to his home, and an medical examination showed that he had gofc off with a few slight bruises. A litigant at the Supreme Court. Cbiistchurch atked that his case should be adjourned because hii- lawyer was unable to attend, and he vva- afraid that it would take him some tim-° to "educate" another lawyer. A« a smile went round the representatives of the legal profession present, his Honor assured the anxious litigant that lawyers could assimilate information much, more readily than could be done by laymen. Tlierp was no need for him to "educate" lawyers, a^ their minds were trained to grasp legal points. An unusual case was heard in the Magistiate's Court at Stratford la;t week, when K. H. L.-cldle. teller in the Bank of New Zealand, sued Charles Km?, bookmaker, for £30, alleged to have bet-n paid to defendant in e\co«. of the proper amount (£3oi Liddle had had to place the missing £30 to the credit of the bank, and that was the reason why lie apneared as plaintiff. King denied having received more than thf uglu amount. Mr Stratford. S.M., however, p.ive judgment for plaintiff for £30, with £4 16- 6d costs. Tiooprr C. Cro-s, late of the Rough Ridrr-. and now of the Coronation Contingent. an old Cliri-Uiiujch High School bti} . On calling to bid good-bye before lca\ .n% Im England, he presented the school with a Mauser rifle, stamped on the butt, ' YV\ Botha," and with a Boer bandolier. The-e weie captured at the engagement at Wetpooit, where Trooper Cross himself had the rni*fortune to be made prisoner. They have been hung in the school hall, with a suitab'e inscription, and will no doubt be regarded with interest by the boys as_ souv&uir* oi A— old comrade. — Lvttolfon Timaa.

The chairman of the Education Board Stated on Thursday that tho number of schools attending the tookery classes instituted by the board m Dunedin numbered 17, and the total number of guJ* tut eliding;

Of a'l the paii-Vi under thf Southland Prcbyterv (-ays the Western Starl Otautau lcad= the way by an oicrwhelming majority in the number of baptisms for 1901, when there was it total of 45. Imercargill comes g£it sitfe ft tot*i fif l\t