WHITEWASHING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 921, 14 October 1879, Page 2

WHITEWASHING.

An Otago paper gives the following illustrationjjof the state of commercial affairs m a country township m that province :—" A gentleman of our acquaintance having had occasion to travel northwards during the week, vouches for the subsequent significant facts. Wishing to interview a wellknown solicitor, residing m a township between Tapanui and Dunedin which we would describe vaguely as a place more noted for its floods than even Kelso, he called at the office of the man of law but found that luminary too busy to attend to him just at the moment. He accordingly waited m an outer room for the space of an hour exactly, within which brief period three men with meerschaum pipes sticking out of their countenances, and carrying a mild atmosphere of Scotch whiskey about them dropped m. A conversation was soon started between the parties, when one of the trio naively asked our informant if he was oh the same errand as themselves. Not knowing what their little game might be, he asked what was up 1 Judge of his astonishment when he learned that the three interesting individuals (not being partners either) liad come to file their schedules. They further informed him that the same thing was going on at the office every day, and all day long ; and they reckoned that before the loan oame out, five out of every ten householders m the district would have gone through the whitewashing operation. Well, it is an ill wind that does not bring perfume upon its wings to somebody or other."

' Arejmi^able instance of recalling life ?% meaicw^ikill has lately occurred m [ Br ussels. ! ||An \ 'unfortunate workman. m*ertakenjby drink, had fallen into the Oanalof Oharl^Ot, which passes through ?she low-esq-jart of the town, and his body j was not recovered for some considerable time, when it seemed hopeless to attempt to recall the drowned man to life, and the bystanders, after exhausting the common remedies, came to the conclusion that the man was dead. By good !' fortune 4 tst. Joux, the medical officer of the 3rd of the Police of Brussels, was at home, and his assistance was ■called-in, and at once he resolved not to regard the case as hopeless. . For three hours, however, the moil effective i remedies suggested by modern science were appked m vain, when* Dr.* Joux determined to have recourse to a more stringent treatment, and proceeded to apply plates of iron heated to a white heat to the upper parfe of the body near e ;>P^. vital! or^ahs. After some short timo, to'the astonishment of the assistants, faint sighs of breathing wero observed, and m the course of about half an hour the drowned man awoke to life. At the present moment he is perfectly Stored to health^ and the only mcon-fehieilce jwhich ;he has sustained results' from' the l severe cauterisation which his , skm necessarily underwent. ';-,.,- --* Mr. Vincent Pyke M.H.R. for Dunstan was the hero of the hour last week. A kind of deus ex machina m sabt, Upon whom the eyes of the world were admiringly- tixejk Mr, £yke , cleverly remained behtnifuntil'the very '-last moment,, and made his appearance m Wellihgton just m the nick of time. When the steamer conveying the Monk approached Wellington wharf, carriage and paife were there m waiting, and strong detachments on each side of the House, appeared with beaming countenances and alluring offers. Old Pyke, however, a very old campaigner, of large experience, did not allow any salt to be put on his tail, — not just then, at all events. When, moving for the adjournment of the House that eventful night, the Horii Sheehan absolutely said that the result of a division would restrwith Mr. V. Pyke. Up to the last moment he remained silent. Of course both sides had offered him whose name is, of so voracions a fish, the portMio of Minister of Mme*.. /AIT that the lucky man, thus master of the situation had to do, was to feel well the Parliament pulse and be convinced of which was the stronger side. And Pyke when the division y bell, rang _,cast his lot with those whom, for sessions past, he made sq miserable by his political " elasticity.'*'