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South Canterbury Times, Issue 6239, 11 June 1890, Page 3

Mr Marchant informed the Geraldine County Council to-day that he had been asked by the solicitors to the ratepayers who were seeking to compel the council to reconstruct the Pareora bridge, for an affidavit, and bo asked the Council whether he should give the affidavit. He was informed that if he did not give the affidavit he could be compelled to attend at Christchurch for examination, The Council considered that it would bo wiser to give the engineer permission to make the affidavit. There was no use offering a useless resistance. A woman who had suffered from her husband’s neglect in Dunedin traced him (says the TuapeJca Times) to a bar parlor, where he was playing cards with several companions. Setting a covered dish she held in her hands down upon (he table, she eaid, “ Presumably you were too busy to come to dinner, I have brought it to you,” and departed _ With a forced laugh he invited his friends to dine with him, but on removing the cover from the dish found only a slip of paper, on which was written, “ I hope you will enjoy the meal; it is the same us your family have at> home."

The second term of Mr Burehell’s drawing class will comenoe on Monday, Juno 16th. Reporting upon the appearance of phylloxera among vinos at Whangarei, Mr A. Wright traces the history of tho introduction of the pest back to a carpet bag full of vinos, said to have been imported to Auckland by a passsenger on an Australian steamer four years ago. Some of them appear to have been presented to a Mr Hanlon ot Whangarei whose vines are now swarming with phylloxera, as are those of his neighbours. Other growers also attribute tho increase of the pest to the use of imported plants. Mr Wright’s recommendation to the Government is that they should issue a pamphlet of a non-teehni-cal character, so as to instruct growers in grafting vioes in to proof roots, which is the only sure cure. The teachers of South Canterbury and the residents of Geraldine will bo pleased to learn that Mr T. Hughes, for many years head master at Geraldine, is highly thought of at Papanui, where he is now at work The report of Mr Wood, inspector, of a visit to the Papanui school in April says “ The school is extremely well organised. The thorougbnofs of the work and the methods employed are worthy of the highest commendation, and with (other meritorious features in organisation and discipline stamp the school as one of tho best, perhaps the best, in the district. 11 his position of superior efficiency is entirely due to the personal influence of Mr Hughes, whose guiding hand is every ?rhere apparent. The pup ,eaehers are exceptionally well trained ; two of them gave lessons in my presence that would have been considered creditable performances for an average assistant teacher.” The committee resolved to send a letter of congratulation lo Mr Hughes on the receipt of this extremely favourable report.

A largo steamer named the Robllant, wrecked on the coast of Cape Colony a little while ago, was purchased as she lay by a Mr Samuel Fox. Sho was laden with kerosene, and ho got every case out ot her, not one of them damaged, and cleared £IO,OOO out ot the cargo. At last advices he was getting out the engines, very little the worse for the accident.

Among the remarkable examples of bold engineering in the great sugar refinery of Claus Spreckels, of Philadelphia, Pa, one of the most unique is the hanging or aerial steam-engine foundations. The engines used in this establishment are distributed practically all over the buildings, a largo proportion of them being on upper flooss. Some of these engines are bolted to iron beams or girders on second and third storeys of tho building, and ore consequently innocent of all foundation. Some of these engines run noiselessly and satisfactorily, while others produced more or less vibration and rattle. To correct tbo latter, the engineers simply suspended foundations from the botoms of the engines, so that, in looking at them from the lower floors, they were literally hanging in the air. A foundation does service to an engine, or any machinery, it seems, by its weight alone : hence it makes little difference whether the foundation be firmly embedded in mother earth or in the air.

Is there, asks a writer in the Hospital, harm in a kiss —a simple kiss? Will science tear from us the most precious form of greeting possessed by civilised races - the meeting of the lips ? And, if so, what has it to suggest in lieu ? Not the all-insuffioient handgrasp ? Yes, is the inexorable answer; oven the eccentricities of salutation in vogue among savages are preferable, for in them lurks leas danger. Out of thefg mouth proceed all manner of diseases. That being so, it were more than madness, in the opinion of our contemporary, to knowingly inhale such exhalations by the pressure of lips. Therefore, abolish kissing, once and for ever, from our midst. No more must the mother’s soft lips drink divine sweetness from those of her child. No more must shy first love speak out in its pure passion in a kiss. No more must the passionate farewell between those to be parted for, perhaps, long years,be the clinging kiss. This is how the Sydney Telegraph occasionally reports parliamentary proceedings : —“ Mr Seaver spoke to Hansard and posterity for about half an hour, and he worked down to the bedrock of the subject in this stylo: * I don’t know how any true Australian could help feeling a thrill of exultation that we colonies are going to unite together and form the embryo of a great nation.' Some members cheered, more smiled, and Mr Seaver proceeded, throning about poetic gems culled from various sources, chunks of Bider Haggard, and sundry other trifles which always distinguish the oratorical efforts of the member for Gloucester, and of many other representatives in the Assembly.”