MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 11720, 15 November 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Creditors in Wellington seem still able, tor enjoy a little fun at meetings/ called debtors. ' Ehe l atest instWC B *' as foUSiw.s.ywMrs. Johanne Marie Thorpe, midwife, of Wellington, filed her., schedule. At the meeting Mr. James Godber b'cdtfpied the chair. Her liabilities 1 bohsikfcin'g principally of debts due to her grocer, baker, draper, &c. — were • returned as £48, and assets, comprising £5 worth of furniture and the balance representing book-debts, were stated to. amount to £39 10s. Mr. David Bell was elected creditor's trustee. Mr. Waters (for Mr. Hutchiuson) appeared for the debtor, and proceeded to put one or two questions to the debtor, with a view of showing how she came into her present unfortunate position. "You ■area midwife and accoucheur V interrogated Mr. Waters, with a slight : pause between- each wordj as if he would have. * preferred that the task had been undertaken by anybody except himself. Mrs,,. •Thorpe nodded her head in the afljirmad&va... l , t .-''£nd business is very sl/ick,, •I Relieve?" continued Mr. Waters. tgbfi, lady answered with a suggestive smile.:' "I thought that was the best paying trade in the colony," bluntely interjected a creditor, who, though possessing a wife, has the misfortune not to possess any children. " Not if they all pay so well as you," retorted Mr. Waters in the interests of his client. "I suppose I had better say no more after that," quietly remarked the creditor in question, doubtless feeling very sat upon. The proceedings then terminated.The truth of the following somewhat singular freak of nature is vouched for by a gentleman on whose word the Launeeston Examiner says it can rely, Mr,. Thomas Buttery, late of Golden Well Farm, Ascot who arrived here in '1824, and was born on October §, 1800, has : eot a fall set of new teeth, to commemorate which event he has had one .of : ,;the new -'masticators take^a put for .a friend. There are a few points ,of , interest connected with Mr, pnjttegg'B ifamjly history. His grandfather ..jifved ",to'tTie advanced age of 109 years," and when 1 101 sfears old he was still so hale and vigorous that he reaped a "stock" of wheat and stooked it himself. . . Mr. Buttery's own father was accidentally killed at the age of 86 during a fox hunt. The origin of this family can be traced to the time of William the Conqueror, in England, one of Mr. Buttery's forefathers being messenger of the commissariat under the Norman King, who gave him the name of Buttery out of compliment to the satisfactory way in which he had discharged his duties. An .Auckland Mormon has been placed in a somewhat similar fix to' that in which Dr. Cumming once fell, when he predicted the end of the world in ,1866 and at the same time took a2l year's lease of, his London residence. :• The Mormon isenthusiasticonthedogmathat the world is to be wound up in.1890. , He has ! also a property in the market for sale. A timber merchant, of a theological turn of mind, in the city offered to buy the property at a price eqnivalent to 10 year's purchase. The Mormon .asked the would be purchaser "if he thought he was a fool ?" The latter retorted, " No, but he hoped he was not a rogue,'' and if the vendor knew that the world was coming to an end in 1890 the price offered was a fair one; It is needless to say that the sale has hot been effected, and that the Mormon prefers possession of the property to having the courage of his opinions. ' : An unpreccdental scene has occurred in the Queensland Council. Mr. Walsh, -ail ex-Minister and an ex Speaker of the •■ Assembly, made trenchant comments relative to the manner, in. Which Mr. Lukin, editor of the CouHfefj/dfctained a certificate in insolvency, cKaVgJng "the •Hon. H. E. Browne, formerly with.Lukin in the Courier^ and; a mem- ' ber of a legal firm, with what was tantamount to collusion to circumvent most of Lukin's creditors. The following Mr. Browne came into the House J and made a furious joinder. He said j he had been told in the street that it was useless to contradict a drunken liar. Mr. Walsh retorted savagely, calling Mr. Browne a miserable crawler. The Acting-President interfered, and brought the scene to a conclusion. The Home papers state that when the last mail left England the Colonial Office was making anxious inquiries about an acting Commander of one of j England's Colonial possessions, who, along with the treasure-chest, was reported, missing. Who can he be ? The smuggling" of tobacco is being largely engaged in Tasmania, and two -Melbourne firms are alleged to be manufacturing tobacco for tne ! jmrprbse* : of ' getting it smuggled into Tasmania. : The Patea Mail has the following on travellers' wonders: — "Travellers 1 by the Mountain-road tell terrible Btories. Horses get stuck in the mud> and have to be dragged out by a team of bullocks.: A traveller passing southward yesterday informed us that the road was worse than the worst report he had previously' heard. He saw two horses bogged in the sticky mud, and he saw the dismounted owners coming up with a team of bullocks borrowed from the nearest settler, and with these the horses were tugged out bodily. How did they do it ! ' Oh, easy enough ; a rope was put round the horses' neck, and the bullocks were fastened to the rope, aud when they pulled hard the horse had to come any,how,.' 'We put a modest cjuestion : x'/iftid the horse- cdmeroufc infections or iiV bulk v ' jfukfr then the traveller heard ; the driver calling " All aboard'!' and he w«nt off by the coach."- ■-•-•••■>u i - The N. Z. Tablet descrifei?s ? ti curious .branch of trade— -that of buying babies with postage Btamps. It seems that the Chinese are in the habit of exposing their infants to destruction when their families becomes too numerous. _ The Bishop of Nancy formed an association for buying these outcast children and rearing them, aud at first the Chinese were willing to accept defaced postage stamps in payment, the use to which they applied them being that of ornaj menting their walls with cheaper-iwork 1 formed of these bright bits of paper. The Celestials have tired of this kind of ; money, however, and babies must now be paid for in more substantial currency.

The number of different postage stamps already issued all over the world, is about 6000 ; and these are evidently destined to be greatly increased as postal traffic becomes organized in the countries that do not yet possess a post-office system. Among the stamps hitherto issued are to be found the effigies of 5 emperors, 18 kings, 3 queens, 1 grand duke, 6 princes, and a great number of presidents of republics, && S?9lwEp' of .the stamps bear coat&of arm&,an,(jUotrier as crowns, the papal jk^ya and £iara, anchors, eagles, horses, stars,' serTJeiits, railway trains, horsemcS^ifies-'" sengers, &c. :Q£ 4498 specimens of 'different postage^stamps in the^B^clin Museum, 2462 were from: Europe' '441 from Asia, 251 from Africa} ;ii43 from. America, and 201 from Australia.