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Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7004, 16 June 1894, Page 4

beginning of che play was being gone through, a gentleman walked up to the tables, deliberately counted out 12,000fr : notes, and placed them on black, without even taking the precaution of insuring . them. This somewhat unusual occurrence of staking a maximum before the play for the day had begun naturally attracted some attention, and a bystander remarked to the punter, "Rather bold play, sir." "Well," said the player, "I dreamt last night that I saw this table exactly as it is now, and on the first coup black won." The cards being duly cut, the tailhur proceeded, watched by the onlookers with unusual interest, to deal out the cards for the first coup, and black won ! A suppressed " Oh !" from the bystanders greeted the announcement, " Rouge perd " ; and then from across the table came, m tones of agonised entreaty, a lady's voice : " What did you have for supper last night? Do tell me." It is long since so spontaneous a burst of laughter ran round a gaming table. There is m the German Empire a hot bed of leprosy. According to the investigations of the Imperial Board of Health, whose attention was directed to tbe fact by a physician, there are at present ten lepers m the district of Memel, Eastern Prussia. Eight other lepers died m 1877. Six of these eighteen cases were single persons ; the other twelve extended over five families. Of those who died two suffered from the disease for eight hours, others thirteen, ten, nine, seven, and one year. The first case occurred, as far as can be found out, twenty years ago. Only one of the eighteen had ever left home, so the origin of the disease cannot be found. Dunedin correspondent of the Taieri Advocate writes :— " The by-law re street obstruction appears to be a dead-letter here, for if it was intended to put a stop to street preaching it has signally failed. At the fountain, Dowling street, Octagon, and various other places m the city, a large number of various religious bodies congregate and hold forth to admiring crowds every week. On a recent Saturday evening a orowd of North Dunedin 'toughs' attempted to break up one of the gatherings, but the speaker merely stopped m his address to get a swinging left hander under the ringleader's ear, and calmly proceeded with his address." The Marton Mercury of the Ist June says :—" The flood waters have mostly all disappeared. On one or two of the farms on the banks of the Tutaenui near Bulls, sheep were drowned. The number has not yet been ascertained, but it is not expected to be large. At Mr George Carter's farm below Bulls a large slip occurred, and carried away a slice of land and also a portion of fencing. At Campbelltown there were hundreds of acres of land underwater ; all of the low-lying Oroua land being submerged m some places to a depth of several feet. The number of sheep and cattle whioh have been lost is not yet known, but it is feared that it will be -something considerable. No great amount of damage was done to the roads. The flood m this (the Campbelltown) district, strange to say, did not take place until Wednesday morning, when the waters m the Rangitikei [ district were rapidly subsiding. It rose, however, with great rapidity. It has now almost subsided, and the fields have assumed their usual appearance. It is becoming quite fashionable for ladies to occupy important Congregatianal pulpits on Sunday. Twice on a recent Sunday (says the Liverpool Post's London correspondent) a sister of the late Mr Spurgeen preached to crowded congregations at the handsome church m Hampscead road m connection with the anniversary service. She is very impressive m her manner, and is not without personal resemblance of her brother, from whom, however, she differed, among other things, on the question of baptism.

The Christchurch Press says :— Rumors are afloat that the Government contemplate some scheme involving the introduction of a paper currency. Indeed, it is believed that all arrangements have already been made for the issue of Government notes ; but whether the plan involves the issue of postal notes, under the powers granted under last year's Act, or a much larger project, is not yet known. It is believed, however, that at least some of the members of the Cabinet, including the Premier, are anxious to adopt the larger project, and that proposals on the subject will be submitted to Parliament at an early date. No one would be at all surprised were Mr Seddon to come down with some scheme copidd from the methods of some of the South American States. As everyone knows, the Premier is no financier, but he is strong-headed and wilful enough to insist on having his own way, regardless of the advice of wiser men. It is quite possible, therefore, that the printing press may be at work before long, and that New Zealand will have to learn from bitter experience what inconvertible paper means. At Palmerston North last week there was great excitement over the balloon ascent, of Miss Leila Adair. In reporting the affair the Manawatu Times, after dealing with the inflation, says " Just as the balloon was straining at the ropes Mr Cornell, called out "Stand aside, everybody 1" and at the signal the immense balloon rose with great velocity. Miss Adair then took three short steps and carted oub " Good-bye 1" and before the crowd could realise that the balloon was indeed gone, it was sailing over the Clarendon Hotel 4000 feet m the air, with Miss Adair firmly seated on the bar. The excitement was now at its height, and a cheer, such as is seldom heard m Palmerston rent the air. Miss Adair could be seen, a mere speck m the sky, standing on the bar endeavouring to straighten the ropes of the parachute, which had become entangled by the orowd passing over them before the ascent. Finding her efforts unavailing, she then sat down, and as the balloon descended the parachute expanded gently. Gracefully and majestically, the immense balloon with the parachute expanded, fell towards the ground, and landed m Mr Russell's properly m the Kairanga. Miss Adair's return to the Square was a triumphal inarch. Driven m a cab, and attended by a cavalcade of at least 50 horsemen, she returned to the Club Hotel amidst the tumultuous cheers of the spectators. Arrived at the hotel, Miss Adair addressed the assembled crowd. She stated that several people had been kind enough to call her a fraud, and asked those present if they thought so. (Cries of " No ! No I") Miss Adair then said she had been prevented from giving an ascent on the racecourse, and m order to keep faith with the public she had that day given a free show. The people expressed their approval of the manner m whioh the performance had been carried out. The Hospital notes an interesting lecture on sanitary science and medical specialists m ancient Rome, by Dr Sambon. It appears that free-born Romans were not at first inclined to become doctors, but they permitted their slaves to study under the Greek practitioners who settled m Rome, and many of the liberated slaves also qualified themselves to practise, receiving a license from the Greeks after a short course of instruction, and sharing their subsequent profits with former teachers. Julius Caesar, however, did his best to elevate the social status of the doctors by granting to all medical men the right to vote, and this induced many free citizens to adopt the profession. Celsus, author of a still famous medioal treatise, was one of these. Specialists seem to have been as numerous as they are m our own time, and women doctors were also permitted to practise m medicine and obstetrics. Various ancient inscriptions, referring to eye and ear specialists and their various instruments, and the seals affixed to their patent medicines, still exist. Dentists appear to have flourished, and six skulls were recently discovered m an old tomb with teeth fixed with gold as m the modern American bridge system. One of the false teeth was a horse's tooth cut down to fit the human mouth. Most advanced surgery appears to have been practised, for which the instruments were most ingenious. •The medioal profession must have been well paid, for we read that Stertimus earned L 6500 a year, and the surgeon Canie received L2OOO for one operation ; though cases occurred when patients who m extremes offered large sums for their cure, withdrew their promises on recovery, and these could not be enforced by law. Major Sir George Clarke, m the current number of the North American Review, calls attention to the fact that a naval union between England and America is much more within the bounds of probability than is generally believed. On both sides of the Atlantic the democracy are beginning to grasp the truth that **>the welfare of the masses is intimately bound up with the security of sea-borne trade." Major Clarke is right m saying that the British people, who would not tolerate a European alliance, would welcome a naval league with the United States with enthusiasm. One of the great guarantees of the future of such a league lies m the fact that it must be essentially a league of democracies. The stringency of the German military system is illustrated by the experience of Mr Henry Woolerman, of Palmerston North, who is m Europe for a, holiday. He wanted to go to Germany, but told the correspondent of the Dunedin Star that he was doubtful whether the German Government would allow him to visit his native land without molestation. When he left Germany some 20 years ago he was given "a pass" allowing him to be absent for two years. He had served his full term under military discipline, and had been through the Franco-German war, but he was not at all sure that even after this lapse of time, and the fact of his being a naturalised English subject of some twelve years' standing, the German Government had no claim upon him. He meant to make sure on this point before venturing across the Channel. It is not often that much excitement is caused by the winning of a large stake at Monte Carlo, more especially m that holy of holies the salon where are the trente-et-quarante tables. But a few days ago (says the St. James's Gazette), the decorous quiet which usually reigns m the salon dor was amusingly ruffled. While the solemn function of displaying, mixing, *nd shuffling the cards whioh precedes the